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No, 55o 5

AN EVALUATION OF CONRAD’S LATER NOVELS

Roy C. Meyerhoff

A Dissertation

Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

December 1978

Approved by Doctoral Committee li

Abstract

This paper attempted a new analysis and evaluation of

Joseph Conrad’s last three completed novels, The Arrow of

Gold, The Rescue, and , since they are commonly felt

to be of slight significance by many leading Conrad scholars,

an accepted critical position that the writer thought should

be reexamined. Suspense, the two hundred and seventy-four

page novel left unfinished at Conrad’s death, was discussed

briefly in an appendix.

The approach taken to these works was to examine them in

detail from a different perspective than that used by other

critics, that is, from the ways in which alienation, a basic

concept in the writings of , appears in these

novels. The attempt was primarily to discover in what

significant ways the treatment of alienation in these last works differs from that in earlier works. For the purposes of this paper alienation was divided into partial alienation and total alienation, with partial alienation leading to, and culminating in, total alienation. These developmental categories are then divided into the functional categories of imaginative alienation and perceptive alienation. In imaginative alienation the individual has usually estranged himself from other characters by the nature and extent of his iii

illusions. For perceptive alienation the individual is in

isolation because the quality of his illusions is not

sustaining.

There was a difference in emphasis as seen in terms of

this concept in the late novels since Conrad seemed to have

shifted away from the metaphysical concerns of alienation to

concentrate on the characters’ attempts to be reintegrated

into the society. Also, each protagonist made a definite

adjustment in his existence in an endeavor to come to terms with his alienation in a way which no other protagonist before him had.

These novels were found to be of definite significance to the full appreciation of Conrad as a consummate artist. In his final completed novel, The Rover. Conrad managed to resolve the issue of alienation by allowing his protagonist to become a fully integrated member of society. IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION...... 1

THE ARROW OF GOLD: AESTHETIC LOVE AND SOCIETY...... 16

THE RESCUE: THE JIM SYNDROME...... 39

THE ROVER: REGENERATION...... 67

CONCLUSION...... 87

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 94

APPENDIX...... 98

Suspense: A Suspended State...... 99 i

Introduction

Conrad’s last four novels. , The Rescue,

The Rover, and Suspense (if one may be allowed the presumption

that a two hundred and seventy-four page unfinished work can

be called a noveltend to be dismissed, seemingly without as

much as a careful reading, by most critics. What is most

unfortunate is that the very individuals who find little of

value in the last novels are known for their insights into

Conrad’s other works. In Order to identify these commentators

more readily, one can borrow a terra from Thomas Moser and call

them the “achievement and decline” critics. Albert J. Guerard

finds sickness, fatigue (according to Guerard these qualities

can also be seen in Conrad and his family at the time of his writing these works), and a "failure of imaginative power."1

Thomas Moser notes that the characters are not well drawn and

not dramatized: "Even more seriously, the last novels show that Conrad has finally lost control of the basic tools of his 2 craft.” Douglas Hewitt, in Conrad: A Reassessment, feels that the later novels show a "marked inferiority" compared to

1 Albert J. Guerard, Conrad the Novelist (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1965), p. 260. 2 2 Thomas Moser, Joseph Conrad (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1957), p. 180. 2

his earlier works, and that "it seems plain that the later works in general, show a retreat from the degree of awareness • 3 of the complexity of human emotion found in the earlier ones."

Bernard C. Meyer, a psychoanalyst who perhaps feels a little out of his milieu, adopts the critical perspective of - to-sick patient (that is, he analyzes the man instead of the work) and then attempts to justify this approach: "The spectacle of artistic decline can hardly fail to arouse perplexity as well as regret, and it is only natural for both 4 critic and biographer to try to account for it." Frederick

R. Karl follows along in the same vein albeit with somewhat more insight:

Nevertheless, granting that the later fiction is indeed a letdown after the profundity of , it is still of great importance as a mirror of the established, but exhausted, novelist, who, no longer able to experiment, had to draw upon all his practical skill to produce five more novels.5

Leo Gurko pretty much sums up the critical feeling toward these last works: "This is the art of old age, the last 6 expostulation of the exhausted self."

Douglas Hewitt, Conrad: A Reassessment (Chester Springs, Pa.: Dufour Editions, 1968), pp. 4, 89. 4 Bernard C. Meyer, Joseph Conrad: A Psychoanalytic Biography (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1967), p. 242. 5 Frederick R. Karl, A Reader*s Guide to Joseph Conrad (New York: Noonday Press, 1960), p. 268.

6 Leo Gurko, Joseph Conrad: Giant in Exile (New York: The MacMillan Co., 1962), p. 225. 3

These critics begin with the premise that Conrad has

somehow lost his imaginative and stylistic ability, an idea that leads to a number of difficulties. First, generally the last works are of a lesser quality than Conrad’s masterpieces, but does this mean that he has completely lost his ability to write? Second, if they base their argument on this total loss of control they have no choice but to spend their time in trying to account for the tremendous falling off of the last novels. And ultimately, this is what they do, agreeing that

Conrad, because of ill health and financial problems, simply deteriorated as an artist. One may note that this kind of approach is highly evaluative as well as reductive.

Perspicacious criticism needs to be analytical and inclusive in nature. Here one can turn to Susanne K. Langer and her idea of the generative concept. That is, if you ask the right questions you can come up with answers different from those usually given:

Such ideas as identity of matter and change of form, or as value, validity, virtue, or as outer world and inner consciousness, are not theories; they are the terms in which theories are conceived; they give rise to specific questions and are articulated only in the form of these questions.7

What Mrs. Langer means by this quotation is that asking the same questions will lead to conventional answers. It seems fairly obvious that the critics are too busy evaluating to ask

7 SuSanne K. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (New York: The New American Library, 1951), p. 19. 4

the right questions. Therefore, if we utilize a basic

Conradian concept as the questioning mode then it should cast

a new light on these works, and one worthy of our serious

attention.

Before one moves on to employing the questioning concept,

one needs to describe the novels briefly and attempt to

characterize them. In The Arrow of Gold, the protagonist is

hired to run guns for the group supporting the cause of Don

Carlos, the pretender to the Spanish throne. This protagonist

becomes involved romantically with his employer, and they run

away together. The novel is set primarily in Marseilles.

Basically, it is concerned with the protagonist’s initiation into life through the love of a beautiful woman.

In The Rescue, the protagonist is preparing a revolution in order to return his native friend to power in one of the islands of the Malaysian group. Just when his preparations are nearing completion a British yacht is stranded on a sandbar in the staging area. The protagonist subsequently falls in love with the wife of the yacht’s owner. When some of the yacht people are captured by the natives the protagonist is torn between his honor and his passion.

The protagonist in The Rover has returned to his native

France to die. It is shortly after the French Revolution has concluded. He wishes to be left alone and goes to live outside Toulon, but becomes involved in the lives around him.

The protagonist succeeds in removing the obstacles to a young 5

couple’s , and he then goes off to die a heroic death

for his country.

Suspense’s protagonist finds himself in Genoa in a time not long after the French Revolution. Napoleon has just been exiled to Elba. He is surrounded by intrigue, gets involved with Napoleonic agents, and presumably is headed for Elba when the novel ends abruptly.

If one employs a different conceptual organization from that which is utilized by the other critics and applied what is derived from this as a tool, one can read the novels in a somewhat different way. The approach to these works taken here is to examine them by utilizing, as a framework, a conception of alienation, that is, to try to see what has happened to this concept (the assumption being that changes have occurred in it) by the time Conrad wrote his last novels.

The justification for utilizing this theme is that alienation is one of the basic Conradian themes.

The following explanation of the Conradian ethos is not the only one nor is it always so clear and well defined, but it is a well accepted analysis. Along with Conrad’s belief in the continuous pressures of reality exerted by nature, there is a feeling on his part that natural forces follow no logical pattern. Furthermore, he feels that these forces are indifferent to man, if not outright malevolent. Man, the alien being on earth, needs an ordered existence. Therefore, in order to survive, he has to band together with his fellow 6

man to create a reality that all can accept. This mutual

reality comes to be known as society. The ideal illustration

of society for Conrad is what is found on board a ship.

Unfortunately, on land society may be in turmoil because of

some kind of revolution. Fixed standards of conduct are the

main supports on which society is constructed. Conrad holds

that these "standards’* should not be violated, and if they were,

dire consequences await the violators. Zdzislaw Najder, in

the introduction to Conrad * s Polish Background, states that

Conrad developed this reverence for "standards" from Polish

literature:

It meant that the moral problems of an individual were posed in terms of the social results of his actions; and ethical principles were based on the idea that an individual, however exceptional he might be. is always a member of a group, responsible for its welfare.8

Society draws its strength from the combined solidarity of mankind. Individuals, of necessity, adhere to society’s

rules and regulations.

Thus, for Conrad, his central characters face, and have

to come to terms with societal reality, since this reality is

their protection from natural forces. However, some Conradian

characters cannot bear the constant demands of societal reality. In fact, they evince a desire to escape from these demands if they deal with them exclusively since this reality

8 Zdzislaw Najder, Conrad * s Polish Background (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1964), p. 15. 7

approaches ’’Reality,” an absolute. Accordingly, in order to

function in society, these characters need beliefs and ideals.

Paul L. Wiley sees this idea in similar terms: "In viewing

the contemporary world, Conrad found applicable again his

familiar conception of life as divided between the realm of

and brute struggle and that of human ideas of order and 9 value." Beliefs and ideals are the necessary illusions which

enable these central characters to function by allowing them

to be in accord with societal reality. Also, these illusions

aid them in reaffirming the importance of, and their belief in,

this reality. But, in order for their illusions to be

meaningful, they can only deny the societal reality at great

risk. Conrad’s characters who live within their private

illusions cannot survive. Conversely, the characters whose

illusions are not sustaining are also doomed. They do not have

the means of functioning, since they are incapable of productive

illusions. Without these illusions, they have no protection

from, or belief in, societal reality.

Many of Conrad’s characters are guilty of moral failures,

in that their moral decisions transgress society’s fixed moral

standard. Once they have failed in this way, they are beyond

society’s bounds and are no longer shielded from the

omnipresent natural forces. In the conflict with these forces

there can be no hope for them since they are outside the pale

9 Paul L. Wiley, Conrad * s Measure of Man (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1954), p. 86. 8

of society. These characters, no longer possessing ties of

any kind, are in a state of existence which may be entitled

"alienation."

In order to arrive at a clear conception of alienation,

it is important to define it as concretely as possible. As a means of doing this, the term "alienation" has to be seen

developmentally. It is important to note that this term is borrowed from psychology, but here it is to be applied in terms of art. For the purposes of this essay alienation is divided into partial alienation and total alienation, with partial alienation leading to, and culminating in, total alienation. Partial alienation is the result of an individual * s incapacity to form close ties with other individuals in his society, that is, in Conrad’s terms, a character’s inability to have friends. However, this type of alienation is a matter of degree, with the possibility that a character may be only slightly alienated ("partial" but not very much so) or close to "total," with only a little needed to tip him over the edge. Kenneth Keniston, who is involved in the study of alienation, talks about the nature of this very state:

A sense of cosmic outcastness—or loss of connection with a divinely or metaphysically structured universe that "cares" about man—almost inevitably leads to a sense of man’s estrangement from his fellow men.10

Kenneth Keniston, The Uncommitted: Alienated youth in American society (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Inc., 1965), p. 455. 9

Since "cosmic outcastness" may be confused with total

alienation it should be pointed out that Keniston seems to be

referring to man’s relationship to nature. Total alienation

is involved with man's relationship to society. But an

individual with no close personal ties may still be capable of performing a given function in the society. Erich Fromm,

a leading analyst of alienation, deals with this possibility in a clear and straight-forward manner:

An individual may be alone in a physical sense for many years and yet he may be related to ideas, values or at least social patterns that give him a feeling of communion and "belonging.

But when the individual's societal function is completely terminated, he may be described as being in a state of total alienation. Therefore, alienation in its total form is a state in which an individual is estranged both from other individuals (partial alienation) and from that aspect of his character that functions in society (estrangement from himself). It is to be noted that the concept "estrangement from himself" means that the aspect of the individual which functioned in society is now denied him and that he abandons it along with the society. That an individual who has left society is not at home with himself is certainly a Conradian tenet. It is of importance to point out that Fromm's definition of the alienated person is similar to the one

H Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), p. 19. 10

offered here: "The alienated person is out of touch with 12 himself as he is out of touch with any other person."

Keniston notes that "self-estrangement" is defined in many different ways and indicates that this type of alienation is

seen as coming from without: "His alienation from himself is seen as largely imposed from without, either by malign psychological influences, or by the corrupting effects of 13 captialist society."

Conrad’s most important characters usually find themselves alienated to the fullest degree. However, they become alienated in differing ways. Initially, these characters all suffer from partial alienation in that, not only do they not have friends, but they are not well integrated into their society. Actually, in terms of integration into their society they are alienated to various degrees. These characters are then subjected to a set of external circumstances that force them into decisions that they are internally incapable of making. As events, for Conrad, inexorably follow one another, these decisions lead to total alienation.

In the novels that have characters who have friends or are well integrated into society, there is no difficulty in finding the alienated. The validity of the foregoing statement

12 Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), p. 120.

13 Keniston, pp. 463-464. 11

may be seen in where Marlow and Stein are the

characters by whom we may gauge Jim’s alienation. In Heart of

Darkness. Marlow furnishes the norm for Kurtz’s deviation.

Also, in The Nigger of the Narcissus. Singleton functions in

the crew’s society, whereas Wait is alienated. Monsieur

George, in The Arrow of Gold, is the standard by which Rita’s

alienation can be grasped. The passengers of the yacht Hermit.

in The Rescue, represent the society from which Lingard is

dissociated. Cosmo, in the unfinished Suspense, is an

Englishman in Italy, and possibly, Adèle is the societal

character who would be the one to use as a measure for his

alienation. But in the novels where most of the characters

are alienated, such as . Victory. .

Under Western Eyes, and The Rover, a character’s alienation

has to be measured by his complete loss of function even

though the society he was operating in is sometimes difficult

to distinguish. Nostromo and Découd both function briefly in

Sulaco society (such as it was) and then abandon their function.

However much the other characters are estranged, they maintain

their function, as Charles Gould preserves his relationship to

the mine and Doctor Monygham continues to function as a doctor.

Heyst’s alienation has to be judged from the very brief period

that he functioned as Morrison’s partner in the Tropical Belt

Coal Company. Verloc functioned as a secret agent and his

subsequent alienation Is from that function. Razumov once qualified as a student and his alienation must be viewed from 12

that perspective. Peyrol was active as a member of a pirate

organization called the Brotherhood of the Coast, and his

alienation needs to be seen from this group. Many of Conrad’s

alienated characters find themselves in this intolerable

situation and try to effect a reconciliation with that aspect

of themselves that was estranged. This idea is strongly

emphasized throughout Conrad’s career. Since they are fully

alienated, a reconciliation would not only unify their

personalities, but it would return them to the confines of

society.

