Heart Of Darkness

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction” (Fromm). Greed is a major problem in our society today and is becoming more normalized throughout the years. In the novel Heart of Darkness, the author shows a lot of sins that are revealed by the Europeans. Heart of Darkness reveals many themes about how darkness can affect the Europeans when they try to “civilize” the Congolese and how they are becoming more blind to reality. In Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, he uses literary elements of symbolism, characterization, and setting to illustrate the theme that when humans are surrounded by darkness, they can become blind to the truth. The literary element of

In the novel Heart of Darkness, there are two essential symbolisms that helps prove the theme. During the novel, one element of symbolism is that the river symbolizes deception. Throughout Marlow’s journey the river plays a large part in the story, in that Marlow witnesses certain events that ultimately grotesque his perception of reality. Marlow’s time on the river changed him completely and ultimately made him blind to the truth because of the immoral actions he witnessed while on the river. One key event on the river was when Marlow witnesses Europeans killing random Congolese (Conrad). The symbolism also connects with the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and how the snake deceives them. This is similar to what happens to Marlow in the the story because he is being deceived by his surroundings. Another key symbolism is the painting of the woman holding the torch (Conrad). This painting symbolizes the Europeans and how they are blind to the truth. This symbolism is a key theme in the novel Heart of Darkness and exposes one of the biggest problems in the novel. As the novel continues it becomes more apparent that Europeans are becoming blind to the truth as symbolized in the painting of the woman holding the torch. Conrad’s use of symbolism is a key way to identify the theme, when humans are surrounded by darkness, they can become blind to the