In ‘Heart of Darkness’, travel is not just a geographical experience. Travellers are seen to ‘traverse the psychological spaces of their native myths’ (Farn, 2005). Joseph Conrad explores this, in the passage, through posing threats to Marlow’s identity through a purview of ideas of self and the other. Marlow’s journey into the unknown, where his cultural and societal controls are absent, causes him to question his values, national identity and moral integrity resulting in a changing mind-set. For the Eurocentric traveller this is, according to Farn, a typical experience. Farn builds on this, stating, “The unknown space becomes a metaphysical landscape, invested with a personality…threatening…and mirror[ing] the self’. (Farn 2005) Conrad begins with Marlow’s …show more content…
This reinforces the concept that the further away from their nation/‘home’, the more they lose a sense of self. However, the irresistible call of the unknown beckons them further on and as he progresses deeper into the stillness of the wilderness he becomes psychologically vulnerable (to the imperialist’s eye). The imagery of the ‘natives’ is painted as animalistic, exotic and unusual: ‘horrid faces’ ‘conquered monsters’ to the figure of Europe. Thus, Conrad complies with Said’s theory of ‘othering the orient’, a postcolonial theory in ‘Orientalism. The narrator’s growing recognition of their humanity undermines Marlow’s separation from their ‘otherness’; “Well, you know, that was the worst of it---this suspicion of their not being inhuman” (p.139). A stream of consciousness begins where it is noticeable that a profound confusion and doubt (a Modernist literary feature) of identity of the self is unfolding. This stream of consciousness, structured in enjambment, juxtaposes with the imagery of travelling down the Congo River; the further they ‘crawled [and] very slow’, the more wild Marlow’s thoughts become, dark and
Conrad’s character Marlow describes the natives as having “a wild vitality” and their “faces like grotesque masks.” These remarks demonstrate his fear and reinforces the distinction between himself and the natives.
Cesaire and Conrad both have different methods and rhetoric to criticize colonization. Cesaire is more direct with his critiques. In contrast, Conrad is more reserved with ideas and his thoughts. Conrad attracts the reader into Marlow’s world where the experiences of Marlow and his thoughts, which are never direct, are where one can distinguish his critiques of colonialism. John Reed’s articles are descriptive and allows the reader to have a vivid picture of the reality that is present in the war.
In Heart of Darkness, cultural identity and the dominance of the European, white male is constructed and asserted through the constructions of the "other", that is the African natives and females, largely through language and setting. Thus, while claims of Conrad's forwardness in producing a text that critiques colonialism may be valid, Heart of Darkness is ultimately a product of it's time and therefore confirms the contextual notions of difference.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness critiques the cause for expeditions and its effects on the land they voyage too. Kurtz accounts of expedition shows ironic details of patriotic intentions of creating goodness and prosperity in a country, but leaving it in disaster and chaos. However, in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Kurtz uses cluster images to describe the river and its services in numerous expeditions, yet masquing the truth of death as effects to the performance of change by the water and ship’s patriotic duty through the changes in the atmosphere, alluding of ships and their expeditions, and the anarchic depiction of travellers and their reasons for travelling.
...o, while the novella’s archetypal structure glorifies Marlow’s domination of Kurtz. These two analyses taken together provide a much fuller and more comprehensive interpretation of the work. Conrad presents the idea that there is some darkness within each person. The darkness is is inherited and instinctual, but because it is natural does not make it right. He celebrates – and thereby almost advises – the turn from instinct. By telling Marlow’s tale, Joseph Conrad stresses to his audience the importance of self-knowledge and the unnecessity of instinct in civilization.
In the present era of decolonization, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents one of fictions strongest accounts of British imperialism. Conrad’s attitude towards imperialism and race has been the subject of much literary and historical debate. Many literary critics view Conrad as accepting blindly the arrogant attitude of the white male European and condemn Conrad to be a racist and imperialists. The other side vehemently defends Conrad, perceiving the novel to be an attack on imperialism and the colonial experience. Understanding the two viewpoints side by side provides a unique understanding that leads to a commonality that both share; the novel simply presents a criticism of colonialists in Africa. The novel merely portrays a fictional account of British imperialism in the African jungle, where fiction offers maximum entertainment it lacks in focus. The novel is not a critique of European colonialism and imperialism, but rather a presentation of colonialism and the theme of darkness throughout the novel sheds a negative light on the selfishness of humanity and the system that was taking advantage of the native peoples. In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, Conrad presents a criticism of British imperial colonization not for the purpose of taking sides, but with aims of bettering the system that was in place during Conrad’s experience in the African Congo. Conrad uses the character of Marlow and his original justification of imperialism so long as it was efficient and unselfish that was later transformed when the reality of colonialism displayed the selfishness of man, to show that colonialism throughout history displaces the needs of the mother country over the colonized peoples and is thus always selfish.