In order to simplify and present functional categories

it needs to be noted that within the more basic categories of

partial and total, other aspects of alienation are operative.

That is, characters may be suffering from partial alienation

either on an imaginative or a perceptive basis, and move to

total alienation because of either having too many or too

intense illusions (imaginative) or because they lack the

sustaining illusions without which people cannot function

(perceptive). And their moral decisions are related to which

of the two functional aspects is the more imperative for them.

One needs to mention that the characters found in each category have only their defect in common, and therefore two characters who have dissimilar personalities can be found in the same category.

The first type of alienation may be termed “imaginative** since the characters have usually alienated themselves from 13

other characters by the nature and extent of their illusions.

This may be illustrated by Jim’s dream of heroism in Lord Jim,

Nostromo’s absorption of praise in Nostromo, Wait’s critical

illness in The Nigger of the Narcissus. Verloc’s imagined love

in The Secret Agent. Rita’s need for a world centered around

her in The Arrow of Gold, and Lingard’s conception of his

self sufficiency in The Rescue. Cosmo, in Suspense, probably would fit into this category because he is young and very

idealistic. When these characters are totally alienated their

illusions either grow so inclusive as to obscure reality

completely or change so as to repudiate the existence of

societal reality. In either case the characters are destroyed

in one way or another. To say that these characters are

entirely uninsightful would not be quite precise, but one may

safely state that all but one are not intellectually aware of what is happening to them. Nostromo is aware of his situation but cannot save himself. Since they have failed to recognize the societal reality, their only recourse is in an existence centered around their illusions. The majority of these characters suffer from a moral failure which transgresses society’s fixed moral standard.

The second type of alienation can be called "perceptive" alienation. This type of alienation does not necessarily mean that the characters have no imagination, but rather that the quality of their illusions is not sustaining. Therefore they cannot even believe in the beliefs and ideals which are 14

the necessary illusions which would enable them to function in their society. The characters are alienated from other characters and sometimes from society by conscious choice.

This may be seen in Decoud’s doubting all reality in Nostromo.

Razumov's desire to work in isolation to win the prize in

Under Western Eyes. Heyst•s and Peyrol’s non-involvement in life in Victory and The Rover respectively, and Kurtz's missionary zeal in . Their intelligence has enabled them to understand certain facets of existence, but their lack of fertile illusions has kept them from belief in anything. For them, it is very difficult to believe in a reality since their weak illusions make them dubious about the substance of everything. These characters may sometimes have moral failures.

With the use of alienation as a kind of "questioning concept" these last novels appear to be developments of

Conrad's perennial concern, in differing contexts from the earlier work. I intend to analyze the strategies by which he proposed different alternatives in his attempt to answer the alienation question, in the belief that by so doing I can demonstrate that the novels have their own intrinsic validity.

In The Arrow of Gold Rita de Lastaola's strategy is an attempt at survival through a personal relationship with Monsieur

George after she has left society. Tom Lingard, in The Rescue, sees himself as not alienated and forms a personal relationship which proves to be his undoing. The Rover. Conrad's last 15

complete novel, has Peyrol as illustrative of a successful strategy as he manages to return to society and die a fully integrated being. Rather than holding them up against the earlier novels (as the other critics do) and finding that they are not as good, I intend to look at them in and of themselves, in order to determine exactly how this basic theme of Conrad’s, alienation, has been given different dimensions.

Let it be added that we cannot state that a difference in Conrad’s approach to alienation is the main cause of the lesser quality of these last works. However, his change in emphasis concerning alienation does not seem to be symptomatic of a change in his Weltanschauung as much as a final search for the comfortable harbor he finally found in The Rover. 16

The Arrow of Gold: Aesthetic Love and Society

The critical approach to this novel used by many

Conradians is that it is a piece of autobiography presented

as fiction. No doubt numerous biographical elements are

present, but that is not really the entire issue. To say

that this novel is autobiographical is not necessarily to

come to terms with its content. On first encounter one is

struck with the odd arrangement of the work in that it is a

tale placed between two notes. Conrad begins with a note

introducing the characters as well as providing the setting,

and the concluding note contains the plot resolution. Since

the central concern of this work is that of love described in

terms of art (aesthetic love) the novel almost seems as if it

were a framed painting.

In order to deal with this work more effectively one

should divide the central character Rita de Lastaola’s life

into three clearly discernible segments. The first segment

is concerned with Rita’s functioning in society with a minimal amount of social contact (partial alienation). This applies to her when she is supporting the pretender Don Carlos’ cause.

Segment two is initiated by the decision that she makes. Here, it is Rita’s resolution to leave society and travel to an isolated retreat with Monsieur George. And the third segment 17

ends in total alienation after the decision of segment two.

With Rita total alienation takes a short while to take effect since she has left society, but she still has contact with

Monsieur George. Therefore, she is still partially alienated at the beginning of this segment. Eventually, he is drawn back into society, and she is left in a state of total alienation. Rita’s illusion is that she can reject society and survive intact by having an interpersonal relationship with Monsieur George.

Rita de Lastaola is the alienated central character one needs to understand. However, given the narrator's perception of Rita, it is difficult to see her human side. After she is separated from the enshrouding fog of aesthetics, symbolism, and myth: "’Perhaps it is because I saw in that woman 14 something of the women of all time,'" she hardly exists as an individual. As it is, Monsieur George is somewhat confused about her reality:

I had never heard before a woman spoken about in that way, a real live woman that is, not a woman in a book. For this was no poetry and yet it seemed to put her in the category of visions.15

It seems as if this way of presenting her, with partial views and oblique presentations, adds to the sense of alienation at

14 Joseph Conrad, The Arrow of Gold (New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1938), p. 28.

15 Conrad, p. 34. 18

the beginning of the novel. She is isolated by her beauty and

attractions and is cut off from a real life as a consequence.

As a young girl Rita herded goats in the mountains of

Spain and existed without so much as a surname. She lived in

this rural world with her uncle, a poor priest, and her

sister, Therese. One day, when she was older and living with

an aunt and uncle in the city, she was discovered by the

artist Henry Allègre. He decided that she would be the

crowning piece to his art collection. At this point she

adopted the name, Lastaola, which appears to be a place near

where she grew up. With Allègre she had security as a part of

his aesthetically stable universe. Allègre truly seemed to be

a man that Browning’s Duke, and in some ways Stein in Lord Jim,

could have really appreciated. He seemed to have treated her

more as an art work than as a human being in that he really

did not relate to her as much as exhibit her. When he died

Rita inherited his whole materialistic, as well as aesthetic, world, but the secure, hermetic one in which she lived was now

gone. The inheritance of all his vast wealth had the effect of making her even more isolated.

When Rita makes her initial appearance in the novel she is assisting the Carlist cause (she has met the Pretender, Don Carlos, through Allègre), with money, but she is really living a marginal existence in terms of being integrated into the larger society. The Carlist cause itself as a rebellion against the established society provides little stability. 19

And Rita isn't really fanatically devoted to this, or any, cause. The reporter who knows Rita from the days of Allègre intimates that the Pretender is an adventurer whom Rita can see through. And Rita notes to George that nothing much impresses her: "'There is something in me that will not be dazzled by any sort of prestige in this world, worthy or unworthy.*”1^ Many of the other characters attempt to gain control of Rita, and primarily Rita’s wealth, for their own purposes. Rose, Rita's devoted servant, continually tells

Monsieur George that Rita has no friends. This oft-repeated comment, as well as her weak relationship to the cause, enables one to say that Rita is, at the least, partially alienated.

Her existence as a supporter of the Carlist cause begins to collapse around her. Captain Blunt, an impoverished

Southern aristocrat and adventurer, makes an attempt at becoming Rita’s lover. He is a fighter for the cause and when in town goes horseback riding with her, but she rejects him.

Events are closing in on Rita as the tenuous hold she has on the cause begins to disintegrate. Society is attempting to grasp Rita. She allows her maid, Rose, to visit her aged parents, and Rita runs to the house she owns on the street of

Consuls to get free of what she tells George are "busybodies."

16 Conrad, p. 206 20

But George has bad news for her. He tells her that their ties

have been broken since his vessel, which she funded for gun

running for the Carlist cause, has now sunk. This is another

tie dissolved. More bad news follows quickly. She discovers

that José Ortega, the madman who tortured her as a child and

loves her passionately, is also in the house. Ortega, finding out about Rita's presence in the house from Therese, Rita's

sister, attempts to force his way into Rita's room. Luckily for Rita and George, instead of getting into the room he impales himself on a swordlike object he is using. And finally, Therese, a rapacious hypocrite, keeps haranguing Rita about Rita’s way of life. Therese, hiding behind a facade of religion and piety, attempts to get Rita to repent:

"Come out and bow your head in humiliation. I am your sister and I shall help you to pray to God and all the Saints, Come away from that poor young who like all the others can have nothing but contempt and disgust for you in his heart. Come and hide your head where no one will reproach you—-but I, your sister. Come out and beat your breast: come, poor Sinner, and let me kiss you, for you are my sister i"^-7

Basically, Therese wants ownership of this house on the street of Consuls, in written form. Faced with the option of being taken over by her repulsive sister, Rita decides to go off into isolation with Monsieur George:

"Speak no words of love, Georgel Not yet. Not in this house of ill-luck and falsehood. Not within a hundred miles of this house, where they come

17 Conrad, p. 335 21

clinging to me all profaned from the mouth of that man.”18

One may assume that inherent in this decision is the illusion

that she can remain with Monsieur George in a state akin to

suspended animation. The attempt here by Rita is to give up

society but maintain George.

Of course, since she has given up her marginal societal

function (as a member of the Carlist cause), the state she

moves into is one of total alienation though it is held

temporarily in abeyance by the presence of George. However,

Rita views this flight with George as an attempt to return to

the kind of life she once had known. Jerry Allen talks about

Rita as one of Conrad’s alienated characters who "had either 19 been forced out or had chosen to leave the mainstream.”

Instead of George drawing Rita back into society’s realm, she

tends to pull George toward a state of alienation. What saves

George from total alienation is similar to what saves Marlow

in Heart of Darkness. Marlow, on the Congo River, is involved with running the steamboat, and George always has the sea:

On the other hand, my adventurous pursuit kept me in contact with the sea where I found occupation, protection, consolation, the mental relief of grappling with concrete problems, the sanity one

Conrad, p. 336.

19 Jerry Allen, The Sea Years of Joseph Conrad (Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday & Co., 1965), p. 236. 22

acquires from close contact with simple mankind, a little self-confidence born from the dealings with the elemental powers of nature.^0

Since most people usually cannot exist in a state of alienation

for long, society, in the unlikely person of Captain Blunt,

calls George back. Blunt spreads scandalous stories about

George being an adventurer only after Rita's money. George

does not inform Rita but seeks Captain Blunt out and challenges

him to a duel. In a sense George pays his price for

readmittance to society by being shot by Blunt in this duel.

Rita finds out about the duel but can not prevent it. She is

further alienated from society because George has responded to

Blunt's accusations, and there is a possibility of killing and

dying because of her. However, Rita nurses George back to

health, but since he has entered society by taking notice of

what is said about him in certain societal circles she can no

longer continue her relationship with him. Because Rita has

severed her connection with George she has no option but to

continue her life away from everyone. H. T. Webster, picking

up the wrong end of the stick, feels that Rita can renew her

affair with George and chooses not tos "Rita is too much the

creature of her own obscure destiny to remain Monsieur George's 21 lover long." But once George has entered society by

responding to its challenge Rita's destiny is sealed. Rita

Conrad, p. 242.

21 - H. T. Webster, "Joseph Conrad: A Reinterpretation of Five Novels," College English. 7, (December 1945), 133. 23

manages to survive total alienation, but Mills, the

intellectual character of the novel, is pessimistic about her future: "‘She will be wasted,’ said Mills sadly."22

Seemingly, Rita is capable of surviving physical death but

hers is a death in life. She can no longer rejoin society,

since she has no societal function and it is unlikely that she

will establish another intimate interpersonal relationship.

And William H. Hardesty, III, a critic, agrees that Rita is

destroyed: "Although they are the most powerful characters

in the novels, the women are, oddly, essentially passive and

acted upon—and, in the end, victimized and destroyed (Rita "23 again, figuratively).

Conrad, in the first note to this novel, mentions that

this work is about initiation into life. However, it is

initiation into life through love. The of this book,

The Arrow of Gold, may be read metaphorically (literally it

is the jeweled ornament worn in Rita’s hair) as the shaft

from Cupid’s bow. Frederick Karl notes that the arrow 24 "symbolizes chivalrous love mixed with sensual overtones."

It needs to be noted immediately that the overtones suggested by Karl are limited exclusively to his own idea of arrows as

22 Conrad, p. 350.

33 William H. Hardesty, III, "The Femme Fatale in The Idiot and The Arrow of Gold." Research Studies. 44 (Sept. 19’7'6), lSl. 24

24 Karl, p. 277. 24

sexual. The following ideas are treated in more detail below.

Therefore, it is sufficient to say here that Rita and Monsieur

George seem to have what can be seen as Conrad’s ideal love relationship in the midst of a hostile world. In fact, most of the other characters, either individually or in terms of the relationships they form, seem to be manifestations (at times almost to the point of allegory) of different modes of love.

It needs to be noted that the treatment of alienation found in this novel is reflected in both the person of Rita about whom the spectrum of love revolves and the ways in which she is presented. Certainly seeing a person as an art-object is in effect to alienate him from a normal relationship.

Given that she has great beauty this acts as an isolating factor between her and others. And furthermore, she is seen as being symbolic which removes her even more from normal human relationships. She is, and this is, of course, on the symbolic level, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, seen from an aesthetic perspective. One of George’s descriptions of Rita upon first seeing her (he has already heard talk of her and has seen two paintings of her) illustrates his aesthetic viewpoint:

The white stairs, the deep crimson of the carpet, and the light blue of the dress made an effective combination of colour to set off the delicate carnation of that face, which, after the first glance given to the whole person, drew irresistibly your gaze to itself by an indefinable quality of charm beyond all analysis and made you think of 25

remote races, of strange generations, of the faces of women sculptured on immemorial monuments and of those lying unsung in their tombs.

One might argue that George is a romantic and given to full­ blown phrases about Rita. However, Dominic, that man of level-headed judgment, action, and few words, indicates the same basic sentiment about Rita: ’’’She ought to be set up on a high pillar for people that walk on the ground to raise 2 6 their eyes up to.”' Mills, that intellectual man of books, suggests that she comes from a mountain temple: ’’’But speaking of her in the same strain, I’ve always felt that she looked as though Allègre had caught her in the precincts of 27 some temple ... in the mountains." There is, of course, a human quality of which George can be aware and to which he can relate. And this is of her as an innocent child: "This smoothness added to the many varieties of her expression also 28 that of child-like innocence." The stress in this work tends to be on Rita’s goddesslike quality, and subsequently, she is difficult to accept as a "real" character. Nowhere in the novel is she presented as a mature woman.

