The Salvation Motifs In Joseph Conrad’s Jungle Novels

Joseph Conrad(1857-1924) is one of the most important writers in British and American literature. He is a Polish British writer and English is not his native language; however, Conrad is acknowledged as a master of literature who creates in English. In terms of the themes, Conrad’s novels can be divided into political novels, jungle novels and marine novels. The study of Conrad in China starts relatively late; however, recent years have witnessed a rapid development of the studies on Conrad. For instance, the study of Conrad’s representative works Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness has gotten many achievements. Salvation is an eternal theme both in human life and literary. Due to the unique experiences and the complicated social influences in Victorian era, Conrad formed unique thoughts of salvation, which are manifested in his two representative jungle novels Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness. The studies on Conrad which are carried from the perspective of salvation motifs are very few in China. The study of the salvation motifs of Conrad’s novels hasn’t been given much attention in the master’s thesis. The perspective of salvation can provide a new perspective for the studies of Conrad.The main reason of the popularity of Conrad’s works is that there are always profound themes in his novels. Based on the intensive study of Conrad’s representative jungle novels Lord Jim and Heart of darkness, it can be found that salvation motifs are an important theme in Conrad’s jungle novels, which reveals his salvation thoughts. In his jungle novels, Conrad fully shows the protagonists’ process of the salvation and the development of the salvation motifs. By showing the salvation motifs, on one hand, Conrad reveals the distortion of the human nature, to some extent; on the other hand, Conrad still feels confident in the future of the human. Over the years, many scholars relate Conrad with colonialism. Some of them believe that Conrad is an anti-colonial writer. Some of them argue that Conrad has ambiguous and ambivalent attitude towards colonialism. Based on the study of the salvation motifs, it can be found that Conrad is not completely against the colonialism. On the contrary, Conrad holds an acquiescent attitude towards colonialism in his jungle novels. To some extent, Conrad’s salvation thoughts are not anti-colonial. His salvation thoughts not only make the colonialism seem to be just and win people’s sympathy but also defend the legalization and rationality of colonialism. Conrad also beautifies the colonialism by showing the salvation motifs. So, in essence, Conrad’s salvation thoughts are just a pro-colonialism thought.