Heart of Darkness is Joseph Conrad's tale of one man's journey, both mental and physical, into the depths of the wild African jungle and the human soul. The seaman, Marlow, tells his crew a startling tale of a man named Kurtz and his expedition that culminates in his encounter with the "voice" of Kurtz and ultimately, Kurtz's demise. The passage from Part I of the novel consists of Marlow's initial encounter with the natives of this place of immense darkness, directly relating to Conrad's use of imagery and metaphor to illustrate to the reader the contrast between light and dark. The passage, although occurring earlier on in the novel, is interspersed with Marlow's two opposing points of view: one of naïveté, which comes before Marlow's eventual epiphany after having met Kurtz, and the matured perspective he takes on after all of the events leading up to his and Kurtz's encounter.
The novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is literally about Marlow’s journey into the Belgian Congo, but symbolically about the discovery of his heart and soul during his journey, only to find that it is consumed by darkness. He realizes that the man he admired and respected most, is really demonic and that he may be just like him. He is able to come to this realization however, before it takes the best of him.
Initially, the story endorses the conventional views of Western society, exhibiting light as a positive and reassuring presence without truly comprehending the truth it reveals. Before Marlow begins his story, the sky around the boat he reclines on is full of light.
In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the attempt to define the cultural line leads to the corruption, greed, and evil of the white man. Even when knowledge would seem to counteract lines of hatred, the enlightenment only provides a striking reminder of the inescapable darkness that can still reside in the hearts of man. Throughout the novel, the white man is plagued by his comprised definition of culture. In the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad sheds light on how ignorance destroys the balance between nature and culture.
Beyond the shield of civilization and into the depths of a primitive, untamed frontier lies the true face of the human soul. It is in the midst of this savagery and unrelenting danger that mankind confronts the brooding nature of his inner self. Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is the story of one man's insight into life as he embarks on a voyage to the edges of the world. Here, he meets the bitter, yet enlightening forces that eventually shape his outlook on life and his own individuality. Conrad’s portrayal of the characters, setting, and symbols, allow the reader to reflect on the true nature of man.
So that t... ... middle of paper ... ... hrough the confident and mediating narrative account the reader receives through Marlow and the unnamed First narration Conrad is able to interrogate the theme of the corruption and economic motivations behind colonids praxis in the novel Heart of Darkness. It is, however, unconsciously, also made clear that this text, its narrator and its author are products of their time and ideology, as it consistantly represents characters and situations in racist and patriarchal terms, so that the reader is also aware of the Eurocentric and ethnocentric themes running through the novella. Bibliography Conrad, J. Heart of Darkness.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad may be a narrative about colonisation, revealing its drawbacks and corruption, but it may also be understood as a journey into the depths of one’s psyche, if taken at a symbolic level.
In Joseph Conrad's novel, The Heart of Darkness, Charlie Marlow narrates the story of his journey into the dark continent, Africa. Through his experiences he learns a lot about himself and about the nature of mankind. He discovers that all humans have the capability within themselves to do good or evil. Outside circumstances substantially influence which path a human will take. Marlow travels not only through the darkness of Africa, but also through the darkness of the human soul.
Joseph Conrad creates a motif of light and darkness within society, never quite placing Marlow on either side, and thus isolating him from everyone else. When first getting to shore, Marlow refers to the natives as criminals, creatures, and savages. This immediately gives the reader the idea that Marlow thinks himself different than them. One of the first things he notices when seeing them is their midnight black skin and that “each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain” (Conrad 70). By describing the dark skin of the natives, Conrad manipulates Marlow to think of them as the dark part of society. The chain ties the natives together literally but also figuratively. This metaphor is created to show the unity between the natives and that, whether by force or by choice, they stick together. Although the natives may not have much else, they have each other’s company which is later used to juxtapose the isolation in Marlow. When meeting the white men in the Congo, his reaction is quite different. After taking in the acco...