A Journey into the Soul in Heart of Darkness
A picture is an abstract idea, brought into context to form
something concrete. They are made up and created to give off some sort of
feeling or mood, that one can relate too. The atmosphere helps determine
what kind of mood the picture will take. Any author, of either a painting
or piece of literature will set the mood by using their atmosphere to
enhance the theme of their creation. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
uses mood and atmosphere to help create a portrait called, the journey into
the soul.
The journey to the soul is to find one's self. Atmosphere pervades
the mood or spirit. The atmosphere aids in revealing the journey to find
one's soul. The setting, "took in the forest, the creek, the mud, the
river-seemed to beckon with a dishonoring flourish before the sunlit face
of land a treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to
the profound darkness of its heart." Conrad 54 Conrad does not even mention
their exact location which is very peculiar. The main river was described
in the form a snake. A snake can be looked at from many points of views,
mythological, biblical, literal and metaphorically. The snake represents
all the twists and turns and being able to find one's inner-self is very
difficult and twisted. The snake represents some of the animal imagery in
the novel. Perhaps this is a sign that the jungle is something living and
not just an ordinary jungle.
Literature's imagery helps to show the main idea through a picture
painted in one's mind. Imagery is very insightful and in Conrad's novel
there is a lot of animal and hell imagery that branches together to form
the main theme of the novel, the journey in finding one's self; the soul.
The snake as mentioned before is an image of evil. In biblical times the
snake created the evil in the story of Adam and Eve. The lion is an image
that appears frequently. "He is crawling on all-fours,"Conrad 109 describes
Kurtz as being the ominous, morbid man he is. On another level, it deals
with how everyone has a little bit of lion in them, but one must overcome
this phenomenal and boundless force. This lets the reader relate
themselves to Kurtz and their own journey in finding themselves. Perhaps
there is a little bit of Kurtz in all of us.
The characters in the Heart of Darkness, help depict the theme
throughout their environment. There must be something distinctive to
relate the themes and storyline too, and the characters play that role.
One uniqueness in the novel is that there are only two specific names for
all the characters, Kurtz and Marlow. The rest of the characters in the
novel follow under general names such as, the manager, the helmsman etc.
This is very interesting because its difficult to determine why Conrad
would use this approach. Possibly Conrad takes this approach to express
the theme of lost identity. This proves that the journey to find one's
self, is one where not everything appears to be what it seems. In this
long process one can change very much. Kurtz is a great example, he
changed from being a painter and "essentially a great musician,"Conrad 122
to becoming corrupt by being swept up and digested by the darkness. Kurtz
went past the point of no return, he was to corrupted to know he was being
assaulted by the powers of darkness. Finding one's self is a dangerous
journey. There are many distractions along the way that deal with
temptation. These 'temptations' are deadly and can lead to a great deal of
horror and suffering. This proves that the journey to the soul is not a
pleasant journey. Marlow "saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that
knew no restraint, no faith, no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself."
Conrad 113 Anyone who read Heart of Darkness can go back and take a look at
the character Kurtz and relate themselves to a moment in their life that
they had fallen into the binding grip of the darkness.
The mood of a story reflects the way the author makes the reader
feel. In Heart of Darkness the reader acknowledges three main moods while
reading. These moods can be associated with the journey to the soul. The
first mood that the reader should acknowledge is the awareness of the
unknown. The unknown is a very frightful aberration, but to be aware of '
it' makes it a morbid ambience. Marlow's journey to find his soul, is
filled with danger and a foul smell, the stench of not knowing the area,
the people or himself. The unknown is "the lurking death, to the hidden
evil, to the profound darkness of its heart." Conrad 54 Marlow begins his
journey by meeting the crew of the ship. He meets and becomes friends with
them. "Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest
beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big
trees were kings." Conrad 55 His experiences with them are significant in
finding himself but no one really knows where they are. The entrance into
the enigmatical jungle is significant, because it demonstrates how one
first begins their journey, there is only the unknown which is present.
One must face their unknown side to find themselves and their soul. The
gut feeling or instinct of being aware that something is approaching and
not knowing what it is creates a warning that makes one aware of the risks
involved in searching for the soul.
The fear of the unknown is something everyone can relate to,
especially at a young age. Youths, often when asked to think of something
scary, mention the Bogeyman or Freddy Cougar.
Children really do not have a concept of the unknown and it's the
same with adults. It is a formidable place, where anything can happen. It
is a vast void, filled with billions of possibilities, both negative and
positive. The fear of the unknown represented in Heart of Darkness deals
with the journey into the unknown in search of the soul. "Kurtz who
embarks on a harrowing 'night journey' into the savage heart of Africa,
only finds his dark and evil soul."
"The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was
like a ball-an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and-lo!-he had withered; it
had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his
flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of
some devilish initiation." Conrad 81
Marlow with his descriptions of the jungle, probably thought the
jungle was a living thing. "An empty stream, a great silence, an
impenetrable forest." The fear of entering such a terrible place, but how
could he know it was terrible unless he entered it? The answer is simple,
the only way Marlow can be scared is if he can already identify fear. Fear
is unknown just like the soul until it is found, and can be meddled with.
The faint and entangled environs of the jungle create this fear of the
unknown in search of the soul.
The fear of disappointment is another factor which involves the
journey to the soul, because one may not always like what they find.
Marlow wants to see the 'great' godlike Kurtz. but is he really that great?
Marlow's quest was to find Kurtz and that he did, but by doing this he saw
the horror and managed to save himself and his soul. Marlow has already
seen men go time and time through "the door of Darkness," and knows the
esoteric circumstances that lay ahead for these ignorant, blind men.
"Making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the
dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment
in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the
incredible which is of the very essence of dreams...." Conrad 44 Marlow
realizes that in the end everything turned out for the best. His
experience will linger on with his life and the fear of disappointment
would part.
Finding one's self in Heart of Darkness is created by mood and
atmosphere. The ideas and mood behind the atmosphere brush off against the
state of the reader. While reading the novel I was able to reflect on my
own journey to the soul. Any reader can reflect and realize the inevitable.
The journey is not a pleasant one, it is a very difficult task, where evil
lurks in the smallest of places. These places could be anywhere including
the soul and the soul is one of man's most unique qualities. It determines
who we are and how we treat everyone surrounding our presence. In this
universe people live and die but a soul is immortal and will undertake an
eternity.
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph.Heart of Darkness.Bantam Books:New York,1981.
Resources for the Study of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.1998.
Simon & Schuster.Webster's New World Dictionary.Macmillian:New York,1996.
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