Monsieur George seems to be the prototypical hero. He

25 Conrad, PP- 66 26 Conrad, P- 127 27 Conrad, p. 33.

28 Conrad, PP- 92 26

is somewhat of an adventurer (but not enough to have lost his innocence) and is called "Young Ulysses" by his friends. His descriptive prose veers toward romanticism:

I lingered in an imaginary world full of tender light, of unheard-of colours, with a mad riot of flowers and an inconceivable happiness under the sky arched above its yawning precipices, while a feeling of awe enveloped one like its own proper atmosphere.29

The chivalric qualities he possesses are a natural outgrowth of his romanticism, and he adheres to no specific chivalric code. His way of seeing Rita is expressed in the aesthetic language one usually reserves for paintings and statues.

After hearing Blunt talk about her he is startled to discover that Rita actually exists in the flesh, and when she appears his first impression is artistic: "And even then the visual impression was more of colour in a picture than of the forms 30 of actual life." Another lover, Proust’s Charles Swann, comes to mind since he functions in a somewhat similar manner

However, it takes Swann quite some time to see Odette de

Crecy’s face in a painting by his favorite master, Alessandro di Mariano (Botticelli). Beneath it all George has still another and possibly deeper love. This is the one common to many Conradian heroes. While discussing Rita’s relationship to George, Adam Gillon touches upon this basic love: "Like

29 Conrad, p. 221.

30 Conrad, p. 66. 27

most women of Conrad, she has no real place in her man’s life; 31 she is outside his main passion—the sea.” And this love

for the sea is made vivid by Rita’s description of it:

"The seal The violent sea—and he is longing to rejoin itJ ... At nightJ Under the stars! ... A lover’s meeting," she went on thrilling me from head to foot with those words, . . .32

George’s friends know about his love: "’Because my friends

are in the habit of telling me (and each other) that the sea 33 is my only love.’” And at the end of the novel after Rita

has disappeared it is the sea which Mills reminds George of:

"•You will always have your ... other love—you pig-headed 34 enthusiast of the sea. ’ ’• And it is the sea, his ultimate

lover, which gets that symbol of love given to him by Rita,

the arrow of gold.

Rita and George’s love is based on what one may term the

aesthetics of art (as well as a child-like innocence) which

tends to alienate them from the normal. That is, most of what is underlying the love, at least of George, is an

attraction to the beautiful in art. In some ways George

reminds one of Pygmalion though George had no hand in Rita’s

31 Adam Gillon, The Eternal Solitary (New York: Bookman Associates Inc., 1960), p. 68.

32 Conrad, p. 104.

33 Conrad, p. 123.

34 Conrad, p. 351. 28

creation. Furthermore, Conrad has consciously separated

sensuality from his ideal conception of love. George’s

reactions to Rita are in the realm of the aesthetic rather

than the sexual. Towards the conclusion of the novel George finds himself in a bedroom with Rita:

All I wanted was to keep her in her pose, excited and still, sitting up with her hair loose, softly glowing, the dark brown fur making a wonderful contrast with the white lace on her breast. All I was thinking of was that she was adorable and too lovely for wordsi I cared for nothing but that sublimely aesthetic impression.35

Bernard C. Meyer, a psychoanalytic critic, who knows how to search out sexuality no matter how cleverly it is hidden, and does manage to find much fetishism here, can only report disconsolately that their bedroom activity is "rather vapid 36 conversation." When, still in that bedroom, they doze off, it is with full clothing and in an upright position. C. B.

Cox comments on this phenomenon in a more generalized form:

"Blissful repose on the breast of a protecting, maternal 3 7 woman seems often the aim of the Conradian hero." Conrad himself, in the second note at the end of the novel, is aware of the nature of their relationship as he describes them together in the Alps: "It is to be remarked that this period

Conrad, p. 304.

O c Meyer, p. 311.

37 C. B. Cox, Joseph Conrad: The Modern Imagination (Totowan, N. J.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1974), p. 170. 29

is characterized more by a deep and joyous tenderness than by 38 sheer passion.” One can only add to this comment that it is

an understatement.

The other aspect of their relationship is that of two

innocent children (again it should be noted that this

arrangement would be nonsexual), and George refers to this

throughout the novel: "We sat like two venturesome children 39 in an illustration to a tale, scared by their adventure."

And even at the end of this work the idea of their being

children is preserved in the second note: "In the unreserved

and instant sharing of all thought, all impressions, all

sensations, we see the naiveness of a children’s foolhardy 40 adventure." Michael H. Begnal seems to agree that Rita and

George are not sensual: "Even their passions are childlike

and asexual, as if they cannot bring themselves to participate 41 in adult sexuality."

Through the presentation of Henry Allègre, Conrad seems

to be sounding a satiric note about the artist and his friends

If Monsieur George is guilty of a form of aesthetic love, he

cannot compare with Henry Allègre who seems the master of

38 Conrad, P 337.

39 Conrad, P 151.

Conrad, p. 338.

41 Michael H. Begnal, "The Ideals of Despair: A View of Joseph Conrad’s The Arrow of Gold." 3, No. 3 (1971-72), 37. 30

this form. George relates to Rita aesthetically but on a private level (his attempt, at least, is to be involved with a human being, not an art object). Allègre, though presumably she is his mistress, is only interested in Rita the art object and exhibits her as if he were the curator of some museum (two hours every morning for four months of the year):

"Absolutely all, with Allègre self-deningly on her right hand, with that impenetrable air of guardianship. Don’t touch! He didn’t like his treasures to be touched unless he actually put some unique object into your hands with a sort of triumphant murmur, ’Look close at that. ”'42

The tone here seems closer to satire in that this aesthetic approach appears extreme than to any kind of symbolic depiction of the "real" world.

Paul L. Wiley reading the characters allegorically, sees

Ortega as lust and Therese as greed threatening Rita who is 43 x beauty. However, this premise is basically correct. Jose

Ortega seems to embody the sexual quality (though in his case, and it is impossible to know if Conrad felt this was true of all sexuality, it is not wholesome and appears as lust) that is missing in the central relationship. He is first mentioned when one is told of Rita’s beginnings. The connection which sticks in the mind is that of the lecherous Ortega and the conventional symbol of lechery, the goat. Conrad was too

Conrad, pp. 46-47.

43 Wiley, p. 167 31

perceptive an observer of the human condition just to represent lust in isolation in a character. He was aware that the root of lust is passion, and that passion manifests itself as wrath as well. Therefore, Ortega is presented as a twitching, boiling, driven, lustful maniac. Near the end of the novel

Ortega attempts to enter the bedroom occupied by Rita and

George by breaking down the door. Since he cannot make the door budge, he finds a swordlike weapon to help him, but he only succeeds in inflicting a wound upon himself. Conrad seems to be saying that Ortega’s lust has been self-defeating and has died from the same means that he tried to use to attack others.

To use the terms that apply to this section of the essay instead of Wiley’s construct one can say that Therese is in love with material objects (this could be a definition of greed). Ironically, she attempts to disguise her rapacious nature by professing to be religious (a "rustic nun").

Therefore, Therese is not only greedy, she is a hypocrite.

Though she constantly professes love for her sister, her actions show her to be interested only in her sister’s material possessions. Therese gets what she deserves in the end when she goes off with Ortega. They seem to be well matched.

Captain Blunt is a character who seems to truly represent the code of chivalric love for Conrad. It should be pointed out that he is used ironically to show that such attitudes are useless in a world such as this. He is scrupulously conscious 32

of accomplishing the correct societal gesture according to the code. Blunt fulfills the chivalric role well. He is a

Southern gentleman (an aristocrat by definition), living in exile and fighting for, as he sees it, a noble and aristocratic cause (the Carlist one). An adventurer, he is fond of noting that he lives by his sword. From one perspective (certainly it is his too) he is a knight fighting for a noble cause and for his (Rita). However, he lacks the ability to love

Rita as a person because of his chivalric notions of honor which stop him from loving anyone. He is so in love with his honor that everything else is unimportant. It is Mrs. Blunt who connects the naturally chivalrous Monsieur George with her code-conscious son in terms of chivalry:

"I am aware that you are very much younger, but the similitudes of opinions, origins and perhaps at bottom, faintly of character, of chivalrous devotion— no, you must be able to understand him in a measure. He is infinitely scrupulous and recklessly brave.”44

It is Captain Blunt as society’s unwitting agent who spreads nasty rumors in order to draw George back to society. He feels that since George won Rita his (Blunt) honor has somehow been called into question. Therefore, he can rationalize his unchivalric action of rumor mongering if it succeeds in bringing George back. Hence, he can challenge George to a duel and, by so doing, appease this chivalric sense of honor.

Blunt is in exile and is penniless since the South lost the war.

44 Conrad, p. 175. 33

Strangely, he is also a Catholic and could hardly have been

very popular in a Protestant society.

Even some of the minor characters seem to represent

modes of love. Certainly Rose, Rita’s servant, represents a

positive aspect of love, devotion. She is totally faithful

to Rita no matter what the circumstances. When Rita suggests

to Rose that she remain with her aged parents and receive a

substantial sum of money for her past service, Rose refuses:

’’’Don’t let Madame think that I would be too proud to accept

anything whatever from her; but I can’t even dream of leaving 45 Madame. I believe Madame has no friends.”* It is Rose who

travels great distances mailing letters from different places

so that Rita’s whereabouts can remain unknown. Could the

goddess of love inspire anything less than total devotion in

her attendant?

Mills is the intellectual who plays but a very small part

since this is a novel about love. One does not intend to

belabor any issue, but in a sense Mills is in love with

learning. When he informs Rita and George that he has to

return to his books, Rita teases him by saying that each

should return to his love: ’’’Each one to this love,’ she 46 bantered us gently. ’Didn’t I love books, too, at one time!”’

Conrad, p. 175.

46 Conrad, p. 104. 34

Several of the relationships formed by the characters further illustrate different modes of love. Outside of Rita and George’s idyllic romance the only other somewhat positive love relationship is between Madame Leonore and Dominic.

They seem to live in a somewhat less romantic world than Rita and George. In fact, when they are first introduced one half expects that they will function like Musetta and Marcello of La Boheme to Rita and George’s Mimi and Rodolfo. But after the enterprise with George fails, Dominic drops from sight.

Madame Lezonore sells her cafe, and they disappear from the novel. Conrad probably drops them because they have now moved to the margins of society, and they no longer furnish any adequate contrast with Rita and George. It needs to be noted that negative emotions connected with love, like jealousy, are manifested by Madame Leonore. She, who travels nowhere usually, makes a trip across the entire city to get a glimpse of Rita since Dominic has mentioned Rita favorably.

There is also a mother-son and father-daughter relationship in the novel. Mrs. Blunt is hardly an example of a nurturing mother, but she admires, and is the driving force behind, her son. His relationship to her seems less clear, but it is obvious that he respects her. Mrs. Blunt is a woman who is inherently practical, and she tries to use her son to acquire Rita’s fortune. They are not positive characters, and this fact tends to be reflected in one’s response to their relationship. On the other hand, one is 35

given a picture of that paragon of his daughter’s virtue, the

Italian father. In this novel he is a man of the world, but

he goes to great lengths to protect his daughters from it.

The Italian and his daughters remain nameless here, and their

sole function seems to be as an illustration of paternal

solicitude.

The larger issues of aesthetics, love, and allegory

need to be explained in greater detail. One interesting

approach is that this novel which is so involved in

aesthetics is a satire: "From the contrast between the

mutilated dummy and the perfect harmony of Rita’s appearance

proceeds that note of moral irony which makes The Arrow as

much a satire on a rigidly aesthetic philosophy as a brilliant 47 portrayal of the milieu of the artist and his circle."

This is a perceptive view of the novel, and the satiric

element seems to be present in this work. However, it does

not seem to be a dominant element. One seemingly moves

closer to what is at the heart of this novel with Harold E.

Toliver: "For it is the liberating simplicity of Arcadian

love in the midst of a corrupt and complex society that is, 48 I think, the major theme of the novel." To take this point

one step further is to note with Michael H. Begnal that it is

47 Wiley, p. 165.

48 Harold E. Toliver, "Conrad’s Arrow of Gold and Pastoral Tradition," Modern Fiction Studies. No. 2 Tsummer 1962), p. 149. 36

the so-called adults who live in pretense and fantasy with

their machinations of government and societies, and their 49 plots and counterplots which are meaningless. However, it

needs to be pointed out that it is only the rebellious group

which is engaged in these machinations. Paul L. Wiley notes

that the novel turns allegorical, but he is still involved

with the satiric: "At the conclusion Conrad’s satire on

aestheticism attains its greatest concentration as it broadens

into allegory.One may agree that there is a tendency

toward allegory, but this has little to do with the satiric.

In Victory Conrad made an attempt to use allegory with the

creation of Mr. Jones, Ricardo, and Pedro. The characters in

this novel seem to be more complex than those totally

allegorical ones.

What is Conrad trying to accomplish in this novel, and

does he succeed? Most critics feel that he is rehashing his

own life, and this work is a dismal failure. It seems fairly

clear that the large metaphysical issues that grow out of

alienation which were prominent in the earlier novels are not

present here. There seems to be a failure here in the lack of

development in the character of Rita. She is not very believable as a human being and is only acceptable as symbolic

It is unfortunate but one tends to agree with Leo Gurko’s

49 Begnal, p. 38.

50 Wiley, p. 170 37

snide comment about Rita: "Rita is a study not in life but in still life.’’^1 However, and this is the important point,

Rita does do something that no other major Conradian character

attempts. She tries to maintain herself outside of society with only an interpersonal relationship.

Another issue Conrad never tackled before is that some forms of love are alienating, separating people from their real selves and putting them into false positions in relation to society. Rita and George are driven into a state of complete isolation from society and its necessary guidances.

One element of this phenomenon is that a truly romantic all encompassing love tends to isolate individuals from their society. They become so involved in each other that they have no time for societal demands. Another aspect of their relationship is that the Carlist movement is collapsing, and they have their relationship to keep them afloat. Also, given the pressures on Rita from many of the other characters only by disappearing totally can she have the kind of relationship with George she wants. A number of the other characters who represent different modes of love are alienated. Jose Ortega’s societal function does not seem to extend beyond serving the

Carlist cause. His attempt at an interpersonal relationship is his passionate longing to possess Rita which is destined to go unfulfilled. Certainly he can be seen as being partially

51 Gurko, p. 226. 38

alienated and on the edge of total alienation. Therese desires the written title to Rita’s house on the street of

Consuls as if that piece of paper could give her a societal function since she is partially alienated. She hovers on the brink of total alienation. Captain Blunt has the Carlist cause and his mother, but he is very close to total alienation since all he cares about is his honor.

