Black Truth and White Lies in Heart of Darkness

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Heart of Darkness: Black Truth and White Lies

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, there is a great interpretation of the feelings of the characters and uncertainties of the Congo. Although neither Africa nor the Congo are ever actually referred to, the Thames river is mentioned as a support. This intricate story reveals much symbolism due to Conrad's theme based on the lies, good, and evil that interact within every man.

Today, of course, the situation has changed. Most literate people realize that, by probing into the heart of the jungle, Conrad was trying to convey an impression about the heart of man, and his tale is universally read as one of the first symbolic masterpieces of English prose (Graver 28). In any event, this story recognizes primarily Marlow, its narrator, rather than Kurtz or the brutality of Belgian officials. Conrad wrote a brief statement on how he felt the reader should interpret this work: "My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel-it is above all, to make you see.(Conrad 1897) Knowing that Conrad was a novelist who lived within his work, he wrote about the experiences as if he were writing about himself. "Every novel contains an element of autobiography- and this can hardly be denied, since the creator can only explain himself in his creations."(Kimbrough158)

The story is written as seen through Marlow's eyes. Marlow is a follower of the sea. His voyage up the Congo is his first experience in freshwater navigation. He is used as a tool, so to speak, for Conrad to enter the story and tell it out of his own philosophical mind. He longs to see Kurtz, in hope of appreciating all that Kurtz finds endearing in the African jungle. Marlow does not get the opportunity to see Kurtz until he is so disease-stricken that he looks more like death than a person. There are no good looks or health. ***WHERE? BEGIN THE SENTENCE MORE SPECIFICALLY THEN ‘THERE ARE…’*** In the story, Marlow remarks that Kurtz resembles "an animated image of death carved out of old ivory."

Like Marlow, Kurtz is seen as an honorable man to many admirers, but he is also a thief, murderer, raider, and persecutor. Above all, he allows himself to be worshipped as a god.

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