“The Secret Agent” by Joseph Conrad is a tale published in 1907 about the situation in London by 1896. Written by Conrad, the story revolves around politics in Europe and the different governance systems and their implications on a free-world like London, England. Joseph Conrad was a British-Polish novelist, born in Russia in 1857. Born to a revolutionist father, Apollo, Conrad experienced numerous challenges in his up-bringing. During his birth, his father was in Warsaw whereby he led resistance in advocating for the independence of Poland. Instead of teaming up with his father and continuing his work of liberating Poland, Conrad decides to flee to England, a land that provided asylum for political exiles. This paper gives an analysis of Conrad’s work and showing how he used the various aspects of literature to present the message of terrorism and Politics.
“The Secret Agent” takes place in London, with Conrad giving the life of a secret agent and a businessman named Adolf Verloc. In this story, Verloc plays a crucial role in the membership of the anarchist group that aims at tabling a coup against the English government. Functioning as ineffective terrorists, the group makes several moves in attaining its goal of overthrowing the government. The group’s primary role is the production of pamphlets that are labelled “F.P.,” with the meaning of Proletariat’s Future (Conrad 26). Secondly, the group held several secret meetings whereby they strategized on how they could achieve their purpose.
The story begins with Conrad introducing the family of Verloc whereby his wife, brother-in-law and mother-in-law are introduced. Being a secret Agent, Verloc does not perform killings as required by his seniors but instead, uses other people to commit crimes. During a visit to London, the First Secretary of Verloc’s country requests him to visit the Embassy. Vladimir, Russia’s Secretary in London, tells Verloc theta he has performed poorly input the English government under pressure. A scenario inspired Conrad in 1894, whereby a bomb-maker, Martial Bourdin, of French origin, was killed by his bomb due to premature detonation of the device. In this scenario, Bourdin travelled to Greenwich from Westminster by train hiding a bomb. Walking towards the observatory, he passed through Greenwich Park, and in this Park, something unusual happened (Conrad 30). Bourdin blew himself, and even though he lived for another hour, he kept his bizarre experience a secret from everyone.
The story then turns to the present age whereby Vladimir explains to Verloc, the need for punishing Britain for her role in and attitude towards anarchism. After this meeting, the story then flashes forward whereby the bombing has already taken place and a detective, Ossipon is investigating the act, and in this particular occasion, he meets a professor who had sold a bomb to Verloc. A chief Inspector, Heat, is also investigating the murder and uncovers that Verloc had used Steve, his brother-in-law to conduct the bombing. When Verloc’s wife learns this, she stabs and kills Verloc and attempts to flee. Ossipon, who pretends to help her escape, develops romantic feelings for her which later die when he discovers she a woman of weak emotional stability. Later, Mrs Verloc drowns herself in the English Channel, leaving her wedding ring.
In passing his message of terrorism and politics in the world, Conrad uses various themes and styles to relay his message. “Convention,” in this novel, refers to the social involvement and belonging to a particular group. Everybody in the novel, in both personal and professional levels, are made to deal with this strict rule of social convention. For instance, Conrad uses Mitchell’s patroness, whereby she is shown as a woman with disregard for people at a personal level. Again, the Assistant commissioner describes Heat as a man of morality, and in his line of duty, the central purpose Heat was to implicate numerous anarchists. Conrad uses conventions to show the diversity of people in this society and how this diversity was used to brew conflicts. In the analysis of this theme, it is critical to identify that in most societies, terrorism is caused and bred by social conventions and politics. Just like London allowed diversity, the modern world’s diversity in politics allows terrorism to flourish.
The theme of “the Social and Personal” has widely been used in this novel to present the author’s idea of politics and terrorism. Most characters in this story draw their motivation and inspiration from society and personal drives. Personal preoccupations are, to a large extent, key drivers in taking actions in this film. For instance, the anarchists are driven to have a personal belief that the British government’s role in hosting political outcasts is a sign of oppression to the parent nations of these outcasts. The professor, on the other hand, walks with a bomb on his coat to pass the message of danger. At a personal level, the professor wants to establish himself as a prestigious man (Conrad 56). To earn this prestige from society, he decides to use the dangerous nature of walking with a small bomb on his coat. Similarly, in the contemporary world, terrorists disguise themselves as dangerous people and are driven by their motivation of being labelled prestigious and dangerous people in society.
