Amy Foster
Joseph Conrad, deemed by many critics as one of the greatest novelists in the English language, was a Polish novelist. Drawing upon his various life experiences, he had written many works, one of them being the short story ‘Amy Foster’, in which one of the characters Yanko Goorall is a reflection of himself in quite a number of ways, which would be discussed later on in my essay. My essay would also discuss some other areas, namely the synopsis, the characterization, the plot and so on and so for.
To begin, we must first examine the ‘relations’ between the writer and one of the characters in the story, Yanko Goorall. What is significant in terms of what has inspired Conrad to flesh out such a character and how some of Yanko’s experiences in England still hold true in society today. As is known, both Conrad and Yanko are Polish living in England(the most apparent similarity), hence the shared pains of alienation. It’s not difficult to see how said problem is still around, albeit in a less violent and physical manner. In today’s world, it is called racism. I call it fear of the unknown and less familiar.
Let’s have a look at the story again. Amy Foster begins when a friend of the doctor’s visits him. They ride past a dull-looking girl on the horse and the doctor begins telling this friend a story. Of how Amy Foster has always been the quiet, unassuming girl working for the Smiths. Later on, the doctor proceeds to talk about Yanko, an America-bound Polish man who got shipwrecked on the shores of Kent, England. After a long torturous experience of being handled and dealt with like a madman, he is saved by Mr Swaffer and later, falls in love with Amy Foster. They get married against all odds and have a son. Months after, Yanko falls ill and Amy Foster, frightened when he babbles in his native language deliriously, flees with their son. Turns out, he was only asking for water. He dies of a heart failure.
From there, we know that the narrator is a friend of the doctor’s but why did Conrad write from this point of view? One of the reasons might be because Conrad wanted to make his presence less felt in the story. It brings more realism into the story as readers start identifying and relating with the narrator, not the biased writer. Also, another thing worth noticing is, had Conrad employed a first person(Yanko) or an omniscient point of view, there would be a lot of self-conflict, self pity and hatred-at-the-world going on. These lend biasness to the story and lessen its credibility.
Now, we’ll go over the setting of the story. First published in the year 1901, we can assume the story is set a century before. An online scour has revealed that a few years later, the Aliens Act was passed to restrict the migration of particular ‘undesirable’ groups, including the Polish. This showcases the undercurrent of the type of racism going on in England before the act was passed. Therefore, we now know the story is reflective of the thinking of the people during the time it is set in.
There are two characters in the story worth analysing, namely Yanko and Amy. Yanko starts off as the ambitious man heading for America to make fortunes. However, luck and circumstances do not heed his hopes and he ends up living a miserable life. Yanko impresses as a somewhat good-hearted man, since on the surface, he does not seem to hold any serious grudges against those who have severely mistreated him. This in turn echoes a passive(or very complacent) personality. He doesn’t try to take charge of his life at all, in the sense he goes along with the flow and leave things as they are. Amy is rather similar to him in this manner. Only difference is that while Yanko who has seemed a really ambitious person at first, what with his determination in going to America and all, Amy has been described from the beginning as such person. Even her physical features reflect her passive personality. Quoting the narrator, “ I had the time to see her dull face, red, not with a mantling blush, but as if her flat cheeks had been vigorously slapped, and to take in the squat figure, the scanty, dusty brown hair drawn into a tight knot at the back of the head. She looked quite young. With a distinct catch in her breath, her voice sounded low and timid.”
That Amy Foster is a closed plot is characterative of the tone of the story. An open-ended one usually signifies hope. Hope for a pitiful character to completely transform his life, a space telling of futures full of possibilities for any of the characters(for example, the short story Arriving by KS Maniam). Delving into the tone of the story, there’s no doubt Amy Foster’s is one of seriousness, woe and misery. There isn’t even one hint of bliss to be detected. It is so assumed Conrad was trying to paint a very sad picture of how it feels to be an outsider by making readers really sympathise with Yanko.
To conclude, the one strength of the story I found is its diction. Conrad succeeded in pulling on the reader’s heartstrings by his creative use of words. Take, for example, the very last sentence in the story, “And looking at him I seemed to see again the other one - the father, cast out mysteriously by the sea to perish in the supreme disaster of loneliness and despair." Notice the imagery employed.
