Superstition relates to the sense of exploration and the hunger for knowledge in the contemporary human heart. The themes of light and darkness in the modern context has developed to signify knowledge and ignorance - the former being banished by knowledge like shadow by light. In this way, the main themes of the story take on a symbolic significance for the contemporary world, and remains relative to the paradigm of the universal reader. The Daughters of the Late Colonel by Katherine Mansfield.

Like Conrad, Mansfield includes a strong sense of the supernatural in her story. At one point, the daughters visit their departed father's room. They become very frightened when they sense their father's presence, with Josephine even feeling that the father is in a specific drawer, watching them. This provides little ground for connection, as it is likely to make the reader laugh rather than feel jitters.

In Mansfield's story, there is also a strong focus on propriety. The sisters decide for example to dye their dressing gowns black. They are also very concerned with the specific rituals of the funeral, and how to conduct their lives properly afterwards. Today, rituals such as those for weddings, funerals, dinners and the like take a less prominent position in society as a whole. Indeed, people tend to be less formal in the world of long work hours and fast food.

The elements of superstition and etiquette therefore take a less important position in society today, and form elements of non-identification...

The story is however relevant in terms of the parent and his effect on his daughters. The modern reader may for example be shocked and saddened by the ignorance of the daughters. The father as it were forces his daughters to live a life of isolation in providing for his care. The effect of this is that they do not know how to socialize or meet men. Constantia speculates that they might have married had their mother lived.
There are fewer elements of relevance in this story in the contemporary context than those in Conrad's story. However, the author describes vividly the processes of grief that the daughters experience. The grief for their father gradually settle into grief for the loss of their lives in terms of husbands and children. They are too ignorant even to voice this, ending somewhat unsatisfactorily but solemnly with "I forgot...."

In conclusion, both Mansfield and Conrad prove their value as authors who have the potential to be truly timeless. Mansfield's work is somewhat more symbolic in terms of oppression, while Conrad's contain more concrete elements of connection to the modern reader. I believe that both stories will prove their value not only in the current context but also in the future.

Sources

Conrad, Joseph. "Karain." Available online: http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2787/

Mansfield, Katherine. "The Daughters of the Late Colonel." Available online: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/DaugLate.shtml