Study Of Conrad’s African Fiction On Cultural Identity Construction

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was a Polish-born English novelist. Chinese writer Laoshe called him "the greatest modern creator of stature and character". His works reflect the spirit of that time. While his view about individuals remains powerful even to contemporary readers. There are numerous materials which interpret Joseph Conrad and his works from various aspects. However, very little study has explored the construction of cultural identity of Joseph Conrad and characters in his two novels on Africa systematically.From the point of view of cultural identity construction, this thesis reconsiders and analyses Conrad’s most complex novella, Heart of Darkness, and most mordant tale, An Outpost of Progress, both of which are about Africa. It explores the process and results of the cultural identity construction of Joseph Conrad and cultural identity construction of his characters in his two novels. By applying cultural identity, self, and other under postcolonial context, this thesis views the construction of cultural identities of Conrad and his characters in his two novels on Africa from a local and global perspective.It is concluded that:(1) the author Joseph Conrad succeeded in constructing a multi-cultural identity, (2) the white men who went to Africa failed in constructing their cultural identities, (3) those natives like the helmsman failed in constructed their own cultural identities, (4) those natives like Gobila maintained their original cultural identities, (5) those natives like Makola formed hybridized cultural identities, (6) those native women like Makola’s wife constructed their cultural identities successfully, (7) those western women like Marlow’s aunt and Kurtz’s Intended are limited to the cultural identities where their society positioned them.The results indicate that the construction of cultural identities is influenced by various factors, including natural, cultural, and social environment and individual differences. These factors contribute to the characters’living and development in a certain environment.It can be found that the study of the cultural identity construction of the writer and his characters provides a new way to study the characters in literary works, especially in postcolonial literary works and cross-cultural literary works.