자아 인식과 심미성 탐색의 여정: 『어둠의 속』의 영어 교육적 함의

A Journey of Self-Awareness and Aesthetic Exploration: English Educational Implications of Heart of Darkness

The purpose of this study is to discuss the process of exploration of the human mind and self-exploration through the narrative of exploration in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, in connection with the aesthetic sensibility of English education along with narrative discourse. The protagonist of Heart of Darkness experiences the contradictory reality of civilization and barbarism while sailing the Congo River in Africa to realize his desire to explore the unknown world. European whites who promoted civilization define the lives of African natives as barbarism from a one-sided perspective. This one-sided savagery of white people reveals greed and brutal violence while exploiting all kinds of resources along with the devastation of the lives of African natives. Readers understand the structure of the protagonist’s realistic threats, fear, and fear of death through the acceptance of the narrative of English education. In this narrative strategy, readers are provided with the opportunity to increase the possibility of acquiring aesthetic sensibility in the process of facing the essential value of life that the protagonist faces in reality and exploring the self. The protagonist of the work experiences the misery and cruelty of reality that is different from his expectations for exploration, and goes through a process of transformation of perception and progresses to the process of maturing the self. Heart of Darkness provides an opportunity to reexamine the relationship between civilization and barbarism by concretely reproducing the greed, savagery, and cruelty hidden within the human mind, starting with civilization. And the protagonist’s various encounters with reality serve the function of expanding readers’ awareness by allowing them to realize the fiction and illusion of civilization, not just the exploitation, violence, and misery of white Europeans.