Again, when the Assistant commissioner is faced with a dilemma of whether to prosecute Michaelis, his friend, he weighs the social and personal impact of this decision and decides to call-off this investigation by ordering detective Heat to take a new course of action. This evaluation by the assistant commissioner can be related to modern-day politics that involve leaders willing to gamble between a nation’s interests and pros and cons of attacking a terrorist group. In the novel, the assistant knew that by attacking Michaelis, he would cut his excellent connection, a situation that could lower his social status. Similarly, terrorism is faced with political evaluations and analysis of the social implications of impersonating these terrorists.
The theme of “The Inescapable and Entanglement in the Modern Society” has also been used in this novel and can be related to politics of terrorism. London, being both an urban society and an urban space, is presented as a sphere, where all the characters have a special connection to another character. This implies that every character has a connection to someone else and whether you are a secret agent or a spy, the situation is similar; someone is close to you. However, contrary to the expectations that these connections will bring people a sense of belonging, people connected in the story feel lonely and lost in this city. This is because everyone wants to keep their secret, a situation that is impossible in this kind of society. For instance, Mr Verloc wishes to perform his secret missions without the involvement of his family (Conrad 134). However, he learns that by using his brother-in-law, he had linked his family and terrorism. His wife then kills him after discovering he was responsible for the death of her brother. In modern societies, terrorists are easily traced through myriad connections between themselves and their families. Police and other civil investigators, employ tracing based on contact, and connections to arrive at the people responsible for terrorism.
Labor, Effectiveness, and Action are three aspects displayed in this novel to indicate the notion of work and action among different people in either the support of terrorism or in fighting terrorism. For instance, Chief Inspector Heat is among the state officials responsible for the fight against terrorism. Mr Verloc, on the other side, is presented as a man who supports terrorism through the selling of contraceptive sand pornographic content to people. On the other hand, Ossipon, Karl Yundt, and Michaelis are presented as people who strong supporters of anarchism. Unable to work due to their anarchist ideas, these three men then turn to their women to support them in life. Steve, Verloc’s brother-in-law, is supported by his mother because of his sensitive nature (Conrad 327). The different policies developed by the government in Britain during this time have hugely contributed to the nature of these characters in relation to labour. In this society, anarchism is extremely prohibited, and for the people who support this movement, the consequence is a legal action which involves denial of employment.
In contemporary societies, different governments have developed various policies that prohibit the action of movements that support terrorism. This implies that for people like Michaelis, supporting the terrorism movements, they are denied the right to acquire legal jobs. Similarly, people like Verloc have device new methods of generating income to fund their families. Effectiveness, as defined by Vladimir, is the ability to perform one’s duties to exemplary status. Verloc is labelled ineffective because he cannot help his movement, anarchy, through changing the governments stand on the movement. This implies that for terrorists, there are specific sponsors who finance these terrorists, and in return, these financers expect the terrorists to perform their duties to exceptional standards. However, the tendency of the activities of the anarchists being sponsored by a government raises the question of whether modern-day terrorists are sponsored by rival governments to disrupt peace.
In the use of the aspect of themes, Conrad shows how these themes explain the aspects of terrorism and politics in societies. Terrorism involves making tough and critical decisions that could change someone’s life. In this novel, Verloc is faced with a decision that eventually ends his family, with his death, that of his wife, and brother-in-law. For this reason, Conrad uses these themes to show how different governmental policies lead to the development of terrorism in the world.
Conrad also uses the various symbols, motifs, and allegory to present the message of terrorism and politics in societies. In the use of motifs, he uses Newspapers in numerous scenes of the story to emphasize the kind of doppelganger presented in the novel itself. Conrad uses a newspaper to present the message of Mrs Verloc’s death, a reporting that helps readers understand how Mr Verloc himself died. Through this motif of newspapers, Conrad presents the idea of the media in reporting of terrorism (Pye 16). During this era, newspapers were used to report deaths, terrorism, and other social activities. However, today, media has been hugely used for the coverage of terrorism. Through the media, people around the world get to know the activities of terrorists. Again, media has influenced terrorists’ activities around the globe. Through media coverage, terrorist groups are known throughout the world, with both print and electronic media sites playing a massive role in the promotion or fight against terrorism. For instance, when a media reports that people of a particular group are oppressed in a country, this triggers revolution, commonly seen as terrorism in this novel. Just like Verloc’s death was announced through newspapers, in the modern-day terrorism, televisions, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of media report instances and deaths of prominent terrorists. For instance, media coverage was used to show the killing of Osama bin Laden and that of Saddam Hussein, people who are widely known for their role in sponsoring terrorism.
