Social Integration and Alienation in Conrad’s ‘Amy Foster’

Abstract

This study deals with the theme of social integration and alienation in Conrad’s Amy Foster. The migratory experience contains a set of challenges while migrants try to achieve social integration in the host society. The main reasons are cultural, societal, religious, and even political. Literary modernism alludes to the individual experience due to the rise of individualism in an era, which is characterised by the fragmented social character. Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) narrates the fortunes and misfortunes of a diasporic individual represented in Yanko Goorall. He is alienated by his new surroundings. Alienation is the sense of estrangement. Yanko Goorall is a lost stranger, helpless, and incomprehensible. He witnesses different types of racism. He is beaten, stoned, and even imprisoned by the local citizens. He dies in isolation and exile. Amy’s behaviour toward Yanko is an enigma.