It seems, given the circumstances, that for Rita and

George alienation is the only sensible road by which they can carve out some reasonable life for themselves. However, they must come to terms with society at some time. George can return to it since he still has his societal function, and he can be reintegrated into that society. Rita’s fate almost seems to be that of a constant wanderer. Wagner’s Dutchman needed a true love, but Rita needs much more, true reintegration. 39

The Rescue: The Lord Jim Syndrome

The Rescue is a novel begun by Conrad very early in his

career, but he did not complete it until he was quite old.

Gustav Morf calls it part of his "Malayan Phase" along with

Almayer»s Folly and An since they all 52 have setting and a character, Tom Lingard, in common. When first attempted this novel was called The Rescuer and Thomas

Moser notes that it occupied Conrad on and off for twenty-four 53 of the twenty-nine years of his writing career. Of the five hundred and ninety-eight pages of The Rescuer manuscript

Conrad used two hundred and forty-seven for the finished 54 product. If one is interested in a thorough comparison between the unfinished The Rescuer and the finished novel published near the end of Conrad’s career, Moser’s article is indispensable. Here we will deal only with The Rescue as a finished work, and with the character of Tom Lingard as he

52 Gustav Morf, "The Rescue as an Expression of Conrad’s Dual Personality," Polish Review. 20 (1975), 211.

53 Thomas Moser, "The Rescuer Manuscript: A Key to Conrad’s Development—and Decline," Harvard Library Bulletin, 1956, p. 326. ------

54 Moser, "The Rescuer Manuscript: A Key to Conrad's Development—and Decline," p. 327. 40

appears in it disregarding his role in the other works. In order to consider this work effectively, the narrative structure needs to be discussed, and a plot summary has to be supplied. And as has been done before, the novel’s structure will be analyzed in terms of imaginative alienation. Many of the other characters in this work are alienated in varying degrees, and their situations will be discussed when they relate to the protagonist. Where appropriate a number of similarities to Lord Jim will be noted.

In addition to dialogue the tale is narrated in the third person by an omniscient author. The opening section sets the mood, and provides information as to theme and character traits that will be important later on in the novel. This work unfolds in the "present,” but there are crucial flashbacks to fill in the events of the past. And the important point to note here is that the present of the novel is an immobile one.

That is, relatively little action is depicted in the present.

The mood of the entire work is set when the novel opens on a scene of deadly calm: "To the south and east the double islands watched silently the double ship that seemed fixed amongst them forever, a hopeless captive of the calm, a helpless prisoner 55 of the shallow sea." This quality of immobility is about to affect the protagonist, Lingard, and from here on, most of his

55 Joseph Conrad, The Rescue (New York Doubleday, Doran & Co * Inc., 1938), p. 5. 41

effective action is already past. Even when events happen in the present of the novel they are related to the reader not as they are happening, but after they have occurred or, in other words, when they are in the past. For example, Mr.

Travers and d’Alcacer are abducted from a sandbank, but the reader is only told about it after it has happened. An even more outstanding example is in the climax of the novel when the Emma explodes. One is not given an account of this event as it is taking place. Only after this event is in the past is it related to the reader. At the time of the events on board the Emma Conrad has chosen to inform the reader about

Lingard. The irony in this situation, as well as andther example of the immobility of the present, is that Lingard is almost totally inactive. That which functions as the setting in the present has already been fixed in the past. In some ways this technique is reminiscent of the one used in William

Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury in that events can only be seen clearly when they are viewed in the past. Besides being depicted as enervated, the unclear present does have elements of mystery and suspense as ingredients of the mood, but they are only realized, after the past events are explained. The past in this novel is that glorious time when Lingard was engaged in feverish activity and had plans for a future which he would be instrumental in shaping. The reader has now been immersed in the early stages of that future (or in other terms, the present of the novel), and this present is stagnant. 42

To help place characters and events in a meaningful

context a chronological summary of the plot is necessary. It

is to be noted that there are a number of pasts referred to in

this novel and that they tend to overlap. In the most distant

past of this novel Captain H. C. Jorgenson saved a native

chieftain, Belarab, and his followers, from the results of being on the losing side of a civil war. Using his ship he

carried them to a place called the Shore of Refuge so that they can begin their own settlement. Actually, this settlement

is not situated on the Shore of Refuge but on a small lagoon inland from the shore. In a more recent past on one of his trading missions Tom Lingard finds himself surrounded by hostile natives. He is rescued from danger by a Malay prince,

Hassim, who is from the island of Wajo. Lingard is grateful and promises to visit Hassim in Wajo. When Lingard finally does visit Hassim he finds Hassim, his sister Immada, and what is left of their faction on the losing side of a civil war.

Though Hassim sends Lingard a ring along with a message to forget about him since he is doomed, Lingard manages to effect a rescue. He then takes Hassim and his followers to the

Belarab settlement. Lingard vows to return Hassim to power.

In order to accomplish this feat Lingard travels and trades extensively and with a complete singleness of purpose accumulates many arms and munitions. He stores this materiel on board a ship, the Emma, which he had bought and grounded, on shore farthest from Belarab*s settlement, solely 43

for this purpose. When busily securing more arms and natives

to fight in Hassim*s cause, Lingard also manages to persuade

Jorgenson to sail with him to the Shore of Refuge and take

command of the grounded Emma. All of these events take place

prior to the beginning of the novel. As the tale opens

Lingard is sailing to the Shore of Refuge to meet Hassim,

Iramada, and the mercenary natives that he recruited, to begin

the revolution. Joined with the mercenary natives are

dissenting natives that were once under the control of Belarab.

However, before he arrives an English yacht, the Hermit. is

grounded on a sandbank off the Shore of Refuge. Lingard

attempts to remove the people aboard the yacht to his ship, but the yacht’s owner doesn’t trust Lingard and refuses to move. Subsequently, this same owner, Mr. Travers, and a

Spanish nobleman, d’Alcacer, are captured by some of the mercenary natives. Lingard then removes Mrs. Travers and the rest of the crew to his craft. After receiving a letter from

Jorgenson to the effect that ’’the natives are restless,’* he goes to the Emma taking Mrs. Travers along since he has developed a fondness for her. Lingard negotiates the release of Mr. Travers and d’Alcacer and takes them on board the Emma.

In the meantime, the yacht’s mate who is now in charge of

Lingard’s brig manages to free the yacht from the sandbar.

This maneuver upsets the mercenary natives since they think that Lingard has tricked them by getting their prisoners and removing that which they wish to plunder. Lingard is then 44

forced to show his good faith by returning Mr. Travers and

d’Alcacer to Belarab’s settlement where the original deal was

arranged with the mercenary natives. These natives still

unsure of Lingard decide to take action on their own and

capture Hassim and Immada. They determine that what they want

are the weapons on board the Emma. Jorgenson arranges a

meeting with the chiefs of these mercenaries as long as they

bring Hassim and Immada. This meeting is to take place on

board the Emma in the early morning. The night before

Jorgenson sends Mrs. Travers to see Lingard at Belarab’s

settlement and give him the ring that once belonged to Hassim.

She decides that she should not give this ring to Lingard

because she surmises that he would rush to help Hassim and

leave her husband and d’Alcacer to their fates. When the mercenary native chiefs are on board the Emma Jorgenson, who

has heard nothing from Lingard, makes his own decision and

leaps into the hold of the Emma with a lighted cigar. The

ship explodes killing all aboard except Hassim*s messenger,

Jaffir, who eventually finds Lingard and explains the events

to him. The people of the yacht are saved and sail away.

In order to keep the criteria in mind for understanding this novel in terms of imaginative alienation, they can bear restating. This structure permits one to divide the characters’ lives into three distinct segments. The first segment involves a discussion of the characters* functioning in society with a 45

minimal amount of societal contact (this state is called

partial alienation). In this novel it pertains to Lingard

aboard his brig, Lightning, since he considers this ship an

extension of his homeland. An important decision made by the

characters forms the basis for segment two. Here, it is

Lingard*s decision to help the people of the yacht Hermit.

Segment three is concerned with that state of total alienation

the characters experience after the decision of segment two.

In this work Conrad has created a character whose function

society can not remove. Lingard owns his own brig and functions

as a trader. However, Lingard considers himself connected to

his homeland and his brig an extension of it. In this case his

total alienation comes not with the loss of societal function

but when Lingard realizes that he really has no connection to

his homeland. Furthermore, one has to monitor the functioning

of the characters’ imaginations and illusions with which they

operate. Lingard has a number of illusions here which seem to

stem from his basic illusion of being self sufficient. Conrad

certainly presents the situation in terms of morality, but the

issue as given here is complex, and some think that he is less

than clear about the blame.

Though Lingard himself seems to feel he is committed to

society, the people in that society, represented in this novel by the people of the Hermit. don’t seem to see it that way.

Tom Lingard is a character who comes from the lower strata of

society and has raised himself to what he now is, commander of 46

a brig, by a series of jobs ranging from "trawler-boy” and collier to gold digger. This kind of background convinces

Herbert Howarth that Lingard can be seen as a new kind of hero:

The Rescue differs from Lord Jim by its dislike of the English elite and western colonialism, and its choice of a hero from below, Lingard, who is not "one of us," but has begun in poverty and grown in adventure a New Man.56

Lingard’s basic world is the world of the brig itself. He has left his native England long ago and seemingly has no human relationships there, but he most certainly sees his ship as an extension of his homeland: "’But here,’ he continued, ’here, which is also my country—being an English craft and worthy of it, too—I am powerful enough. ... This bit of my country is 57 all my own.”* The feeling he has for his brig can be summed up by saying that for him it is everything and everyone:

She represented a run of luck on the Victorian gold-fields, his sagacious moderation; long days of planning, of loving care in building; the great joy of his youth, the incomparable freedom of the seas; a perfect because a wandering home; his independence, his love—and his anxiety. He had often heard men say that Tom Lingard cared for nothing on earth but for his brig—and in his thoughts he would smilingly correct the statement by adding that he cared for nothing living but the brig.58

eg Herbert Howarth, "Conrad and Imperialism: The Difference of The Rescue.’’ Ohio Review. 13, (1971), 63.

5? Conrad, p. 75.

58 Conrad, p. 10. 47

And if more proof is needed about Lingard’s feeling for his craft here it is in the form of a paean later in the novel:

Every flutter of the sails flew down from aloft along the taunt leeches, to enter his heart in a sense of acute delight, and the gentle murmur of water alongside, which, continuous and soft, showed that in all her windings his incomparable craft had never, even for an instant, ceased to carry her way, was to him more precious and inspiring than the soft whisper of tender words would have been to another man. It was in such moments that he lived intensely, in a flush of strong feeling that made him long to press his little vessel to his breast. She was his perfect world full of trustful joy.59

His feeling of belongedness is tied up with his brig since he sees it as a piece of that country he has left literally but not in spirit.

The English people aboard the grounded yacht, Mr. and

Mrs. Travers, as well as the others, don’t consider Lingard as

’’one of them.’* Mr. Travers sees Lingard as a pirate and cutthroat who is trying to extort a large sum of money from him in order to get the yacht afloat. Mrs. Travers, who is more sympathetic and is attracted to Lingard, thinks him outside of society: "She considered him apart from social organization. She discovered he had no place in it.”®®

Actually, Lingard in a more insightful moment is aware of the difference between himself and his brig and the English people

Conrad, p. 54.

60 Conrad, p. 167. 48

and their yacht:

He turned his head away as if the sight had been too much for him at the moment of separation, and, as soon as his little boat had passed beyond the limit of the light thrown upon the water, he perceived very low in the black void of the west the stern lantern of the yacht shining feebly like a star about to set, unattainable, infinitely remote—belonging to another universe.61

It is not only the English who see Lingard as somewhat alienated from his own society. One of the not-so-trustworthy

Malay chiefs, whom Lingard has assembled as part of his mercenary force, notes that Lingard may not be depended upon even if he did seem apart from his fellow whites: ’’After all, it was perhaps a great folly to trust any white man, no matter 62 how much he seemed estranged from his own people.” The

Malays, Hassim and Immada, consider Lingard to be their friend.

However, he seems to view the situation differently. He reveals what one has noted as a particular hallmark of partial alienation when he answers Mrs. Travers’ question by saying he has no friends: ’’’Not I,’ he said with decision. ’A man like 63 me has no chums.”’ Here, one can note the partially alienated man who may well be on his way toward becoming totally alienated

This process is to take place, in part, through the agency of

Lingard’s illusions.

Conrad, p. 203.

6^ Conrad, p. 296.

co Conrad, p. 307. 49

Though Lingard is not a particularly reflective individual

he suffers from numerous illusions such as a feeling that he

is omnipotent, that there is true worth to his word (or his

honor), and his chivalric attitude toward love (in this case

the object being Edith Travers). However, one may conclude

that these illusions all seem to stem from his feeling that

he is self sufficient. Obviously, he does not realize how

easily fate can snatch this sufficiency away. The illusion

of omnipotence manifests itself as his feeling of complete

control over himself as well as others. Ironically, he does

have somewhat of a basis for this illusion of omnipotence.

On the personal level Lingard is attractive, romantic in an

adventurous way, and above all, he is quite strong physically.

He depends on this physical strength much more than is prudent.

Since he carries no weapon, claiming he is too quick-tempered

(this says much about the control he has over himself), at times he finds himself in difficult situations with unfriendly natives. His dependence on his physical strength enables him to note with pride that in a pinch he could always demobilize the native nearest to him. However, it is this very illusion about his individual strength which blinds him to a very obvious danger (surrounded by armed hostile natives) from which Hassim rescues him. Later, on his brig, Lingard thankful for his escape talks to Hassim about England and seems to understand that his power is limited to the brig itself: 50

64 "In fact, I am Rajah here." When some time later Lingard

saves Hassim and his followers he uses his brig to great

effect and rescues them in a lightning-like move. Natives

there still say that the ship sailed back into a cloud after

rescuing Hassim and the others. Here is Lingard, associated

with lightning, at the height of his powers seeming omnipotent

to the natives. Single-handedly Lingard prepares for the

revolution that will restore Hassim. When the novel opens the

mercenary natives have arrived, and Belarab is uneasy. After

all, the cohesive element holding all these dissimilar people

and desires together is that which derives from Lingard’s

power, that distillate called his "word." To be totally honest

one needs to note that the weaponry on board the Emma is the

basis in reality of Lingard’s power, but it cannot be fully

protected from a native attack since the defenders, Hassim*s

followers from Wajo, are too few. So, now one has to deal with

another of Lingard’s illusions, his word, his honor. Lingard,

like Jim of Lord Jim, is called Tuan, or lord, by the natives.

