Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent: Character, Society, and Modernism
Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent: A Literary Analysis
This analysis focuses on a fragment from The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad’s 1907 novel. The fragment opens with the character of The Professor, a stunted and undersized individual described as disappointed, losing himself in a crowd of London streets, where every individual almost overtopped his stature. Conrad masterfully portrays the nature of the city through the image of the crowd and its relationship to the individual. Revolutionaries in the novel seek peace and freedom. This text is primarily descriptive, with narrative elements.
Key Themes and Social Commentary
- Social Status, Power, and Money: These are essential elements explored within the text.
- Religion and Morality: Religion is mentioned as a semantic field concerning morality, exemplified by phrases such as: “His father… righteousness.”
- Core Thematic Elements: The text delves into semantic fields of revolution, religion, society, mankind, moral and physical traits, isolation, loneliness, hopelessness, skepticism, and irony.
- Artificial Morality: Morality is depicted as artificial, corrupt, and blasphemous.
Narrative Style and Linguistic Features
Sentence Structure and Tense
The text exhibits variance in sentence length and structure, sustaining reader interest, though most sentences are quite long. The novel is told in the past tense, with the frequent use of present participles (-ing forms).
Repetition and Sound Devices
- Isotaxy: The repetition of syntactic structures is identifiable throughout the text.
- Isophony: The repetition of phonological features is clearly presented as an important element.
- Linguistic Repetition: The text employs various forms of repetition to enhance its impact.
Vocabulary and Connotation
- Negative Synonyms: Words like “stroke,” “blow,” “crack,” and “destroy” are used as synonyms with a strong negative connotation.
- Character Synonyms: “Character” and “temperament” are presented as synonyms.
- Semantic Fields: The text also explores semantic fields related to place, buildings, and professions.
- Adjective Usage: Most adjectives employed carry a negative connotation, contributing to the overall tone.
Figurative Language and Symbolism
The Crowd and The Professor
The image of the “crowd” is central to distinguishing The Professor, with his “extreme, almost ascetic purity of thought” (line 18) and his “frenzied puritanism of ambition” (line 32), from the worldliness of street activity. This is highlighted in phrases like: “Lost in the crowd… freedom.”
Key Symbols
The “india-rubber ball” is a pivotal symbol within the crowd scenes, as The Professor holds the detonator. He is confident in his power, and his chosen prospect of an explosion is presented as “the guarantee” of his “sinister freedom,” which would destroy the crowd. Its position in his pocket symbolizes its efficiency and readiness.
Personification
- Conrad applies personification by comparing people to insects such as locusts and ants.
- Personification is also evident in the reference to a “wilderness of poor houses.”
Irony and Narration
Conrad frequently uses irony, notably calling The Professor a “moral agent.” His narration employs indirect free discourse. The language reflects The Professor’s thoughts and is also conveyed through another voice—a sardonic, bitter voice that remarks on his freedom as ‘sinister’.
The text includes questions without direct answers, prompting reflection, often accompanied by modal verbs like “could.” Contrast is also a significant element, particularly towards the end of the fragment.
Modernist Representations and Disability
The Secret Agent is a significant novel in terms of its modernist representations of disability. Conrad disrupts the convention of using disability to create an ‘other’ through his proliferation of characters with degenerate and grotesque traits. He utilizes the mental and physical conditions of his characters not only to defame and ridicule them or provoke pity from readers but also to portray a society rife with anarchy and to implicitly call for some form of social order.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Conrad makes this passage highly effective through his use of rich vocabulary, strong comparisons, striking contrasts, and the consistent application of the present participle.