On The Lucifer Effect In Heart Of Darkness

The Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad is one of the most important writers in the history of English literature. His representative work Heart of Darkness, as one of the best literary works in English, has always been the focal research of many literary critics. The novella, based on Conrad’s6-month-long experience on the Congo River, reflects the author’s disappointment with humanity. Former studies are mostly made in terms of colonialism and post-colonialism, art of writing, symbolism, feminism and comparative criticism. Now, this thesis analyses it in terms of social psychology It uses the Lucifer Effect of Social Psychology to analyses the environment and characters in Heart of Darkness and discover the influences on people of the alternation of space and social environment. Then, it discusses the degradation of the colonizer and the obedience of the colonized, claiming that the situational force could change people from good to bad and bring out unconceivable evil.It claims that the degradation of both the colonizer and the colonized in the Congo attribute more to the environment that King Leopold’s system created than to the humanity.This thesis consists of Introduction, the main body and Conclusion. Introduction first tells Conrad’s Congo experience and its influences on him. Second, it discusses the relevant studies on this work at home and abroad. Then, it introduces Heart of Darkness briefly and why this author uses the Lucifer Effect to analyze this work. The last part is the structure of the thesis.The main body is divided into three chapters. Chapter One explains the relationship between the environment and the degradation of people. For the colonizer, the climate and living conditions had a great influence on their health. Lots of them died of fever or dysentery. And the Congo basin, a wild place without moral and juridical restraint, took away all the believes which protected the white in a civilized society. With ruins on both body and spirit, the colonizer began to degrade. For the colonized, the invasion of the white changed their lives thoroughly. They lose their plantations, homes, loved ones, and they themselves degraded to criminals and labors.Chapter Two focuses on the process of Kurtz’s degradation. Kurtz went to the Congo with the belief that what they were going to do was a "deity work" to civilize the black, who were savages, a different species to them. The role as an agent insured him weaponry power and required him to collect tusks with the power. As he got used to the power, award in the system encourage him to go further. And finally, the system betrayed him and Mr. Kurtz was dead.Chapter Three analyzes the obedience of the colonized under the influence of the situational force. Firstly, it analyses the restraint of the fireman and the cannibals that surprised Marlowe. Secondly it discusses the conformity of the criminals that driven by situational force. Finally, it studies in the light of social psychology of how the Russian boy and the natives in the station became disciples of Mr. Kurtz.Conclusion goes further in search of the transformation of the colonizer and the colonized and the situational forces that worked in this work.