A Study of Ideational Metafunction in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness†: A Critical Discourse Analysis

The linguistic study of literature or critical analysis of literary discourse is no different from any other textual description; it is not a new branch or a new level or a new kind of linguistics but the application of existing theories and methods (Halliday, 2002). This study intends to determine how ideology or opinion is expressed in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and what kind of lexico-grammatical strategies are used in the first part of this novella to convey the author’s ideological meaning. By focusing on the lexico-grammatical choices in the transitivity system of the structure of the clauses, the researcher tries to shed light on the ideational meaning in the first section of the story. That is, the grammar of the clause as representation (transitivity patterns) which represents the encoding of experiential meanings- meaning about the world, about experience, about how we perceive and experience what is going on. By examining the transitivity patterns in text, we can explain how the field of situation is being constructed, i.e. we can describe what is being talked about and how shifts are achieved in the field. Both Halliday and Hassan have integrated theoretical statements with demonstrations of text analyses (Hassan, Matthiessen, & Webster, 2005). In that spirit, the researcher here offers a textual demonstration of reading of a literary text. In order to do so, the researcher has identified metafunctional patterns of ideation found in the lexico-grammar of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and has noted the author’s use of foregrounding against these patterns to contrast the racist and imperialistic ideologies being opposed to through the frame narration of the whole first part by Marlow as the chief character said to be Conrad’s own voice in the process of sailing and cruising on the Thames in a yawl by the name of Nellie.