Smith states that he "tried to show the utility for imperialist ideology of a gender ideology that constructs a feminine sphere as ' too beautiful altogether'" ( Smith183). She presents her thesis through an engagement with feminist “rethinking,” successfully noting the binary relationship between men and women. This article reduces Smith's argument to its most basic form: by surreptitiously attributing undesirable feminine interpretations of imperialist ideology to women, using the literary tools of silence and symbolization, Marlow has the power to formulate his own masculine construction to obviate the collapse of the separated spheres. of genres. In her supporting points calling for the representation of each significant woman in the novel, Smith indeed remains faithful to the “first wave” feminist methodology of “identifying and opposing the various ways in which women are excluded, suppressed, and exploited” (Lynn 212 ). However, an important point to note is that only sporadically does she venture further into post-feminist thought, “exposing the arbitrariness of this (male) privilege by reversing it, upholding matriarchal values.” Smith evidently has an ambiguous view of feminist criticism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Smith's analysis of the portrayal of the washerwoman can be condensed into this statement: "The fact that the washerwoman is silenced indicates Marlow's power" (Smith 173), meaning that Marlow is in full control on the representation of the washerwoman. The job of a feminist critic is to “expose this opposition, thereby undermining its power by exposing its artifice.” (Lynn 220) However, Smith goes no further by stating that “the washerwoman becomes vividly present by virtue of her absence” (Smith 173). In my opinion, her silence not only makes her "present", but also rationalizes a form of strong hold on men. Marlow “respected” the accountant solely for the fact that “his starched collars and shirt fronts were achievements of character” (Conrad 33) and the accountant's appearance is entirely contributed by the washerwoman. Furthermore, the fact that men talk about her in her absence also indicates her importance in the accountant's life. Thus, Smith herself should eliminate the assumption that it is “natural for a Native woman to do a white man's laundry” (Smith 173) and gain a new feminist perspective that the washerwoman may actually be the silent “holder of power.” Smith rightly identifies that Marlow has a “condescending construction” (Smith 177) of his aunt. However, the closest Smith comes to reversing this binary relationship is to admit that her aunt's belief is not “unequivocally feminine,” but a “variant of masculine imperialism.” She claims that Marlow “uses (his aunt's) lack of female experience.” In Smith's perspective, his aunt is compared to Marlow's chess piece: her only function is to produce "an ideological defense of male belief." Indeed, her feminist critique is undeniably right, demonstrating that Marlow manipulates women's representation to achieve his own goals. However, she can't process the fact that Marlow might be her aunt's chess piece. Dependent on his aunt for his position as captain of the ship, Marlow realizes that he has been “represented by the high dignitary's wife” (Conrad27). “Represented” is the object of another's meaning over which he has no control. “A fortune for the Company” is also an object of economic exchange. When Marlow says about his aunt"it made me quite uncomfortable", it was repeatedly speculated that his discomfort came from his naive religiosity. A more hidden, but more plausible reading suggests that Marlow, feeling that he has become the object of someone else's speech, feels uncomfortable in the situation.awareness that the ideology of male domination may not be true. Smith decorously points out that “the Destined is Marlow's construct” (Smith180). Just before Marlow visits the Expected, he concludes from her portrait “she seemed ready to listen without mental reservations” (Conrad 90). However, Smith does not conform to the “most obvious critical strategy” of feminist criticism, which is to “look for contradictions as the author says different things to different audiences with the same text” (Lynn 224). He fails to list the fact that when Marlow meets the Fated One, he finds his portrayal of her challenged. She wants to talk much more than she wants to listen, and her attention is more on herself than on Kurtz: “He needed me! Me!" (Corrado93). Instead of her listening to him, Marlow finds that he listens to her. In fact, she presents him with an alternative representation, which threatens to nullify his constructed theory of male superiority. Marlow in the opening exchange with the Expected is reduced to echoing the words of the Expected. It is surprising that Marlow, who propagates a narrative constructed about women as narrative truth, which attempts to subjugate women as the weaker sex, is reduced to the same fate. Furthermore, his ratification of Marlow's lie it does not “break down our preconceptions and prejudices” (Lynn 215) as criticism of feminism should do. She hypothesizes that “Marlow's lie functions to stabilize both the feminine sphere of “salvation illusion” and the masculine sphere of “ confused fact” (Smith 181). In my opinion, this affirmation of Marlow's lie is only skimming the surface of feminist criticism. His lie supplants the woman he names, making the woman and the lie interchangeable. The lie or falsehood is linked to the body and the feminine – what Marlow wishes to escape from. Therefore, Smith should point out that it is highly paradoxical that Marlow himself lies, which creates gender confusion in his character. On the other hand, Smith makes a competent feminist critique of the representation of the wild woman and the women of the Company. She goes beyond the basics to establish that Marlow symbolizes and commodifies the woman's body as the enigma of the jungle and as a thing upon which “value” is displayed respectively. She achieves this by challenging the notion of female identity, arguing that “she may not be the conventionally feminine or conventionally native figure constructed by Marlow's ideological narrative” (Smith 175). Smith also uses the woman's silence to indicate ideological tension, thus revealing “ideology as ideology” (Smith 175). Likewise, Smith's assertion that women in company “dramatizes the futility of Marlow's attempt to separate the realm of domesticity from that of colonial adventure, the feminine sphere from the masculine” (Smith 176) is developed relevantly in feminist methodology. By showing the dismantling of separate spheres, she managed to “deconstruct the binary, dismantling the very structure of opposition that makes oppression and prejudice possible” (Lynn 214). In demonstrating these women, Smith manages to "(undermine) the very idea of ​​stable sexual oppositions" (Lynn 215), remaining faithful to feminist methodology. Please note: this is just an example. Get a personalized paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In my summary and evaluation of Smith's article, I have tried to show the limitations of his argument,, 2005.