He is even called by some "King Tom." Like Jim, he is in

control of a society of natives drawn to him by his seeming power and the illusion of honor. However, Lingard knows that he needs someone he can depend on to guard the valuable cargo on board the Emma.

Lingard secures the services of Captain H. C. Jorgenson

64 Conrad, p. 75 51

a man who is almost a specter of a man and, for all intents and purposes, Lingard*s alter ego. Jorgenson’s past is in many ways similar to Lingard’s present in that Jorgenson prides himself in never having betrayed his word to anyone.

When he is found by Lingard, Jorgenson is on the brink of nonexistence since he possesses no ties to anything but a native wife. In some ways, Jorgenson’s alienation arises from the fact that he has attempted what Rita de Lastaola of The

Arrow of Gold also tried, to leave society and just maintain an interpersonal relationship. The effect that this has on

Jorgenson is that he seems to be a ghost and is a step away from total oblivions ’’Old Jorgenson paced along, lean and faded, obstinate and disregarded, like a haunting spirit from gc the past eager to step back into the life of men.” However, when Lingard first broaches the subject of the nature of his venture Jorgenson tells him to drop the whole project. Lingard’s argument in return smacks of illusion: ”’I’ve foreseen every gg single thing. Trust me!”’ Jorgenson first attempts to get

Lingard to relinquish his absurd plan. Failing to achieve this, Jorgenson decides that it doesn’t really matter where one dies. So after he gets Lingard to promise to see to it • < that his native wife won’t starve if he dies, Jorgenson is

Conrad, pp. 97-98.

66 Conrad, p. 105. 52

content. The reader is now presented with the strange image

of what was once a ship, the Emma, commanded by what was once

a man, Jorgenson.

King Tom, who has told Jorgenson that he had foreseen

all, is confronted by a yacht owned by English people aground

just off the Shore of Refuge. At this point in the novel he has completed his preparations for the assault on Wajo and is going to meet Hassim and Immada right at the very spot where the yacht is stranded. This man of infinite power now needs only to clear a yacht away. When he goes aboard this yacht to tell them of their peril (hostile natives), he is not believed.

Lingard, the man whose word is everything to the Malays, or so he believes, can’t accept the fact that he is not trusted by what he considers to be his own kind:

He had said: "You are in the way of my work. You are in the way of what X can not give up for anyone; but I will see you through all safe, if you will only trust me—me, Tom Lingard." And they would not believe himJ°7

Ultimately, he feels that they have no option but to do what he wants since it is either believe him or perish. But he is so busy arguing with Mr. Travers on the yacht that he has totally forgotten Hassim and Immada for whom he is in this area. Here, rapidly following each other, are two attacks upon his word. The first is that the English people on the yacht

67 Conrad, p. 128 53

do not accept his word, and the second, and more serious, is

that though he has pledged his word to Hassim he has

temporarily forgotten about it. Finally, Mr. Travers chases

him from the yacht, and Lingard vows that he won’t ever step

foot on the yacht again. Shortly after Mr. Travers and

d’Alcacer are captured by the natives on a sandbank, Lingard

finds himself aboard the yacht helping Mrs. Travers off. He pledges his word to Mrs. Travers that she will not be harmed

as long as he is alive. Being so wrapped up in his illusions of power he doesn’t conceive of the possibility of his word given to Hassim and Immada coming into conflict with his word to Edith Travers. Or worse still, he feels that there is no possibility of this happening since he controls all the variables. For Tom Lingard the unforeseen doesn’t exist.

At least on his brig Lingard has some basis for his illusion of power. However, after receiving Jorgenson’s letter concerning the difficulties with the mercenary natives he is so far removed from reality that he leaves the brig in the hands of the yacht’s mate and makes for the Emma with

Edith Travers but with no men or weapons. Jorgenson can’t believe that given the situation Lingard has shown up with something as useless as a woman. Mrs. Travers* comments indicate that she is aware of Lingard’s illusions when Mr.

Travers asks her to tell Lingard how important a man her husband is: ”’It would have been no use; his mind is fixed upon his own position and upon his sense of power. He is a 54

68 man of the lower classes. • • .**• Even Edith Travers, whose mind has difficulty focusing on what is real, can perceive the nature of Lingard’s illusion. Still later in the novel he tells Mrs. Travers about his name, and his illusions are still intact: ”«I am King Tom, Rajah Laut, and fit to look any man hereabouts in the face. I have ray name to take care of. 69 Everything rests on that.*” With the explosion of the Emma the last vestige of real power disappears, and Lingard is left solely with his illusions.

Another manifestation of the illusion of his word is his chivalric attitude toward Edith Travers. Like Jim, Lingard is described as if he were a chivalrous individual:

In such acts performed simply, from conviction, what may be called the romantic side of the man’s nature came out; that responsive sensitiveness to the shadowy appeals made by life and death which is the groundwork of a chivalrous character.

He can be seen as a knight and in some ways a courtly lover.

In fact, Lingard even has his own crest. It is two thunderbolts (his ship’s name is the Lightning) between his initials. In some ways this insignia is an appropriate symbol for him. In the past those qualities that one associates with lightning would apply, but in the present the thunder is more

6® Conrad, p. 271.

69 Conrad, p. 338.

70 Conrad, p. 74. 55

apt. That is, he does a great deal of talking, but he has no effect. If he is a courtly lover and a knight, Joel Kehler thinks that he doesn’t quite make a success of it: "Lingard is an ineffectual, almost absurdly backward knight and courtly 71 lover." Lingard sees himself working in some sort of partnership with Edith Travers in making this enterprise a success. He feels that she is too honorable, and playing according to the rules of chivalry will not betray him. Adam

Gillon feels that there are two factors that keep Edith from

Lingard:

If there had been a momentary impulse in her to yield to the temptation, there were at least two strong factors acting against it: her devotion to Mr. Travers and a half-conscious realization later made obvious to her, that Lingard had no place in the social organization of which she was part.72

One is tempted to disagree with the contention here that Mrs.

Travers is devoted to Mr. Travers, mainly because the text says otherwise. One sentence quoted from the novel should suffice to sum up their relationship: "She married him, found him enthusiastically devoted to the nursing of his own career, 73 and had nothing to hope for now." However, if Gillon means that she is devoted to her duty as wife in a particular society

71 Joel Kehler, "A Note on the Epigraph to Conrad’s The Rescue.” English Language Notes. 12 (1975), 186.

72 Gillon, p. 64.

73 Conrad, p. 152. 56

one can accept that. Mrs. Travers may be described as a character who is partially alienated with a romantic desire to escape her societal function. But when the occasion arises for her to fully remove herself she opts for her prior existence. D’Alcacer, an aristocrat and chivalrous himself, sees Immada as a Princess and Lingard as her knight. Seeing the extent of Lingard’s illusions d’Alcacer predicts that

Lingard will have his heart broken. In the course of events,

Lingard, who has now gained possession of the mercenary natives* prisoners, Mr. Travers and d’Alcacer, realizes that he has to return them to Belarab’s settlement to prove true to his word. However, he is so involved with Edith Travers at this point in the novel that before he returns them he awaits her sanction of his action. Still later, in Belarab’s settlement, instead of remaining alert and making decisions,

Lingard collapses at Edith’s feet with his head resting on her knee. And at the end of the novel when he has discovered that she has betrayed him, Lingard nobly says that he would have done nothing even if Edith had given him the ring. Even here at the bitter end he is chivalrous and takes the moral responsibility of the prior events upon his own head.

It is necessary to discuss the decision which Lingard makes which leads to his total alienation. The fateful decision is the one to help the people on board the yacht even after Lingard is treated shamefully by Mr. Travers. Since 57

society in the guise of Mr. Travers has rejected him and his help, he no longer has the responsibility of their lives weighing on him. Seemingly, he could just as easily abandon them to their fate (presumably to be robbed and murdered by the mercenary natives), but he chooses to attempt to convince

Mrs. Travers of his good intentions so he can help them all.

Subsequently, his decisions seem to be less and less rational as he becomes more and more involved with Edith Travers.

Early in the novel one is told that Lingard is defenseless against feelings of the heart: "—the man ready for the obvious, no matter how startling, how terrible or menacing, yet defenceless as a child before the shadowy impulses of his 74 own heart. ..." Certainly this is proved true with his passion for Edith Travers. Some critics have noted that he makes no decision in the critical moments at Belarab*s settlement. This is true, but this nondecision is a logical outgrowth of his decision to support the people of the yacht, especially Edith. It is not to be forgotten that he has pledged his word to Edith, and his inaction and nondecision are manifestations of this vow.

Just as surely as Jim’s allowing Gentleman Brown total escape causes his demise, so Lingard’s inaction (though he is not in full possession of the facts since Edith failed to give him the ring) brings about the explosion that eliminates the

74 Conrad, p. 11. 58

possibility of his ever achieving the goal of restoring Hassim

to power by killing Jorgenson, Hassim, Immada, and their few

faithful followers. When he hears the explosion Lingard

knows that his world is gone. True, the people of the yacht

are now free, but his word has now lost the only substance

that was behind it. That is, that which had "real” power

(weapons and munitions on board the Emma) has now been

annihilated. Immediately after the explosion Belarab knows that Lingard has no more "real" power and dismisses him: 75 "He was no longer a man of any importance." Since even this explosion cannot remove Lingard*s societal function, it is obvious that Lingard realizes he no longer has any ties to that society in England. The people of the yacht who were concrete manifestations of that society to him have betrayed him, or better still, he has betrayed himself because of them.

The tie that he thought existed is no longer there. This is evident when he talks about how his brig no longer seems the same: "’She will carry me about as she did before, but. • • .’" With the termination of this tie Lingard is totally alienated. At the close of the novel Lingard is a shattered man and is not pleased to hear that Jdffir, that still faithful messenger, is still alive. Compelled to see the dying

Jaffir one can now see Lingard’s total alienation:

75 Conrad, p. 443.

76 Conrad, p. 452 59

On his passage to the main hatchway the commander of the brig met no one on the decks, as if all mankind had given him up except the old man who preceded him and that other man dying in the deepening twilight, who was awaiting his coming.77

This quotation is interesting beyond what it obviously says.

Lingard is no longer referred to by name but as "the commander of the brig." It is as if Lingard has lost his name along with his society. Also, he is now surrounded by the old and dying. The final message from Hassim to Lingard, just before he knew his end was near, is to release Lingard from his obligations, for Lingard to forget everything. And asking about Immada, Lingard discovers that she hoped no longer. In juxtaposition to Lingard they emerge as noble to the end. One is reminded of something that Lingard thought and felt at the midpoint of the novel:

He could not sacrifice his intention, the intention of years, the intention of his life; he could no more part with it and exist than he could cut out his heart and live. The adventurer held fast to his adventure which made him in his own sight exactly what he was.78

Lingard, losing the tie that he assumed he always had, finds that he is truly alienated from his self. He becomes, In some ways, what Jorgenson was earlier in the novel, a specter of a man.

In the concluding pages of the novel he meets Edith for

Conrad, p. 449.

78 Conrad, p. 219 60

the last time on a sandbank. Realizing the hold she has had

on him he finally dismisses her. Edith’s final view of him

is of his sitting immobile at what seems to be a symbol of his

lost dream, the ephemeral (given that it is in a sandbar that

water must eventually cover) grave of Jaffir:

She saw him sitting near the mound of sand, his back bowed, his hands clasping his knees, as if he had obeyed the invincible call of his great visions haunting the grave of the faithful messenger. Shading her eyes with her hand Mrs. Travers watched the immobility of that man of infinite illusions.

It is interesting to note that Lingard’s immobility remains,

and he sends Edith off to be with what is left of his

illusions. The final sentences of the novel deal with the

direction that Lingard now will sail. He finds out that the

yacht is sailing south so he commands the brig to be sailed

north. However, one calls to mind Thomas Mann’s conception

that the South is connected with passion among other things

and the North is the land of cold reason. Some critics tend

to approach this ending from a different angle. Hugh

Pendexter, III feels that at the end Lingard moves from the 80 shallows back to deep water. This comment would be in

keeping with the subtitle of this novel which is ’’A Romance

of the Shallows.” And René Kerf thinks that this type of

79 Conrad, p. 446.

80 Hugh Pendexter, III, "Techniques of Suspense in Conrad," The CEA Critic. 28 (Feb. 1966), 11. 61

image is new to Conrad:

Yet a new element appears in Conrad’s symbolic imagery when the dangers represented by the shallow seas and the enclosing lands are contrasted with the greatness and freedom of the ocean.®!

But it is to be kept in mind that Lingard is a hollow man by the time he returns to the open sea.

There is an obvious moral issue here, but the moral dilemma is quite complex. For Conrad a character is guilty of a moral failure when his moral decision transgresses society’s fixed moral code. Since he has failed in this way he Is beyond society’s bounds and is alienated from that society. For example, Jim, in Lord Jim, abrogates his moral responsibility for the passengers of the Patna by jumping from that ship. Jewel feels that his failure in Patusan is a moral one also. In this novel the two separate situations found in

Lord Jim are brought together. Lingard is morally responsible for Hassim, Immada, and their cause. When he realizes that he has failed them morally, he is alienated from English society.

His moral failure gives him no choice but to sever his ties with the society represented by the people of the yacht. It is ironic that his moral insufficiency arises from his attempt to aid that very society. There can be no doubt that Lingard

81 René✓ Kerf, ’’The Nigger of the Narcissus and the Ms. Version of The Rescue.” English Studies. 44 (Dec. 1963), 440. 62

is on the horns of a dilemma since he cannot have his

revolution and save the English too. Earlier in the novel he

has a chance to be free of his responsibility to the English

when Mr. Travers demands that he leave the yacht. But at this

point in the work Lingard still feels connected to that English

society.

An attendant issue is that of moral responsibility.

Moser feels that Conrad protects his characters from

responsibility:

The truth is, however, that although the later Conrad sets up a clear moral problem, no one is really to blame for the evil outcome. The reader surely understands the moral of The Rescue: responsibility lies not with hero and heroine but somewhere else.82

However, Gary Geddes thinks that Lingard is destroyed morally

in this novel:

Lingard cannot survive the secularization or commercialization of his vision; that is why a conflict between his sense of honor and his passionate impulses destroys him morally.83

Certainly the issues as presented here approximate life and

as such, aren’t simple. There is no doubt that if Edith

Travers gave Lingard the ring the issue would be clearer.

Edith is partially alienated and finds the whole adventure

unreal. She continually sees events in terms of dreams,

Moser, "The Rescuer Manuscript: A Key to Conrad’s Development—and Decline," p. 349.

