摘 要

康拉德在英国文学史上有十分重要的地位，是英国现代主义小说的先驱。他最擅长写海洋冒险小说和丛林小说。康拉德的短篇小说《礁湖》虽然并不是很有名，但作为康拉德对人类心灵黑暗的又一次探索, 它被认为是康拉德的著名长篇小说《黑暗的心》的缩写。小说中康拉德善于运用丛林等原始场景及特殊的社会环境探索人性中隐藏的黑暗与邪恶。小说主要讲述了主人公阿萨特以回忆的方式向白人讲述他为爱背叛国家和兄长，逃到这个与世隔绝的礁湖的故事。

本文聚焦小说中的环境描写研究。小说中的自然环境的描述集中在黑暗沉默的森林以及孤立呆滞的礁湖。这些自然环境的描述是主人公心理变化的映射，也象征着人性的黑暗与死亡。小说的社会环境主要指Rajah制度以及该制度下的不平等。这些社会的不平等对主人公Arsa内心的影响造就他的孤独和异化。自然环境和社会环境的描述彰显了作者对人类心灵黑暗这一主题的探索。

关键词：礁湖；自然环境；社会环境；人性的黑暗面

Abstract

Joseph Conrad has a prominent position in the history of British literature and is a pioneer of British modernist novels. He is best at writing ocean adventure novels and jungle novels. Though “The Lagoon” is not very famous, as Conrad's another exploration of the darkness in human mind, it is considered as the abbreviation of Conrad's well-known novel Heart of Darkness. In “The Lagoon”, Conrad is good at using jungles and other original scenes and special social circumstances to explore the hidden darkness and evil in human nature. The novel tells the story of the protagonist Arsat who talks with his friend the white man in flashback about his betrayal of the Rajah and his brother, flees to the isolated lagoon.

This paper focuses on the study of the environment in “The Lagoon”. The description of the natural environment in the novel concentrates on the dark and silent forests as well as the stagnant and isolated lagoon. The depiction of these natural scenes is not only the mapping of the hero's psychological change, but also symbolizes the darkness and death of human nature. The social environment of the novel mainly refers to the Rajah system and the inequality under the system. The influence of these inequalities of the society has caused the protagonist Arsat’s loneliness and alienation. The description of the natural environment and the social environment demonstrates the author's exploration of the subject of the darkness of human mind.

Key Words: the lagoon; natural environment; social environment; darkness of human nature

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Joseph Conrad and His Works 2

1.2 Literature Review 3

2 Natural Environment in The Lagoon 4

2.1 The Dark and Silent Forests 7

2.2 The Stagnant and Isolated Lagoon 9

3 Social Environment in The Lagoon 10

3.1 The Society Prevailing the Rajah System 13

3.2 The community of the Lagoon 15

4 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 18

An Analysis of the Settings in The Lagoon

1 Introduction

1.1 Joseph Conrad and His Works

Joseph Conrad is a Polish-British writer, who can be seen as a modernist but there are elements of 19th-century realism in his works at the same time. Conrad, a pioneer of British modernist novels, has a prominent position in the history of British literature. He was born in the upper class in Poland in 1857, then fled to France. He acquired native polish and French as a child but learned English by himself in his twenties, fabulously became the world-renowned writer in English. He stated in his preface to A Personal Record that writing in English was for him "natural". Conrad inherits the experiment and reform of English novels started by Henry James. His works are not only known as impressionism, but also shock people's minds with their tragic qualities. He believes that moral discovery should be the goal of every story and stresses the pain of losing dignity. He is best at writing marine adventure novels. Chinese writer Lao She calls him the greatest creator of realm and personality in modern times. Apart from imperialism and colonialism, he also prefers to profoundly explore the human psyche. His works include novels(marine novels and jungle fictions), short stories and essays. For example, The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' （1897）and Typhoon（1902） are created from his sailing experience. Heart of Darkness （1899）and Lord Jim（1900）are representatives of jungle fictions that discuss the issue of human soul and morality, with profound social and historical content. The examples of social political essays are Nostromo （1904）and Under Western Eyes（1911). “The Lagoon” (1898) is Conrad’s first short story and “An Outpost of Progress”(1897) is described as the best story by Conrad.

“The Lagoon” is one of Joseph Conrad's short stories. It's easy to relate it with Conrad's another famous work Heart of Darkness, an exploration of the depths of human minds. “The Lagoon” is another one but its location moves from Africa's Congo River to the Asian Malay jungle, and the main characters change from the European colonial pioneers to the native Malay. Nevertheless there are commons in Africa images and Malay images, through reading Wang jian’s paper that studies the African images in Conrad’s novel(Wang, 2015). In the story, the hero Arsat tells his friend the white man his dark past, when he betrays the Rajah and elopes with the Rajah’s wife’s servant Diamelen. His brother helps them escape from the pursuit of the Rajah. However, Arsat abandons his brother and flees with his lover without turning back even though he calls Arsat three times. Then, they situates around the stagnant and isolated lagoon, but Arsat is always living in guilt and pain. At last, Diamelen dies and Arsat decides to revenge for his brother out of guilt and love. There are many symbols of its settings that disclose Arsat’s spirit conflict and changes.

