Colonial Shadows And Natural Forces: A Systemic Functional Linguistic Analysis Of Mood And Modality In Heart Of Darkness

Abstract

This study investigates Joseph Conrad’s portrayal of natural environment in his novel Heart of Darkness that influenced the characters of the novel and shaped their behavior within the context of colonialism and imperialism using Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). SFL is the functional utilization of language in a particular scenario. The study used particularly the mood and modality analysis of SFL to signify the way Conrad reflects and critiques colonial experiences using various linguistic choices. Textual analysis was applied to investigate the wilderness of the African landscape portrayed by Conrad and its influence on characters and narratives.  The study explained that Conrad uses the harsh and restrictive landscape not just as a setting but also as a dominant force to shape the character's psychological and physical behaviors and their moral decay like Marlow and Kurtz within the exploitative colonial context. Thematic analysis of some of the selective passages from the text was done which revealed that Conrad uses the natural environment to emphasize the destructive and futile colonial mission. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of Joseph Conrad’s portrayal of nature, its influence on his characters, their behaviour towards nature, and representation of the ideologies of the time through various linguistics elements.

Keywords: Afrtican Landscape, colonialism, natural environment, influence, SFL, mood and modality,