83 Gary Geddes, "The Rescue: Conrad and the Rhetoric of Diplomacy," Mosaic. 7, No. 3 (1974), 111. 63

dramas and operas:

Gravely, Jorgenson opened above Mrs. Travers! head a big white cotton parasol and she advanced between the two men, dazed, as if in a dream and having no other contact with the earth but through the soles of her feet.84

And here she is watching the events unfold as drama: "This

was no stage play; and yet she had caught herself looking at

him with bated breath as at a great actor on a darkened stage 85 in some simple and tremendous drama.” Aside from her

inability to see certain incidents as real, shouldn’t she have

attempted to free her husband (even if she doesn’t love him

he still is her husband and society has its requirements) and

d’Alcacer from the natives? Certainly she is morally responsible for what she has done, and she is aware that she has acted in a less than honorable manner when Lingard takes the total responsibility himself by saying that it didn’t matter if she gave him the ring. Lingard didn’t receive the ring from Edith so he couldn’t have really known that Hassim and Immada were in imminent peril. However, he is responsible for not seriously questioning Edith about why she was suddenly sent from the Emma to Belarab’s settlement. He perfunctorily asks her, but he doesn’t really care about an answer. He is so happy to see her that when he needs to be most active and alert he is insensate. True, he is enamoured of Edith, but

84 Conrad, p. 288.

85 Conrad, p. 282. 64

does this absolve him of moral responsibility? The situation

is volatile, and he is aware of this. People’s lives are

hanging in the balance. There is no doubt but that Lingard is

aware of his moral failings by the end of the novel. One may

further say in partial answer to Moser, that Conrad doesn’t

so much shield his characters from moral responsibility,

though there are mitigating circumstances, as protect them from the death that would inevitably befall them for these moral failings if this were an earlier novel.

There seems to be no way out of the situation for Lingard.

If the revolution had been a success wouldn’t he have married

Immada and ended like Jorgenson? Captain H. C. Jorgenson functions like a mirror image for Lingard in this novel. He saved Belarab and married a native woman. But there can be no doubt that Jorgenson is totally alienated. The major difference between Lingard and Jorgenson lies in the type of alienation from which each suffers. Lingard who is involved with his illusions can be seen as belonging to the category of imaginative alienation. Jorgenson seems to fall under the rubric of perceptive alienation since he has no sustaining illusions. He has no belief in any cause and knows that only death is waiting for him. He accompanies Lingard only because it doesn’t matter where one dies. But Jorgenson is a man who seemingly knows all:

He was an evident failure himself, but he was believed to know secrets that would make the fortune of any man; 65

yet there was a general impression that his knowledge was not of that nature which would make it profitable for a moderately prudent person.®®

Therefore, his decision to destroy the Emma is based on two

sources. On the literal level he has seen no indication that

Lingard is alive or active. Hence, if Lingard is no longer

available there is no point in prolonging the enterprise.

Anyhow, seeing without illusion he decides that the only way

out is death. Since he has been on the verge of death from

his first appearance it is no momentous step.

Here is a novel which approaches the concept of love in

terms of alienation in a different way. In a number of

earlier works a woman is the way back into society for the

alienated man. Instead of reinforcing Lingard’s ties with

English society his relationship with Edith Travers is the

means by which he is totally alienated. However, Mrs. Travers

is a woman who is married and is fully immersed in her

societal function of wife. The other alienated characters in the earlier novels deal with women who were available.

Possibly, this kind of an impossible relationship reflects more on the extent of Lingard’s illusions.

Of the final novels, The Rescue is by far the most exciting as well as the most complex. At its heart lies a perfect Conradian theme: man isolated, dependent only on himself, is trembling on the edge of disaster, whether he

86 Conrad, p. 91. 66 realizes it or not. The final moral dilemma defies a resolution that is not a failure. If there is a flaw in this work it is Conrad’s letting the dialogues become too lengthy.

Had it not been for books like Lord Jim and Nostromo. The

Rescue would be known as one of Conrad’s more interesting works 67

The Rover: Regeneration

The Rover is Conrad’s last completed novel. There can

be no doubt that it is a work of affirmation. One seems to

have no choice but to agree with Avrom Fleishman’s assessment

of the novel:

It is the story of a man alienated from community, nation, and humanity at large, who finds it necessary and possible to re-establish his ties with others in order to fulfill himself—or even in order to be able to die.®7

To analyze this work, the structure and functioning of

perceptive alienation needs to be examined. Also, the

historical background of this novel, that period of time after

the French Revolution, is important to its meaning, and one

may discuss the symbolic possibilities inherent in this work.

In dealing with this novel one is placed in a somewhat

awkward position. The category of perceptive alienation needs

to be invoked, but in order to apply it to the novel, one has

to set it on its ear. A treatment of perceptive alienation

can be found in the introduction to this essay.

However, having laid this out neatly, I must confess that this novel does not work precisely in this manner. In fact,

8 7 Avrom Fleishman, Conrad♦s Politics (Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1967), p. 151. 68

it seems to function in almost a reverse way although the

three part sequence remains intact. Peyrol, the protagonist,

begins the novel as a totally alienated character. He is

withdrawn, almost a specter at the game of life, and he has

returned to his native France. At the beginning of this novel

he is a man between two societies. He has left the

Brotherhood of the Coast where he had interpersonal

relationships and has come back to a France where he has no

societal function and knows no one. The powerful illusions of

good fellowship and patriotism are not his. Actually, he

seems not to have any sustaining illusions, and so he is ready

to die. However, since he is moving toward reintegration it

is his positive qualities which are stressed as compared to

other Conradian protagonists who are on their way to

alienation and have their negative qualities amplified. His moral failing was in the past when he was a member of the

quasi-pirate group, the Brotherhood of the Coast. In the present of the novel, while living in France at an isolated

farmhouse, he becomes involved in the lives of the people

around him. Furthermore, a plan to deceive the English fleet, who are blockading France at this time, comes his way and he decides to carry out the scheme himself. Those societal illusions mentioned earlierj good fellowship and patriotism, are now his. At the novel's climax he becomes reconciled with his native land. Subsequently, Peyrol moves from being a totally alienated man to being one who is fully integrated. 69

Some time prior to the beginning of the novel Peyrol decides to leave the Brotherhood of the Coast and return to

France. In the opening pages of the tale, the fifty-eight year old Peyrol is seeing a France he has not seen since he left it as a young boy. He has returned with a prize, a captured ship, which he sails into the harbor at Toulon.

Having no connection with his homeland and belonging to a pirate organization leaves Peyrol less than pure morally:

But as to that, old Peyrol had made up his mind from the first to blow up his valuable charge— unemotionally, for such was his character, formed under the sun of the Indian Seas in lawless contests with his kind for a little loot that vanished as soon as grasped, but mainly for bare life almost as precarious to Hold through its ups and downs, and which had lasted for fifty-eight years.88

In case one is in doubt about Peyrol’s estrangement from

France, Conrad makes it clear: ”He had been a rover of the outer seas; he had grown into a stranger to his native 89 country.” It is now long before one is informed that his name is not Peyrol. But he does not know his real name

(beyond the given name of Jean), and Peyrol was the name of the farmer where he and his mother were working before she died. After his mother’s death he ran off and hid on a ship, and when he was found all the sailors could understand of what he said was the name Peyrol. Since that time this name stuck

Joseph Conrad, The Rover (New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1923), p. 1.

89 Conrad, p. 2. 70

to him.

As quickly as he can Peyrol takes his hidden treasure

(found on the captured ship) and leaves Toulon to get away from the officials. Although it may seem that Peyrol is escaping with his treasure, in reality he has laden himself with a materialistic burden. This plunder keeps Peyrol estranged from anybody as it limits his activity and makes him less communicative. His idea is to travel toward that place where he was raised. This totally alienated being is looking for a place to hide himself and his booty: "He did not want to own any part of the solid earth for which he had no love.

All he wanted from it was a quiet nook, an obscure corner out 90 of man’s sight where he could dig a hole unobserved." At last he finds an isolated place, near where he grew up, the

Escampobar farm, located on the solitary Giens peninsula.

Across the straits from this peninsula is the island of

Porquerolles where he thinks he was born. The inhabitants of this farm seem to have no contact with any of the people living in their vicinity: "Yes, even for women’s clothes the

Escampobar natives could do without intercourse with the outer 91 world." Initially, Peyrol‘s relationship to the other people at the farm is as non-existent as are his illusions:

90 Conrad, p. 12.

91 Conrad, p. 103 71

Having learned from childhood to suppress every sign of wonder before all extraordinary sights and events, all strange people, all strange customs, and the most alarming phenomena of nature (as manifested, for instance, in the violence of volcanoes or the fury of human beings), he had really become indifferent— or only perhaps utterly inexpressive.92

He is given a room that seems to suit him, and he thinks about his treasure as his estrangement is emphasized:

In that room, raised a good many feet above his revolutionized native land where he was more of a stranger than anywhere else in the world, in this roomy garret full of light and as it were surrounded by the sea, in a great sense of peace and security, Peyrol didn’t see why he should bother his head about it so very much.93

At this farm one finds the totally alienated man amongst people who themselves are alienated.

At this point one may discuss Peyrol’s new environment as to the kind of people living in this lonely farmhouse cut off from the outside world. The most important person for Peyrol is the girl, Arlette, who is the owner of the farm. But she is the owner in name only since she is incapable of under­ standing what the concept of ownership means. As a young girl while in a convent she was brought to Toulon during the

Revolution. Her parents, ardent Royalists, sailed their tartane from the farmhouse to Toulon in order to find her.

They succeeded in locating her, but the next day before they could escape the city they were killed by a mob of

Conrad, p. 24.

93 Conrad, p. 35. 72

revolutionaries. These revolutionaries then took Arlette with

them, and she fell under the care of Scevola Bron, a young man who lived near the Escampobar farm. Arlette had the unenviable experience of running through streets of blood with the mob and watching people getting killed. The persistent image embedded in her memory from this time was of a head impaled upon a pike. Finally, she was brought back to the farm, via the tartane which was first emptied of bodies by

Scevola. Since he felt that he had saved her life, Scevola proceeded to make himself at home at the Escampobar farm.

Arlette has become traumatized by these events and flits around the farmhouse not really fully alive. She can be seen as being totally alienated in that she lives in a world of her own. Wilfred S. Dowden thinks that she is presented as 94 ghostly in the earlier section of the novel.

By the time of this novel, Citizen Scevola is an anachronism, a sans-culotte who is now imprisoned by circumstances at the Escampobar farm. In fact, he is totally alienated since he has no interpersonal relationships and his societal function as a sans-culotte has been terminated.

Conrad's dislike of revolutionaries makes itself apparent in such works as The Secret Agent. Under Western Eyes, and Nostromo. and this attitude has not changed here. Besides depicting the

94 Wilfred S. Dowden, Joseph Conrad: The Imaged Style (Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 1970), p. 179. 73

bloody mob scenes of the streets during the Revolution, he

creates in Scevola the most despicable character in the entire

novel. Scevola skulks about the farm and feels that he is

entitled to Arlette if she ever returns to normal. However,

Conrad illustrates Scevola’s mental imbalance by showing him

suffering from passionate weeping fits. At one point he

ventures down to the village church, and the villagers gather

together in order to kill him since sans-culottes are now

hated. The reason for this hatred is that the sans-culottes

were known as drinkers of blood because they murdered so many

people during the Revolution. The village priest saves him

from harm by stopping the angry mob. This is a fitting irony

because priests have just returned to parishes since during the

Revolution they were hunted by the sans-culottes. By any

account, Scevola is a miserable, alienated, and sick

individual.

Arlette*s Aunt Catherine also lives at the farm. She,

when much younger, had a passionate but unrequited love for a

priest. Catherine feels that all the women of the Escampobar

farm have been singled out for divine wrath. She cooks the meals and keeps an eye on Arlette whom she feels is fit for

no man. Obviously, she is partially alienated too since she has no interpersonal relationships, but she does perform the

societal duties of running the farm and caring for Arlette.

Lieutenant Real is the child of ci-devant parents who were guillotined during the Revolution. He has no friends 74

among his fellow officers and spends the time he is free from his duty station in Toulon at the Escampobar farm:

His principles were purely professional and he had never formed a friendship in his life—more unfortunate in that respect than old Peyrol, who at least had known the bonds of the lawless Brotherhood of the Coast.95

In fact, Lieutenant Real is a classic example of a man who is partially alienated. What he does have is his duty, and he performs it faithfully. From the farm one can watch the straits, and Lieutenant Real is interested in the English corvette, Amelia, patrolling the waters. Since Real has no personal contacts, that which keeps him from being totally alienated is his devotion to his duty. But like the others, he is barely alive.

Finally, the last character associated with the Escampobar farm is the peasant, Michel. He was the person Peyrol encountered when he first approached the farm. Michel’s impression of Peyrol at that time was that Peyrol was a priest. A dog was Michel’s only companion in the beginning of the novel, but he lost even this meager relationship when the dog died. However, shortly after the dog’s death, Michel attached himself to Peyrol and became his devoted servant.

As the novel progresses Peyrol’s attitude toward some of the Escampobar people changes. Early in the novel he is concerned about Arlette and notes that the people at the farm

95 Conrad, pp. 70-71 75

live in the same world as he does: ”’I am old Peyrol and this

place, as lonely as a ship at sea, is like a ship to me and 96 all in it are like shipmates.”' Though he continues to

remain aloof they are drawn to him: "Still, Peyrol had broken

through: and, presently, the peculiarities of all those

people at the farm, each individual one of them, had entered .97 through the breach. And at this point there seems to be a

slight change in Peyrol's attitude: "Till lately Peyrol had

not concerned himself very much with the mental states of the 98 people with whom he lived." There is movement here toward relationship by the people at the farm and Peyrol. However,

Peyrol's significant regeneration begins when he decides to

search for a boat.

Peyrol, having been a sailor and spending much time on the

sea, feels a need for owning a boat and discovers a tartane that has been beached for years. He finds out that this tartane originally belonged to Arlette*s parents and has been left on that beach from the time that Citizen Scevola brought

Arlette back to Escampobar from Toulon. After talking to

Scevola about the ownership of this craft, Peyrol acquires it.

He needs to totally refurbish the tartane and remove the dried

96 Conrad, p. 44.

97 Conrad, p. 71.

98 Conrad, p. 79. 76

blood from the cabin walls. This point seems to mark the initial stage of his regeneration and, symbolically, of

France. While he is in the process of renovating the boat his only companion (Michel at this time still has his dog) is a cripple who shows no fear of Peyrol and who talks bitterly about the Revolution. The cripple feels that the Revolution has been a failure and that the French people are no better off now than they were before.

