Marlow’s Work Ethic: Profession and Community in “Youth,” Lord Jim, and Heart of Darkness

Abstract

This thesis examines the way in which Conrad depicts work as a defense mechanism to fend off the danger of self-knowledge in Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness. Too preoccupied with themselves to focus on work, Kurtz and Jim deviate from work activity and retreat into themselves to gain elusive self-knowledge only to face their tragic ends. Through the narrative of Charles Marlow, Conrad not only stresses that work should insulate one from falling into excessive self-consciousness in the modern world, but also sheds light on the importance of working in a community conducive to fostering group solidarity in a humane communal ethos. He makes explicit that the affect-based working community displays a higher degree of collective responsibility for work than the corporate entity in his fiction. In an attempt to understand Kurtz and Jim, Marlow, who manages to adapt to the modern way of life, places them into certain professions so as to give concrete shape to their fleeting presence. His employment of this professional lens in such a way to highlight their individual expertise indicates Conrad’s epistemological scheme, which defines individuals in vocational terms. By portraying Jim, Kurtz, and even Marlow as confounded individuals whose understanding of themselves is obscure, Conrad accentuates that self-seeking is equivalent to self-nullifying and that knowing and finding the truth is futile in a meaningless world. He thereby directs our attention to the surface level of truth and enables us to stay active there, which is only possible through work activity.