In the novel The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad, the concepts of difficulty or obscurity and simplicity are greatly expressed. Many of the characters in the novel are morally simple while other characters have a vast amount of moral complexity to them. The same can be said about people in our world today in the sense that there are individuals with very simple qualities to them and ones who are almost the exact opposite of simple. The full title of the novel is The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, but the temporal shifts in the novel make it more complicated than anticipated. This "simple tale" would be as simple as the title entails were it not for the complex nature of morality. Conrad's novel is not as famous as it is merely because of the plot of it, but rather because of how complicated the idea of morality is. It is easy to come to the conclusion that, due to the characters' moral values and how complex they are, that the novel portrays the modern world as morally complex. This does not mean that the plot of the novel is not important, though. The main themes are this novel are terrorism and anarchism, and these things are also very complex subjects. Terrorism and anarchism involve moral values, and this is what causes them to be so complex. The different beliefs of the two groups in the novel cause them to have different moral values, and these different values create a difficulty in telling whether an action is right or wrong. The complex world in the novel is brought forth by different moral values, and this complex world portrays the modern world as being complex as well.
Joseph Conrad took a much different stance than the other authors of his time when he wrote this novel. Rather than writing about a "perfect" or "glamoro...
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...is mainly because of the fact that the answer to the question relies on your morals. Different groups have different moral values which lead them to believe that certain things are just, while others might view these things as being the opposite. In the novel, the Anarchists have one idea of what is best for society, and the Authorities have another. These two groups perform actions based on what they believe to be morally correct. In the minds of the Anarchists, setting off bombs and sacrificing lives was necessary in order to better society. The fact that they believed it to be necessary to achieve a greater good makes their decision neither right nor wrong. The biggest theme in The Secret Agent was the theme of moral values. The novel showed just how morally complex the modern world is by giving readers a story based in a world that was just as morally complex.
In these novels the main characters are, or become, unable to conform to the society’s standards. These characters represent the authors’ view of the ‘utopia’ as they see it with the veil of ignorance removed. In 1984, for instance, we start out with a character, Winston, who is constantly observing the ironies of the world about him. Through his job at the ministry of truth, he becomes a hand of the state, creating fiction to support its endeavors: “Comrade Ogilvy, unimagined an hour ago, was now a fact … he would exist just as authentically … as Charlemange and Julius Caesar.” (1984, p54) As the book progresses he becomes more aware of his individuality and eventually is unable to hide it. Similarly in Fahrenheit 451, Montag becomes aware of problems with his society, but not logically - emotionally. It disturbs him greatly when a medical team that helps his wife appear and disappear within a matter of minutes: “There are too many of us, he thought. There are billions of us and that’s too many. Nobo...
In the beginning, Jenkins explores the sources of the CIA’s decision to participate with Hollywood from the 1990s and forward. The main reason is a want to counter its essentially negative portrayal in Hollywood programs. The first Chapter summarizes this image by showing how CIA agents have always been interpreted as assassins, dishonest leaders, unprotected by their hierarchy, morally bankrupt, and ineffective. Jenkins asserts nonetheless that other reasons were just as if not more conclusive: ‘...
The use of darkness in the title of Conrad’s work immediately alludes to it’s relevance to the story, but in an unexpected way. While the contrast of light and dark, white and black, and good and evil is a common theme in his novella, Conrad essentially reverses the meanings of the two. Conrad’s story is about the penetration of a corru...
...o, while the novella’s archetypal structure glorifies Marlow’s domination of Kurtz. These two analyses taken together provide a much fuller and more comprehensive interpretation of the work. Conrad presents the idea that there is some darkness within each person. The darkness is is inherited and instinctual, but because it is natural does not make it right. He celebrates – and thereby almost advises – the turn from instinct. By telling Marlow’s tale, Joseph Conrad stresses to his audience the importance of self-knowledge and the unnecessity of instinct in civilization.
Espionage has always been a subject that has captured the thoughts and imaginations of many people. The idea of the glamorous life of espionage agents and spies with grand parties, high tech gadgets, and world destroying villains have led to the belief that spies live a life of adventure and almost science fiction. Real agents live far from that life in reality. Many live in constant fear of imprisonment or execution. The facts and fiction of espionage have become distorted overtime.
Joseph Conrad was born Jozef Teodor Konrad in Berdichev, Poland, in 1857. He grew up in the Polish Ukraine, a large society, abundant plain between Russia and Poland. It was a separated nation with four languages, four religions, and a number of diverse social classes. A division of the Polish speaking populations, including Conrad’s family, fitted to the szlachta, a genetics class in the nobility of the social hierarchy, uniting the qualities of gentry and dignity. They had political authority and notwithstanding their underprivileged state.
His words are a trap that carries readers into the perception of the most complete darkness in a phonological cradle. The frame narration used by Conrad provides Marlow the chance to exit from the story and speak directly to his audience, and he often uses this occasion to remark, “No, it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence,—that which makes its truth, its meaning—its subtle and penetrating essence. It is not possible to do that. We live, as we dream—alone” (Conrad, 130).
I believe fear, superstition, and greed fuel many evil things today whether big or small. Power hungry humans fight all throughout history and is usually for these reasons. Personally, the book taught me about how people deal with situations when they are under pressure, one’s need...
Throughout its entirety, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness utilizes many contrasts and paradoxes in an attempt to teach readers about the complexities of both human nature and the world. Some are more easily distinguishable, such as the comparison between civilized and uncivilized people, and some are more difficult to identify, like the usage of vagueness and clarity to contrast each other. One of the most prominent inversions contradicts the typical views of light and dark. While typically light is imagined to expose the truth and darkness to conceal it, Conrad creates a paradox in which darkness displays the truth and light blinds us from it.
Ryf, Robert. "Joseph Conrad." Columbia Essays on Modern Writers. New York: Columbia UP, 1970. 17-21.
Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness.” Norton Anthology of British Literature. 7th Edition. Vol. B. Ed. M. H. Abrams, et. al. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
The World's Classics Joseph Conrad. Youth, Heart of Darkness, The End of the Tether. Edited with an introduction by Robert Kimbrough. Introduction, Notes, Glossary.
...ch open up the readers mind. Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", raises many questions about society and the human potential for evil.
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a great example of a Modernist novel because of its general obscurity. The language is thick and opaque. The novel is littered with words such as: inconceivable, inscrutable, gloom. Rather than defining characters in black and white terms, like good and bad, they entire novel is in different shades of gray. The unfolding of events takes the reader between many a foggy bank; the action in the book and not just the language echoes tones of gray.