With the individuals the cripple has recruited for him,

Peyrol gets the tartane afloat. But his contact with this cripple has increased his awareness of individual possibility and has made him think in terms of people’s interiors rather than just their exteriors. In his turn, Peyrol touches the cripple by telling him that he is a ’’man,’* that is, he is someone Peyrol would want with him when times were difficult:

***I tell you that there is that in you which would make a chum 99 one would like to have alongside one in a tight place. * *’

Peyrol goes on to realize that he could have been born like the cripple or any other Frenchman for that matter. At this point Peyrol begins to identify with his fellow Frenchmen:

He could not have been like any blackamoor, good, bad, or indifferent, hale or crippled, king or slave; but here, on this Southern shore that had called to him irresistibly as he had approached the Straits of Gibraltar on what he had felt to be his last voyage, any woman, lean and old enough, might have

99 Conrad, p. 98 77

been his mother; he might have been any Frenchman of them all, even one of those he pitied, even one of those he despised. He felt the grip of his origins from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet while he clambered on board the tartane as if for a long and distant voyage.

But the literal voyage is a short one. The long voyage is his return from alienation to integration. As we have noted before, here is the beginning of Peyrol*s establishment of a viable relationship with other people and, by extension, France.

We may note Peyrol’s effect on some of the denizens of the Escampobar farm. His strong physical appearance and his ability to perceive without reacting, which projects an air of complete mastery of his self, give him a powerful positive appeal for them. Peyrol is the first human being Arlette has noticed for years, since she is usually in some sort of somnambulistic trance. Catherine tells Peyrol about his effect on Arlette: ’’’And the child took to you wonderfully. Some sentiment was aroused in her at lastJ in fact, Arlette goes so far as to call Peyrol, ’’Papa Peyrol.’’ While referring to Lieutenant Real, Conrad notes Peyrol’s effect on Arlette:

[Real] could not know that Peyrol, unforeseen, unexpected, inexplicable, had given by his mere . appearance at Escampobar a moral and even a physical jolt to all her being, that he was to her an immense figure, like a messenger from the unknown entering the solitude of Escampobar;

Conrad, p. 98.

101 Conrad, p. 169 78

something immensely strong, with inexhaustible power, unaffected by familiarity and remaining invincible.102

Arlette talks about Peyrol*s effect on her though she is less

than clear: ”’It was as if I had recognized him. I said to 103 myself: That’s he, the man himself.”* Because of Peyrol *s

influence Arlette has been brought back to lile, and she is

now able to love. Therefore, she is no longer alienated and

can be reintegrated into society.

Peyrol also has a positive effect on Catherine who is as

alienated in her way as Arlette. Catherine responds to a

feeling about Peyrol’s force:

That stranger come from "par deld les mers” was out of it altogether, cared probably for no one in the world but had struck her imagination by his masculine aspect, his deliberation suggesting a mighty force like the reposeful attitude of a lion.3-®^

Later on Peyrol attempts to get Catherine out of her self recriminations: ’’’But you see, Mademoiselle Catherine, you were not like the others. You allowed yourself to be struck

all of a heap, and at the same time you were too hard on yourself.’”1®® And when she is told by Arlette that Peyrol will not be seen again, Catherine has a definite emotional

102 Conrad, p. 219.

103 Conrad, p, 219.

104 Conrad, p, 146.

105 Conrad, p, 236 79

response. Here, too, Peyrol’s influence has placed Catherine on the road to reintegration.

The basis for Peyrol’s vital decision is formed and comes to fruition through enactment of a plan that French

Headquarters has given Lieutenant Real. That plan has to do with an attempt to fool the captain, Captain Vincent, of the corvette, Amelia, by allowing false documents to get into his hands. The Amelia is the most visible part of an English blockade of France commanded by Admiral Nelson. Real attempts to involve Peyrol in the plan by appealing to Peyrol’s national sentiments: ”'I mean all Frenchman;’ said the lieutenant. 106 T0r, let us say simply France, which you too have served.”*

Peyrol is becoming more open to this line of reasoning since he now cares for the cripple and Arlette who are also a part of France. He considers the plan and finds that it strikes a positive note:

The disinherited soul of that rover ranging for so many years a lawless ocean with the coasts of two continents for a raiding ground, had come back to its crag, circling like a seabird in the dusk and longing for a great sea victory for its people: that Inland multitude of which Peyrol knew nothing except the few individuals on that peninsula cut off from the rest of the land by the dead water of a salt lagoon; and where only a strain of manliness in a miserable cripple and an unaccountable charm of a half-crazed woman had found response in his heart.7

Conrad, p. 118.

107 Conrad, pp. 142-143. 80

To make the plan functional Peyrol feels a sailor is needed

since it was conceived of by a landsman. Peyrol makes the

decision to put this plan into operation by himself. He who throughout this novel watches events develop (as opposed to

Tom Lingard of The Rescue who initially tries to actively form the events) has enough knowledge and information to carry the plan out successfully. Once Peyrol makes that decision what

Avrom Fleishman says about his overall action in the novel is true:

The Rover develops the advanced position that the best spectator is he who can both see clearly from a distant perspective and engage in altruistic yet self-fulfilling activity—all the more effective because of his detachment.!®®

Finally, as the novel draws to a close one sees Peyrol caring for Michel on a personal level and reconciling himself with France on a societal level. As the plan has now been put into action, Peyrol, Michel, and Scevola sail out to meet their death, but only Peyrol is aware that this is their destiny. Scevola is aboard because he was trying to kill

Lieutenant Real and managed to get himself locked into the cabin instead. Peyrol is not sure how Scevola came to be there but knows that he came on board with a murderous purpose and has only himself to thank for being there. Michel is an innocent and Peyrol is feeling guilty about taking him along. However,

Peyrol notes to Michel that he has nobody: "’Doesn’t it seem

108 Avrom Fleishman, "Conrad’s Last Novel," English Literature in Transition. 12, No. 4 (1969), 191. 81

funny to you, as you look back at the shore, to think that you 109 have left nothing and nobody behind?”' Michel agrees that

he leaves nobody since the only person he has is Peyrol.

Again, Peyrol shows his concern about sacrificing an innocent

individual’s life: ’’’If I had gone away by myself, I would

have left you marooned on this earth like a man thrown out to die on a desert island.*”110 Michel answers that he knows that

his position in life is that of the last of mankind: ’"Somebody 111 must be last in this world.’” One has to consider that if

Peyrol can relate to and care about the last of mankind hasn't

he achieved the ultimate personal relationship? And finally,

once more, Peyrol worries about what he is doing to Michel

and decides that he is doing the right thing:

"Noi" he burst out, loud in the wind, as if giving vent to long anxious thinking, "No. I could not have left you behind without even a dog for company. Devil take me If I don't think you would not have thanked me for it, either.”112

They are chased by the Amelia and are killed as Peyrol had anticipated. In fact, Peyrol dies with the English word,

"steady," ringing in his ears. Captain Vincent is unhappy about killing the brave men in the tartane, and he admires the

109 Conrad, P. 252 110 Conrad, P- 253 111 Conrad, P- 253

112 Conrad, P* 266 82

seamanship of the now dead Peyrol:

Perhaps he had been impressed by Peyrol’s white beard, his obstinacy to escape him, the determination shown to the very last minute, by something in the whole episode that suggested a more than common devotion to duty and a spirit of daring defiance.

He decides to honor them by giving burial by sinking the

tartane with the bodies aboard. As a further gesture to their nobility Captain Vincent gets a French flag and attaches it to the craft. Here one sees the enemy, an English Captain, giving an honorable burial to a noble foe. This is England’s

salute to a true Frenchman, Peyrol. And the final irony is that Peyrol’s real greatness and seamanship is far more than that recognized by Captain Vincent since the plan called for

Peyrol to be caught. After a chase like the one Peyrol led

Captain Vincent on, how could the now captured documents be false, or so goes the logic of the English thinking. No matter what Captain Vincent says of Peyrol the reader knows his worth to be much more.

Peyrol’s reconciliation with society occurs in other areas too. After his death is known, Catherine who has now made her peace with God, asks a priest to pray for the soul of

Jean. Dowden believes that Peyrol whom Michel first thought to be a priest ’’remains true to his belief and by his x 114 sacrificial act brings life to Arlette and Real as a gift.”

113 Conrad, p. 277.

114 Dowden, p. 180. 83

His treasure is discovered, and it is given to the French

government. And the final comment on Peyrol comes from the

lips of Lieutenant Real: "’But the only certain thing we can 115 say of him is that he was not a bad Frenchman.•” At this

point one can safely conclude that Peyrol is fully integrated

into his society. Of course, there remains the basic irony

of his dying in order to be integrated. John Lehman ties the

novel together by noting its progress:

Parallel with her [Arlette! redemption is Peyrol’s: he is brought back from his aimless, retired existence on the farmstead into action and new identification with his beloved France by the plot to deceive the English fleet; and his death in that action, inspired both by patriotic devotion and selfless love for Arlette, absolves the lawless, pirate exploits of his youth.!!®

Since the possible symbolic associations of this novel have been ignored up to this point, it is time to explore them. One readily finds oneself agreeing with Eloise Knapp

Hay when she says that Peyrol as representative of or symbolizing the French nation is the embodiment of liberty, equality, and brotherhood, at least, as close as man is likely 117 to get to these qualities. Given this perspective R. W.

Martin speaks in a similar vein: "Peyrol represents the

Conrad, p. 286.

116 John Lehman, "In Rereading The Rover." World Review. NS 28 (June 1951), 45.

117 Eloise Knapp Hay, The Political Novels of Joseph Conrad (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1963), p. 317. 84

ancient, at first slumbering, but enduring finer spirit of 118 France.” Peyrol, besides removing Scevola, sacrifices himself for Arlette and Réal’s relationship. Both Arlette and

Real are offspring of parents executed by the Revolution.

Possibly, as Martin continues, they "represent the new purged 119 France that Peyrol has restored." Certainly Scevola has to be seen by Conrad as an aberration since Conrad has never been a friend of revolution or revolutionaries. In fact,

Scevola is the only negative character in the work, and this includes the English who, though they are the enemy, are honorable. Gustav Morf seems to be correct when he notes that 120 true patriotism in this novel is above political divisions.

Some critics tend to see the symbolism in a rather different light. John Boyles sees Arlette*s progress toward 121 life as a symbol of France in some respects. And to take the character of Arlette one step further, Herbert Howarth observes that Arlette*s very white face framed by very black hair is a gesture of reconciliation of the world’s warring

118 R. W. Martin, "Allegory in Conrad’s The Rover." English Studies in Africa. 10 (Sept. 1967), 186.

119 Martin, p. 189.

120 Gustav Morf, The Polish Heritage of Joseph Conrad (London: S. Low, Marston & Co., 1930), p. 182.

121 John Boyles, "Joseph Conrad’s The Rover.♦♦ Use of English. 18 (Winter 1966), 126. 85

122 opposites This is an interesting observation, but one is not sure what this adds to the interpretation of this novel.

David L. Higdon seems to feel that this novel is more

allegorical than realistic:

As Conrad wrote this particular novel he gradually moved from a masculine world concerned with fidelity, betrayal, and biblical archetypes to a feminine world of suffering, idealism, and classical archetypes.123

It seems wise to avoid the issue of allegory mainly because it becomes very difficult to apply these categories to the novel. Also, I remain dubious that these particular archetypes exist in Conrad, and certainly to classify in terms of masculine and feminine does not seem justifiable. The women’s liberation movement would not look upon Higdon’s divisions very favorably. On the other hand, Elizabeth Cox

Wright notes that this novel is dealing more with ih e modern 124 world and less with the symbolic world of myth. H. F.

Lippincott also f eels that this novel deals with the modern world:

Despite Conrad's debts to nineteenth century literature, Peyrol is the prototypical modern hero,

^22 Herbert Howarth, "The Meaning of Conrad's The Rover." Southern Review. 6 (July 1970), 693.

David L. Higdon, "Conrad’s The Rover: The Grammar of a Myth," Studies in the Novel. I (Spring 1969), 17.

Elizabeth Cox Wright, "The Defining Function of Vocabulary in Conrad's The Rover." 59 (Spring 1960), 277. 86

rootless and faced with problems of personal identity which the novel’s locale helps dramatize.125

And finally, this last comment seems to harken back to an issue Stein was interested by in Lord Jim:

Nevertheless it succeeds in its attempt to provide an answer to life, an affirmative view which denies despair and supports the possibility of finding an organized and dignified solution to the problem of how to be.126

There can be no doubt that Conrad, in this his last completed novel, has turned things around and finally has achieved a resolution to the career-long question of how a character can become integrated into his society after he has been totally alienated. On this level alone this novel is a fitting end to Conrad’s writing career. The Rover, with its lean prose style, is hardly the novel one should cite in an attempt to prove the case of the notions of exhaustion and illness as explanations of the final novels* decline. The final affirmation in this novel speaks not of exhaustion or illness, but of exhilaration. Judged from the standpoint of singleness of purpose as well as execution this work though in a minor key belongs in the same arena as his finest achievements.

H. F. Lippincott, ’’Sense of Place in Conrad’s The Rover. Conradiana. 6 (1974), 109.

126 Michael Laine, "Conrad’s The Rover: The Rejection of Despair," -Queen’s Quarterly. 80 (1973), 246. 87

Conclusion

What has been attempted here is a concentration on the last novels for and by themselves. They differ in a number of ways from each other as well as from the earlier ones.

There can be no doubt that Conrad is tackling several different ways in which alienation functions. In particular, his handling of the theme of love, and his final positive resolution of the concept of alienation are very significant.

The Arrow of Gold and The Rescue both appear under the rubric of imaginative alienation. However, the protagonists in each are quite different from each other as well as from the protagonists in earlier novels. Rita de Lastaola finds herself in a state of partial alienation since she has initially been kept from other people and exhibited as if she were an art object. The wealth she subsequently inherits only tends to reinforce her friendless state In that people seem more interested in her wealth than in her. She attaches herself to Monsieur George since she feels that he has little interest in her fortune and that he is only concerned about her. Ironically, he is attracted to her initially because he sees her as an art object. Her illusions tend to gain control of her actions and as she moves toward total alienation she 88

thinks that she can leave society and maintain herself in an interpersonal relationship with George. No other protagonist in any Conrad novel attempts this particular strategy in this way. Lingard’s partial alienation originates from his illusion of self sufficiency. He feels that he is in complete control of his own destiny. Ironically, since he does not feel that he is alienated from English society his establishment of an interpersonal relationship with Mrs. Travers is the primary reason for his discovery of just how weak his connection to that society is. Here is a character who tends to move toward total alienation through the agency of an interpersonal relationship. This is a phenomenon which is only found in this novel. Another unusual characteristic is that society cannot terminate his function. He is the only one who can make that decision. Hence, Lingard is unique among all the

Conradian protagonists whose function society has ended.