1.2 Literature Review

In foreign countries, the research on Joseph Conrad mainly focuses on his masterpiece Heart of Darkness, while the research on the short story “The Lagoon” is comparatively limited in its quantity. Researches on the settings of “The Lagoon” are fewer. Searching on Ebsco, there are 3 results. Several researches involves “The Lagoon” in comparative essays in terms of the embodiment of Modernism, Impressionism and Colonialism in the novel. (Ficham amp; Attie De Lange, 2001). In 2013, Chifane analyzes the variety of narrative techniques used by Conrad to highlight the problematics of marginalization in “The Impact of Marginalization in Joseph Conrad’s Tales and Novels”, which is meant to prove that darkness as a recurrent motif in Conrad’s work such as “The Lagoon” is in fact the result of marginalization(Chifane, 2013). When turns to settings, in 1981, Carmen Gago Alvarez writes the paper “The Lagoon a Study in Imagery”, illustrating exuberant sensuous imagery contributed to the strange tropical setting, the mysterious elements as well as light and darkness in “The Lagoon” (Carmen, 1981). A similar one is “Animal Imagery and Religious Symbolism in Joseph Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS” written by Ramona Anttonen that shows how Joseph Conrad uses animal imagery and religious symbolism in Heart of Darkness, and compares the symbolism and imagery in Heart of Darkness with other works like “The Lagoon” to present us with the theme of morality in the story(Ramona, 2001). In conclusion, direct analysis of settings in “The Lagoon” is limited abroad.

Domestic research on “The Lagoon” is limited, too. Searching on CNKI, there are only 5 results when input the key words: “The Lagoon” and Joseph Conrad. Those essays generally view “The Lagoon” from Conrad's overall writing style or with other works together. After all, “The Lagoon” isn’t very well-known between Conrad’s many works. Researchers mainly study it from following aspects: Conrad's colonialism, the tragic features of his novel and the framework of narrative techniques as well as the psychological analysis of the character. In 2015, Song Zongwei read Conrad’s novels from the perspectives of redemption theme in his dissertation “Redemption Theme in Conrad’s Jungle Novels” that shows the process of self-salvation, and on a certain degree, reveals human alienation(Song, 2015). In 2014, the paper “The Inner World of Characters Presented by the Scene Description in The Lagoon” written by Na Heya analyzes Conrad’s unique writing techniques and presents the relationship between the scene description and the complex and selfish side of human nature(Na, 2014).

As has mentioned above, the majority of researches focuses on wide range like modernism in “The Lagoon” or the comparison between “The Lagoon” and Conrad’s other stories. However, only few does research from the perspective of setting or environment. This paper aims to analyze the function of the setting in “The Lagoon” and answer questions such as “How does the setting contribute to the theme and the psychological change of the hero? ”, “How does the author’s social environment affect the novel’s development and the hero’s fate?”. It also will disclose the relationship between settings and the interpretation of themes.

2 Natural Environment in “The Lagoon”

A novel is both the art of time and space. The description of the environment in the novel is indispensable. It provides a special place for the formation of the characters and the development of activities. The paper will analyze “The Lagoon” from its natural environment firstly. Conrad is good at exploring the hearts of the characters. In this novel, the scenery description is actually the photo of the figure’s inner fluctuations. Every delicate scene description has its certain symbolic meanings, both to foil the atmosphere and develop the plot effectively, and affect the development of the characters in such environment. It is also full of visual contrasts, such as dark and light, black and white. “The Lagoon” as one of the author’s adept jungle novels, is located in the Southeast Asian Malaya's virgin forest. The natural environment there is described in details by the author, of which the whole and the more important images are the mysterious and dark forests and the stagnant lagoon, certainly there are many other typical images, such as the sun, mists, sea water and so on.

2.1 The Dark and Silent Forests

From the novel, it can be seen that the darkness and silence of the forests are directly showed by the scenery description and some comparative images. At the opening of “The Lagoon”, there is a section of scenery description. Through this simple account the reader can easily know the background of the story. Boat, sunset and a waterway leading to the lagoon tell the time and place. Then, there are concrete descriptions which mainly highlight the silence of the forests. “The forests, somber and dull, stood motionless and silent on each side of the broad stream.” and “In the stillness of the air every tree, every leaf, every bough, every tendril of creeper and every petal of minute blossoms seemed to have been bewitched into an immobility perfect and final”(Wang, 2014:168) The forests stand there quietly, the flowers and trees in the forests and nearly everything is like being applied to the magic, perfect silence. Even the weak chirping of birds vanish in the choking silence, creating a tense atmosphere and giving people an ominous premonition. The dazzling sun that poised low over the water and the river emitting a soft light contrast vividly with the somber and dull forests, so that people can not help but easily change from leisurely to seriously. Sunset, tortuous waterways and silenced trees on the shore, thorough stillness emphasize the style and atmosphere of the novel: no vitality, silence and suppression. The sound made by the paddles seems to break the silence of the forests, only to enter a land departing from motion. This shows that Arsat lives in a silent place and may aid to the elucidation of his silent heart in the following parts. The forests look like a dark and mysterious labyrinth.“Immense trees soared up, invisible behind the festooned draperies of creepers”, it seems very beautiful and grand. However, in a stuffy forest where they even can hear the echo of their sounds, the polers only see the mystery and darkness of the forests. “Here and there, near the glistening blackness of the water, a twisted root of some tree showed amongst the tracery of small ferns, black and dull, writhing and motionless, like an arrested snake”(Wang, 2014:169). The words “blackness”, “black and dull” and ”motionless”, all emphasize the darkness and poisonousness of the forests. Compared to the forests with jasmine hedges and the sweet scent of flowers where Arsat dates with Diamelen, the forests Arsat lives now are obviously full of darkness and invisible danger. Near a stagnant lagoon there is only a shabby house that is collapsing. Perhaps the polers have regretted to getting into this mysterious and evil forests that seem to be full of lingering ghosts. That’s to say Arsat’s living state is even poorer than before, which may worsen his silent heart. The depiction of ghosts renders the dark and terrific atmosphere and it may be a sign of the death of Diamelen. Natural environment is related tightly to the characters’ state of minds. The darkness and silence of the forests are actually the reflection of Arsat’s living state, which also provides a special space for following parts and makes the reader explore the darkness of Arsat’s human nature and the reason why he is silent.