조셉 콘라드의 상징 기법을 통한 “보게 하기”

Abstract

“To make you see” is one of Joseph Conrad’s constant concerns in his writings to render the highest kind of truth to the visible world by highlighting its every aspect. In his fourth novel, Lord Jim (1900), he uses the images of animals and the colors to get across his message to the reader. Through this technique, the reader is left to form an impression of the protagonist’s exterior or interior state from which they can attempt to read the protagonist’s real motivation in his/her action. In Lord Jim, a young seaman named Jim, who serves as the chief mate on the Patna, jumps from the ship leaving behind the passengers when he confronts shipwreck. After that he is in search of some atonement in the Patusan where his past remains hidden. This story is described by Conrad’s storyteller named Marlow, who is sympathetic to Jim’s plight but discerns in him an affliction of helplessness as a human being. To show that Jim’s inner world is not easy for Marlow to understand, the images of animals such as butterflies, beetles, curs, turtles, and owls are used to symbolize the negative aspect of Jim’s nature. The colors, in particular, dark and white colors are also used to represent Marlow’s judgement of Jim’s incomprehensible inner world and action on the Patna. Here, however, the difference between black and white or darkness and light is ambiguous and they might be exchangeable in meaning. That is, Jim’s jump from the Patna is a demonstration of some obscure attribute of our nature which is not far under the surface of our mind. Therefore, Conrad reveals in Lord Jim that Jim is one of us who is not only imperfect but also the weaknesses inside that can unexpectedly emerge in an instant by using the symbol technique of the images of animals and colors.