Özet:
In this thesis study, the colonial representations of the colonizer and the colonized
are examined in the two important literary works in English Literature, namely Heart
of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and A Passage to India by E. M. Forster. Together
with these, the attitudes of these two writers towards imperialism and colonialism are
scrutinized in the light of their above-mentioned books and the secondary sources
related to the issue. In the colonial discourse and accordingly in the above literary
works, the colonizer is usually represented as the superior race that has positive
qualities which the colonized do not have. The colonized is shown as the inferior
race that has various negative qualities, so that the colonized is the Other and the
colonizer is not. At the same time, it is seen that the colonizer‘s attitudes and
behavior may be better towards the colonized when the latter mimics back toward the
former. However, even if colonized natives mimic the colonizer as in Bhabha‘s
mimicry, they become like the colonizer, but not quite. The colonized becomes the
mimic of the colonizer, but not quite, so the former is both the mimic of the colonizer
and not like the colonizer himself or cannot be like him with all of his privileges. In
other words, the colonized is neither the original native anymore after the mimicking
process nor like the original colonizer himself with all his superior qualities, so the
colonized‘s situation and thus colonial situations and representations are ambivalent
and this negates the power of colonial representations. As has been shown in the
literature in the field and especially in Forster‘s A Passage to India, the colonized
must commit an error, do something excessively or have a lack in something so that
the colonizer could keep their supremacy and thus their colonial authorityover the
colonized. While these main issues of representation are examined, the effects of
imperialism and colonialism upon the colonized, the colonizer, the animals, the
plants, nature, and the environment are also reflected and explored in this study. As a
result,it has been seen that the negative consequences of imperialism and colonialism
have affected all the parties, whether the colonizer or the colonized, the animals or
the people, the plants or the environment. The attitudes of the writers of the two
above books towards imperialism and colonialism are also delineated as the other
main issue. Considering the evidence from the texts of the above two books and the
secondary sources, the colonial representations of the colonizer and the colonized
that these writers use in their above-mentioned books, can be said to be utilized both
as a criticism of these imperialistand colonialist representations by showing their
awareness of these stereotypes and as a background for their novels which is familiar
to the reader of those imperial and colonial days. In this way, the criticism of these
two books on imperialism and colonialism would appear milder to the readership in
their period of publication in the era of imperialism and colonialization while at the
same time it would make the readers more aware of the detrimental and painful effects of imperialism and colonialism on the colonized, the colonizer, animals,
plants, nature, and the environment.