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Empathy and Othering in Joseph Conrad's Amy Foster

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Empathy and Othering in Joseph Conrad's Amy Foster AWEJ. Special Issue on Literature No.2 October, 2014 Pp. 60- 68 Empathy and Othering in Joseph Conrad’s Amy Foster Krystyna U. Golkowska Pre-Medical Program, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar Doha, Qatar Abstract Amy Foster has never been one of the most popular or critically acclaimed works by Joseph Conrad. Yet this early story clearly deserves attention. Initially analyzed mostly in terms of autobiographical criticism, it has recently been read through the post-colonial and feminist lenses, with emphasis on intercultural encounters or misogynistic treatment of the female character. The present article focuses on the issues of narrative point of view to discuss Conrad‟s text as a study in the mechanism of othering. Literally and metaphorically speaking, Amy Foster revolves around issues related to voice. Like Conrad‟s major works, this text foregrounds the act of narration. The tragic tale of an outcast dying in utter solitude is told by a country doctor whose credibility is in turn established and qualified by the frame narrator. Aware of the relativity of social mores and having enough sensitivity to understand the victim‟s alienation, the narrator links ethnocentrism to fear, lack of imagination and imprisonment in cultural narratives. Ironically, his own tale is not free of bias and reveals limits to his empathy. Thus, while it explores the simultaneously inclusionary and exclusionary nature of cultural narratives, Amy Foster also highlights the subjectivity and incompleteness of any act of perception. Key words: voice, empathy, cultural scripts, othering Arab World English Journal www.awej.org 60 ISSN: 2229-9327 AWEJ. Special Issue on Literature No.2 October , 2014 Empathy and othering in Conrad‟s Amy Foster Golkowska Oudadene Empathy and Othering in Joseph Conrad’s Amy Foster Conrad‟s short story Amy Foster, first published in the Illustrated London News in 1901 andMostafa subsequently in Typhoon and Other Stories in 1903, easily lends itself to interpretation in terms of autobiographical criticism. The poignant tale of a castaway dying in utter solitude in a small village on the coast of Kent can be seen as reflecting Conrad‟s own predicament of living in exile. In view of how often the novelist was called "[a]n alienated émigré... an outsider, nationally and culturally” (Najder, 2007, p. 576) it is not surprising that many critics read Amy Foster as mirroring Conrad‟s suppressed dislike of England or his marital and sexual problems.i This, however, is but one of many different approaches. In the words of a scholar, “Conrad has been read so radically differently at different times that it is tempting to talk of different Conrads” (Collits, 2005, p. 3). What does this text mean to today‟s reader? Conrad was writing at the heyday of the British Empire and at the time of intense preoccupation with the issue of national character; at the same time, he was experimenting with new literary techniques. Hence, on both thematic and structural level his work is of obvious interest to participants in the post-modern discourse “rotating around the “identity” axis” (Bauman, 2004, p.1). Applying the prism of post-colonial studies to Conrad‟s position on race, imperialism or eurocentrism has resulted in insightful, albeit often conflicting conclusions (see, for example, Achebe, 1996; Krajka, 1990; Hampson, 2000; Hooper, 1996; Firchow, 2000; Ross, 2004; Collits, 2005, and Henthorne, 2008). Similarly, discussion of female characters in Conrad‟s fiction shifted from complaints about their presence in otherwise “masculine” tales (Moser, 1966, p. 99) to complex analyses of their role and portrayal; the claim that Conrad‟s “narrative strategies are articulated through a language of sexual difference” (Schneider, 2003, p. 4) best captures the distance travelled in this regard. The focus on identity, gender and intercultural encounters that has yielded new and valuable insights into Conrad‟s major works appears to be also very relevant pertaining to Amy Foster. After all, although this text does not set Europe against its colonies, it depicts a cultural Other, probes gender stereotypes, and problematizes the issue of interpretative authority. Placed within the framework of post-colonial and gender studies, the present article proposes that Amy Foster can be read as a study in the mechanism of othering. The concept of othering builds on Hegel‟s theory of self and other, universalized later by Beauvoir in The Second Sex with regard to gender and by Said in Orientalism with regard to race; it also draws extensively on the work of the French psychoanalyst Lacan. Coined by Spivak in 1980, the term has since then been widely used in the liberal arts, social studies, and intercultural research (see Dervin, 2011). Broadly speaking, othering is related to