The Greenwich Royal Observatory has been used in this novel to symbolize the heart of London city. During this time, hundreds of people flocked this Park to conduct various activities. Mr Vladimir instructs Mr Verloc to plant the bomb at this very heart of the city (Pye 16). This is because, through the destruction of the infrastructure in this city, the message of the anarchists would be read. Similarly, in modern-day terrorism, terrorists are convinced through emotions and feelings that are directly related to their heart desires. In most cases, religion, money, and fame has been used to justify terrorist acts. In religion, controversies state that people want their religion to dominate the world and for the sponsors of terrorist activities, emphasizing that another religion is on the verge of taking over the world pushes people to do these acts. Just like Vladimir used nationality and patriotism towards his country to convince Verloc, today’s terrorist sponsors use the same ideologies to persuade their followers to do terrorist activities.
Writing styles play a crucial role in the development of the various aspects of a novel. In Conrad’s story, he uses the style, “Point of view,” which implies that he jumps from one person to another, representing different views of the various characters. For instance, he uses the third person, which enables him to express the thoughts of the various characters in the film. Most notably, he jumps to and from the minds of Mr Verloc, Mrs Verloc, Ossipon, and the Chief Inspector. Using these jumps from one chapter to another plays a crucial role in the development of the aspect of terrorism and politics. This style enables the readers to understand and fit into the thoughts of the various characters. By using this style, Conrad shows the different views on anarchism as perceived by the various characters (Conrad 120). Similarly, the world is highly divided on the concept of terrorism, with world leaders failing to agree on the definition of terrorism. For instance, what a foreign government could be labelling as a terrorist group in another country could be a force fighting disparities and for the liberation of this nation. The world, just like in this film, is widely divided by the concept of terrorism, with proper and accurate definitions failing to be developed by scholars and world leaders.
Communication plays a significant role in any society, and similarly, Conrad explains the idea of communication in this novel. When explaining scenarios like the downfall of huge characters in the play like Verloc. Verloc, Steve, and Winnie are family members and ought to act as a unit, but in this story, there is little or no communication between these characters. Through the lack of adequate communication between these three characters, their demise could easily be predicted to accuracy. By failing to communicate effectively among themselves, these three characters accelerated their eventual downfall. Verloc ought to treat Steve as his son, at least if not as a brother-in-law. Conrad explains that in one instance, Winnie, Verloc’s wife, had to try to help these two characters improve their interpersonal relationship and communication. Similarly, terrorism is bred by lack of communication among individuals. For instance, in U.S. history, most mass-shooters in schools are kids who lack proper communication guidelines with their guardians and parents. This implies that through effective communication, terrorism can be evaded.
Additionally, communication plays a crucial role in the fight against terrorism. In this film, the communication between the Professor and Mr Verloc was used to trace the origin of the bomb and the people responsible for the bombing. Here, an earlier contact between Verloc and the Professor sheds light to the Chief Inspector about the whereabouts of the terrorist responsible for the bombing. Again, during the tracing exercise, the inspector was able to collect evidence related to the clothing worn by Steve to arrive at Mr Verloc’s home (Pye 17). This led to the revelation that Verloc was both responsible for the bombing and the eventual murder of Steve. The police in contemporary society, use these forms of tracers to reach to the culprits of terrorism. Small contacts like travel cards, hotel bookings, and other identification details are used to trace and arrest these terrorists. Again, the lack of communication between a father-figure, Verloc, and a young Steve caused the eventual death of this boy. This form of communication brings out the idea of manipulation of youths and young people into terrorism. Due to lack of adequate care from parents, young people are exposed to evil people, who desire to manipulate them into committing undesirable actions.
Finally, terrorism, as expressed in this novel yield numerous negative impacts on society. Mr Verloc, though hesitant at first, agrees to indulge in terrorism, an agreement that brings huge effects to his family, his anarchical group, and the London city at large. The bombing triggers numerous occurrences of deaths by people close to his family (Pye 16). His wife, Winnie, stabs him while she also commits suicide by drowning herself in a sea vessel. Steve also dies in the process of executing Mr Verloc’s command of bombing the Park.
In conclusion, Mr Conrad presents an exemplary illustration of terrorism by giving the dynamics that lead to the development of terrorism. Through this novel, it is evident that most terrorist acts are driven by desperation to win prestige and fame among a social class of people. This derivation can be drawn from Verloc’s desire to be labelled a performer by Vladimir who initially labelled him a “poor secret agent.” This desperation led Verloc to carry out the terrorist attack, an act that would ultimately change his life. Finally, Conrad uses this novel to address the power of politics and authority in driving people to do crimes.