The Rover presents a completely different kind of approach to the question of alienation. In this work Peyrol when he first appears can be described as belonging to the category of perceptive alienation, but as the novel progresses he becomes less alienated. In his manner of movement (from outside to inside) he is quite different from the protagonists of The Arrow of Gold and The Rescue and for that matter from any protagonist in Conrad’s earlier work. In fact, he is the only Conradian protagonist who achieves societal reintegration.

Since the object of this essay was to analyze the later 89

novels using alienation as a tool to provide a different

critical perspective let us return to the commentators. The

issue of the critical response to Conrad’s last novels, though discussed briefly in the introduction to this work, needs some final comments.

To deal with these last novels as entities of and by themselves has been the approach taken here. However, most of the major critics seem to be involved in explaining the failure of the final works as one of "achievement and decline" as well as noting that Conrad was in poor physical and mental health when he wrote them. As noted earlier the prime difficulty with the concept of "achievement and decline" is in its evaluative approach. The final novels are not analyzed individually but instead are placed on the lower end of a rating scale. In regards to Conrad’s ill health at the end of his writing career it should be sufficient to state that his health problems became serious early on in his career after he returned from the Congo and from then on were lifelong ones.

In contrast to these evaluative approaches, analysis through the treatment of alienation seems to demonstrate that

Conrad continues to deal with the same basic issues throughout his writing career. Alienation is still fundamental in his last novels as it is in the earlier ones although it appears in different ways. But it must be noted that, even though one can place the characters from the last novels into the different 90

categories of alienation, they do not fit into these categories

easily. Conrad’s emphasis has changed, in that his stress on

the concept of alienation is less on abstract aspects of it

and more on personal ones. That is, Conrad is concerned more

with the individual and that individual’s attempt to form love

relationships than with the metaphysical implications of the

alienation concept, with ideals and illusions of noble

enterprises. In the later novels metaphysical issues are

present but are not of primary importance. For example, Conrad

deals with love in The Arrow of Gold, the conflict between

honor and passion in The Rescue, and the acquisition of

patriotism in The Rover. Conversely, a number of alienated

Conradian characters in the earlier novels try to return to

society by involving themselves with women. Nostromo attempts

to attach himself to Giselle but fails, and Decoud thinks about

Antonia when he is isolated on the gulf. For Kurtz there is

his "Intended" who seems to represent the way to salvation for

him. Verloc tries to return to his wife, Winnie. Heyst

realizes too late, that Lena was his salvation. Of these

novels written prior to World War I only Razumov manages to

be reunited with himself (what is left of him that is) through

Tekla. It is obvious that both the earlier and later novels have similar elements, but the order and importance of the

issues have been, in effect, reversed.

Love is thus a major concern in the last novels. Rita

and Lingard both form romantic love attachments. But for Rita 91

the relationship is not a means to return to society but a

substitute for that society. For Lingard love is not an

attempt to return to society since he feels that he already

belongs although he is mistaken. However, the relationship

operates in a reverse manner and leads to his severance from

society. Peyrol develops more of a father-daughter relation­

ship with Arlette. This type of relationship, not seen in

any Conrad protagonist prior to The Rover, proves the most

positive one as they both are reunited with society. There

is little doubt that The Arrow of Gold and The Rescue deal with love and love relationships in a complex manner, with

The Arrow of Gold being the most complete treatment of love

in Conrad’s fiction. These final novels go far toward belying Leavis’ notion that Conrad has an unsophisticated attitude toward women: "About his attitude toward women there is perceptible, all the way through his literary career, 127 something of the gallant simple sailor."

Contrary to the critics’ picture of Conrad as a being vitiated by life in the complex and varied treatments of love and alienation we see a man who continues to probe and explore in a vigorous and exciting way. Conrad’s experiments in terms of alienation focus on individuals involved in complex interpersonal relationships, which can be manifested

197 F. R. Leavis, The Great Tradition. (New York: New York Univ. Press, 1963), p. 183. 92

negatively as in The Rescue, but can also be temporarily

satisfactory as in The Arrow of Gold, or can be positive as

in Rover. All of these works tend to be unified wholes

remaining faithful to the alienation situation being handled.

The idea of alienation has been modified somewhat to express

Conrad’s altered feelings about the human condition. It has been extended in the area of personal relationships and slightly changed in that neither Rita nor Lingard physically die though they are totally alienated. Though he has shifted his emphasis Conrad continues working with the concept until he is able to supply an answer.

These final novels are substantial achievements. They stand on their own as fully realized works. The Rescue seems to me to be just a notch below his finest accomplishments.

And The Rover is a proper conclusion to his writing career since he has resolved the issue of alienation. His protagonist becomes fully integrated into society. But this is not all since the protagonist manages the feat of reconciling a number of other lives which is something no earlier protagonist could succeed in doing. Avrom Fleishman feels that this work is a bona fide success: "The Rover is not Conrad’s greatest novel, but its thoroughness of execution and consistency of theme, put it in the same camp with his finest achievements; and belie 128 any generalizations about his late falling-off." One can

128 Fleishman, "Conrad’s Last Novel," p. 194 93

only agree with this comment and note that The Rover is a fitting final effort in Conrad’s writing career. 94

Bibliography

Note: Included here are only those works which I have utilized in writing this study. I have consulted other works, and there is a very complete Conrad bibliography issued by Northern Illinois University Press. There seems to be no necessity in repeating this information.

Allen, Jerry. The Sea Years of Joseph Conrad. Garden City,

N. Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1965.

Begnal, Michael H. "The Ideals of Despair: A View of Joseph

Conrad’s The Arrow of Gold.” Conradiana. 3, No. 3

(1971-72), 37-40.

Boyles, John. "Joseph Conrad’s The Rover." Use of English.

18 (Winter 1966), 124-128.

Conrad, Joseph. The Arrow of Gold. New York: Doubleday,

Doran and Co., Inc., 1938.

------—. The Rescue. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co.,

Inc., 1938.

------. The Rover. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday, Page

and Co., 1923.

------• Tales of Hearsay and Suspense. New York:

Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., 1938.

Cox, C. B. Joseph Conrad: The Modern Imagination. Totowan,

N. J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1974. 95

Dowden, Wilfred S. Joseph Conrad: The Imaged Style.

Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 1970.

Fleishman, Avrom. Conrad * s Politics. Baltimore: The John

Hopkins Press, 1967.

------• "Conrad’s Last Novel." English Literature in

Transition. 12, No. 4 (1969), 189-194.

Fromm, Erich. Escape From Freedom. New York: Holt, Rinehart

and Winston, 1961.

------. The Sane Society. New York: Holt, Rinehart and

Winston, 1964.

Geddes, Gary. "The Rescue: Conrad and the Rhetoric of

Diplomacy." Mosaic. 7, No. 3 (1974), 107-125.

Gillon, Adam. The Eternal Solitary. New York: Bookman

Associates Inc., 1960.

Guerard, Albert J. Conrad The Novelist. Cambridge, Mass.:

Harvard Univ. Press, 1965.

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Appendix 99

Suspense: A Suspended State

The major difficulty of analyzing Suspense and the

reason for its relegation to the appendix is that this work

is incomplete. Conrad has left us with a number of characters

and plots, but they are not really interrelated. There is

some irony in the fact that the fragment’s title remains

forever true. Most critics tend to disregard this unfinished

work and concentrate upon The Rover as Conrad's final work.

In many ways this approach is a good idea since this fragment

inevitably leads one into the realm of speculation as to

character analyzation and plot progression.

In this essay an attempt is made to analyze each work as

it stands. Cosmo Latham, the protagonist, is a young man,

and he certainly seems to be alienated. As to which category

of alienation he belongs one can only make an informed guess.

Seemingly, imaginative alienation is the more likely choice

since he is somewhat inexperienced in the ways of life. The

mood and historical context of this work are inextricable,

and they need to be discussed. Beside Cosmo only one other

character is not shrouded in secrecy and involved in political machinat ion s.

There seems to be no point in outlining the different

aspects of any category of alienation since the unfinished 100

work is too short to bear them out. Here, the fragment can

not even be divided into segments. Initially, Cosmo thinks

a great deal about his father and sister since he is away

from home and traveling in Italy. Home for him is Latham

Hall in England. Though his father, Charles, now has

retired from the world, Cosmo seems to have had little contact

with him even before he withdrew. However, Cosmo really cares

for his younger sister, Henrietta. He constantly contemplates

sending her long letters about all that he sees and hears,

especially all he hears about Napoleon Bonaparte who has been

exiled to Elba. Cosmo mentions that people find him strange

and notes frequently that he has no friends. This is usually

an important sign of partial alienation, but here it seems

offset by the close familial ties to his sister. However,

when one had read a little more than halfway through this

fragment it appears that Cosmo is quite lonely, and he sees

himself as one of the totally alienated. He notes his lack of

friends and significantly, the nonexistence of a societal

function:

His father was at least thirty-years his senior. An age! His sister was just a young girl. Clever, of course. He was very fond of her, but the mere fact of her being a girl raised a wall between them. He had never made any real friends. He had nothing to do; and he did not seem to know what to think of anything in the world.129

129 Joseph Conrad, Tales of Hearsay and Suspense (New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Inc., 1938), pp. 175-176. 101

From this quotation one can argue that Cosmo indicates his innocence and seems a prime target for illusions. In fact, he is greatly impressed by Napoleon and drawn toward Elba.

Again, like Monsieur George of The Arrow of Gold. Cosmo is inexperienced in life. However, George always has the sea to return to. Cosmo is not a sailor of any kind though one’s last glimpse of him, as the fragment terminates, is upon the water headed for Elba. Why he is in this position has more to do with chance than with a conscious decision. Albert J.

Guerard pursuing his usual line thinks that Cosmo is unable to act: ’’Like most of his predecessors after Razumov

[protagonist of Under Western Eyes], he is a hero incapable 130 of action.*’ In this case, Cosmo is adrift in a world of lies and deceptions, and his hesitancy to act is understandable.

The mood of this fragment comes directly from the historical context. Suspense opens with Cosmo, who has just arrived in Genoa, standing on a tower overlooking the Gulf of

Genoa as daylight is disappearing quickly. Also on this tower is an Italian sailor, much later identified as Attilio, who answers some of Cosmo’s questions and attempts to get Cosmo to return to the inn. With darkness fast approaching there is an air of mystery and suspense as to why this sailor wants

Cosmo to leave. Seemingly, as Cosmo discovers since he refuses to depart, Attilio is connected with some kind of

130 Albert J. Guerard, Conrad the Novelist (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1965), p. 288. loi

political plot that involves Napoleon on Elba. This opening

scene then sets the stage for the shadowy characters, mystery,

and suspense found in the remainder of this fragment. One is

never quite sure which character belongs to what political

intrigue. The only surety is that the characters are involved

in some plot. Historically, Napoleon is in exile on Elba, and

the Western European leaders are at the Congress of Vienna.

The air is filled with intrigue, plots, and counterplots. All

of Western Europe seems to be in turmoil. The members of the

aristocracy who appear in this fragment seem to be still

recovering from the French Revolution. In fact, the aristocracy

is in flux in that someone with a fortune can marry into an

aristocratic family. Frederick Karl notes that the themes of

this fragment seem to be ones of disillusion, intrigue, 131 corruption, and deception. It is as if Western Europe

itself has been alienated from what it once was. And, in some

sense, that is true.

One may begin a discussion of several of the characters by dealing with Adèle de Montevesso who is the exception in that she does not seem to be involved in any political plots.

Aside from Cosmo she Is the most positive character in the work. She is the child of the Marquis and Marquise d’Armand who fled France during the Revolution. For some time they

131 Frederick R. Karl, A Reader’s Guide to Joseph Conrad (New York: Noonday Press, 1960Î, p. 296. 103

lived at Latham Hall since both the Marquis and Marquise were

acquainted with Sir Charles Latham. It seems that Sir Charles

had met the d’Armands in France while he was traveling there when younger. Conrad seems to indicate that Sir Charles may have been intimate with the Marquise and that Adèle is really his child. However, this area is less than clear. Shortly after leaving Latham Hall Adèle meets and marries the Count de Montevesso. He is a man who has a vast fortune which he acquired when he was a soldier of fortune in India. Adèle has married him as a sacrificial gesture so that her parents can again gain some wealth and live in a manner to which they were accustomed. She does not love him and informs him of this fact. The Count can never forgive Adèle for being honest with him, and in his absolutely despicable way makes her life miserable. Cosmo who knew her but little at Latham Hall goes to see her since she is living in Genoa, and he is much taken by her particularly after she pours her soul out to him.

Bernard C. Meyer, always vigilant when there is a sexual inference to be drawn, sees an incest theme emerging in the

"foreshadowed love affair between Cosmo and his half-sister

Adèle." Not only does he see a "foreshadowed" love affair, but he states as if it were fact that Adèle is Cosmo's half-sister.

132 Bernard C. Meyer, Joseph Conradi A Psycho analyt ic Biography (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1967), p. 114. 104

Cosmo stops at an inn, in Genoa, that seems to be on the

"wrong” side of the square. All of the other travelers are at

the other, more respectable hostelry. Cosmo’s lodging house

is frequented by natives of Genoa and people generally of a

lower class than those at the other inn. Actually, Cosmo’s

hostel seems to be a meeting place for all kinds of

conspirators. There is a mysterious doctor at this place,

Doctor Martel, who takes an interest in Cosmo. It seems that

Doctor Martel knows the Marquis d’Armand, though Cosmo is

unaware of this fact, and he is a spy of some sort. When the

doctor visits the Marquis, Count de Montevesso pulls him

aside and wishes to know how to dispose of Cosmo. The Count

is a slippery and shady character who also happens to be very

jealous, and he obviously is not pleased about Cosmo’s

relationship with Adèle. Doctor Martel does make a half­

hearted attempt to encourage Cosmo to leave Genoa since he

likes Cosmo and is afraid that the Count will have Cosmo

assassinated.

It seems that intrigue is rampant everywhere in Genoa.

Even the innkeeper, Cantelucci, is involved in some secret

agent work having to do with Napoleon. In fact, Cantelucci

who is a confederate of the sailor Attilio, is referred to by

Attilio as an "experienced conspirator."

Manfred MacKenzie finds a similarity of overall mood in

Suspense and James Fenimore Cooper’s The Prairie: "Suspense

and The Prairie share a distinct mood, the mood of expected 105

■J O O death." This kind of statement is difficult to support in terms of the text. However, ironically, the fragment ends with a death. It is the death of an old sailor who dies at his job with his hand on the tiller. Cosmo and Attilio have been discussing their strange relationship in terms of the stars. This sailor’s death enters their conversation, and the last line of the fragment spoken by Attilio is about the old sailor’s star: "’Signor, it should be out,’ said Attilio with studied intonation. ’But who will it out of the sky?’"-1-3

133 Manfred MacKenzie, "Fenimore Cooper and Conrad's Suspense," Notes and Queries, NS 10 (Oct. 1963), 374.

134 Conrad, p. 274.