ethnocentricity and stereotyping; it always involves the domination of an in-group that declares itself superior to the out-group and denies the Other subjectivity and uniqueness. Thus understood, the term seems applicable and useful in discussing Conrad‟s short story. The plot in Amy Foster is stark in its simplicity. Lured by ruthless agents, a young mountaineer, Yanko, leaves his Carpathian village in search of a better future in America. After a traumatic voyage his ship runs aground; as the only survivor he finds himself in a small rural community in England where he meets with hostility and rejection. He tries to adapt and manages to get a foothold in the community; he even marries Amy Foster, the only person who initially shows him some kindness. However, the birth of a son marks the beginning of “steady domestic differences” (p. 226)ii in the life of the couple. Amy, herself a liminal community figure, feels threatened when Yanko tries to share his own language and heritage with their child. Arab World English Journal www.awej.org 61 ISSN: 2229-9327 AWEJ. Special Issue on Literature No.2 October , 2014 Empathy and othering in Conrad‟s Amy Foster Golkowska InOudadene the end, she abandons her husband when he is raving in fever and asking for water in his native language. The narrator, a country doctor, attributes Yanko‟s death to heart failure. MostafaAlthough the outcast‟s tragic fate is the affective core of the narrative, it is merely one of the building blocks of its thematic structure. Like Conrad‟s major works, Amy Foster foregrounds the act of narration. Literally and metaphorically speaking, the story revolves around issues related to voice and point of view. Similarly to what he does in his earlier texts, in Amy Foster Conrad uses his signature narration - within - narration structure. The dominant voice in the story is that of Kennedy, a physician with “the talent of making people talk to him freely, and an inexhaustible patience in listening to their tales” (p. 202). In the main, the fictional world is revealed to the reader as seen through this man‟s “grey, profoundly attentive eyes” (p. 202). At the same time, Kennedy‟s reliability is established and qualified by his anonymous addressee. Introducing Kennedy in the opening sentences of the text the frame narrator tells us that this man served abroad and wrote papers on the flora and fauna of little known places. From the outset, his comment delineates the parameters of the doctor‟s vision: The penetrating power of his mind, acting as a corrosive fluid, had destroyed his ambition… His intelligence is of scientific order, of an investigating habit, and of that unappeasable curiosity which believes that there is a particle of a general truth in every mystery. (p. 202) Then again, Kennedy and the frame narrator have much in common. Their camaraderie is implied early on in the surprisingly instantaneous agreement as to Amy‟s appearance and mental faculties. They see her as ugly, dull, passive and lacking any depth, “a vague shape which, after all, may be nothing more curious or strange than a signpost” (p. 204). The ease and unanimity with which they this opinion portend a shared world view. iii Furthermore, as pointed out by Hampson (2000), both Kennedy and his companion are expatriates who have considerable knowledge of the world outside the community to which they return and which they observe with some measure of detachment and an almost ethnographic interest. Theirs is the “high point of view – the panoptical stance – is enjoyed by those in privileged positions in the social structure, to whom the world appears as a spectacle, stage, performance” (McClintock, 1995, p.122). It is from this perch that Kennedy depicts a community faced with the threat of the Other. His account identifies three possible reactions to foreignness, ranging from interest in the outlandish, shown by Mr. Swaffer, to human kindness displayed by Amy, to rejection and downright hostility demonstrated by most of the villagers. Ultimately, what prevails and determines the course of events is the ethnocentric attitude. The doctor‟s speculation on the question as to why and how it happens centers on the role of empathy. Among the villagers, Swaffer is an exception, his eccentricity known and tolerated only because of his wealth and social standing. He acts out of curiosity rather than true kindness. He “keeps” Yanko, almost like a pet, due to his interest in what he perceives as exotic, not due to solidarity with another human being. Just as he does not need to explain himself to the villagers, he does not feel any need to communicate with the alien. Only after he saves Swaffer‟s granddaughter from drowning does Yanko earn a place at his table and later on a cottage and an allowance that enables him to marry Amy. This act of gratitude, however, is not equivalent to opening a dialogue, and although it gives Yanko access to the community, it does not secure his place in it.
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