Famous literature pieces whose impact linger across generations share one common characteristic: the presentation of a condition, or element within human nature, in which readers can relate to. Together with the reflection of the time period in which they are written, classic literature pieces present a timeless and universal moral or theme to the audience in generations after generations. The novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad falls into this category, as it is a product of its own time due to its portrayal the views in its time period, as well as the inclusion of greed and pursuit of knowledge as part of human nature as a theme of the story. The novel Heart of Darkness depicts a story about Marlow, the main character, telling a story …show more content…
Upon his arrival to Africa, he describes Europeans and himself as “first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance”, in an area which is filled with “whirl of black limbs” and “black incomprehensible frenzy”. Africans were “prehistoric” men who walked on “hind legs” and were “useful because he had been instructed”, whereas Europeans were “sane men” (57). The dictions such as “frenzy”, “prehistoric”, and “hind legs” illustrate a primitive and animalistic image of Africans, which suggests the tone of condescension and disgust and offers the audience the narrator’s racist viewpoint. In an event that he encounters a black African woman, he describes her as “savage and superb”, who “stood looking at us without and stir and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose”. He establishes a connection between the African woman and the wilderness, without motion. On the contrary, in the event in which he encounters a white European woman, he describes that “she was in mourning”, and portrayed her verbal speech, “...I heard you were …show more content…
Marlow depicts a clear contract between Europeans and Africans, or the “refined” and the “savage”. Heart of Darkness as a piece of literature is largely a reflection of the time period when it was written, and it, in addition, also reflects the core of human nature and desires which makes the novel a timeless art. Conrad integrates the timeless elements such as greed and materialism as well as human’s need to search for the meaning of life into the plot of the story, shown through stylistic devices such as diction, symbolism and motives of characters. The theme of greed and materialism as part of human nature is evidently shown through the Company’s and Kurtz’s obsession with obtaining ivory. Ivory is the object of corruption in Heart of Darkness, which serves as a symbol for material wealth that humans desire for. Both The Company and Kurtz exploit Africa as a whole continent merely for natural resources, and degrade Africans as a whole race not deserving of human expression. Kurtz, in particular, compromises morality for his personal material achievement, which leads to evilness and the torture of
Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness uses character development and character analysis to really tell the story of European colonization. Within Conrad's characters one can find both racist and colonialist views, and it is the opinion, and the interpretation of the reader which decides what Conrad is really trying to say in his work.
This quote from page 70 points out the futility of the European’s presence in Africa. This is caused by the Europeans taking away from the people of different races and “flatter noses.” These people journey to other parts of the world, then take their resources and possessions, and ultimately claim it as their own. The Europeans go to other countries looking for easier routes, resources, and trade. However, when they stop on foreign lands, they change the way of life for the native population. They bring disease, customs, religion, et cetera, which is then forced onto the natives. This quote highlights the meaningless presence of Europeans in Africa.
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, achieved classical recognition for its depiction of humanity’s struggle to reconcile good and evil. From the very opening pages of the Bible man has wrestled with choice, opportunity, propensity and instinct. The knowledge of good and evil has surely caused us to die to simplicity and burdened us with the curse of self-awareness. At first it was a struggle for me to get from page to page because of Conrad’s intricate details.
Marlow, the main character in Heart of Darkness, often recognizes the Europeans' dehumanization of the Africans. As Marlow approaches the company offices at the Outer Station he sees "a scene of inhabited devastation" (Conrad 24). He catches sight of a chain gang of half starved, animal-like Africans. Trying to rationalize the situation, Marlow tells himself that these Africans are criminals, and somehow deserve their ...
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novel about a man named Marlow and his journey into the depths of the African Congo. Marlow is in search of a man named Kurtz, an ivory trader. Though Marlow?s physical journey seems rather simple, it takes him further into his own heart and soul than into the Congo. The setting, symbols and characters each contain light and dark images, these images shape the central theme of the novel.
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.
He started out with a noble goal, i.e. to modernize Africa, but suffered the effects of a deadly disease, greed. "It was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage." Said Marlow of what Kurtz and the ivory company had done to Africa. Page 102 - "The 'Page'" Kurtz's characteristics are best seen through his work as an Ivory trader in the territory known as Congo. He got this position after being dubbed as a genius, partly because he worked as an orator, poet, writer, musician, politician, and artist in addition to the ivory business.
“ The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” (Conrad 65) So stated Marlow as though this was his justification for ravaging the Congo in his search for ivory. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it as is evidenced by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African population. Heart of Darkness is indicative of the evil and greed in humanity as personified by Kurtz and Marlow.
Conrad also employs the literary device of symbolism to further display the theme, the duality of human nature in his novella Heart of Darkness. Three major examples of symbolism are evident in this novella. These examples include, light and dark, the Congo River, and ivory. Similar to Stevenson, Conrad uses light and dark symbolism throughout his novella. Yet curiously in Heart of Darkness, light does not symbolize genuine goodness nor does dark symbolize pure calamity. Marlow proves this when he says as a comment to the Nellie’s sailors that, “I know that the sunlight can be made to lie, too” (Conrad 1944). The true essence of the light and dark symbolism is portrayed when Marlow compares the white men to the black men, concluding that these men are all the same. In Heart of Darkness, the symbolizing of light and dark actually represents the duality of human nature, a universal condition, which affects all men despite their skin color. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s voyage up the Congo River represents Marlow’s own inward journey. As Marlow advances up the river in search for Kurtz, he begins to learn more and more about himself. Nearing the end of his voyage up the Congo River, Marlow realizes he has more in common with the natives than with the European imperialists. At the end of his journey, when Marlow finally reaches Kurtz, he has learned that everybody has a dark side, but some people learned how to conceal it better than others. The third example of symbolism is ivory. In Heart of Darkness, ivory symbolizes greed and the calamitous nature of man, or the evil side. All throughout the novella the agents and managers of the Company are consumed by obtaining ivory. So much so, that they abandon all their moral principles and...
Marlow notices and describes the people and how they act in the different environments. As the journey starts off, people have morals and respect each other to some extent. They have enough respect for each other that they recommend jobs to each other (Conrad 28). Throughout the journey and deeper into the jungle, the morals become nonexistent and the people become uneasy (Conrad 29). The closer to the Inner Station it is like uncivilized and enslaved African society (Conrad 47). Morals are not around and nothing is questioned what is right and what is wrong. Kurtz corrupts the Natives into being slaves and is not even questioned about it. The corruption of being done by Kurtz is not frowned upon because the dark environment has everyone depressed and just go with the flow. The environment plays a big role on the way people act and do things in the Inner Station. When the fog occurs during their traveling the story gets a little unclear (Conrad 49). This is also where people 's morals are starting to be unclear. The environment and corruption impacts the interesting
...sful. However, Kurtz died shortly after leaving Africa and the only thing he said to Marlow was “The Horror! The Horror!” and then gave Marlow his book. Marlow then took the book and realized that Kurtz had enlisted the Africans help in collecting ivory. Marlow also realized that he did this by using the godly image the Africans had of white men thus proving Hendrik’s point that the white man is considered supernatural in Africa’s interior.
While Collins does a succinct job of examining the economic and political factors that heightened colonization, he fails to hone in on the mental warfare that was an essential tool in creating African division and ultimately European conquest. Not only was the systematic dehumanization tactics crippling for the African society, but also, the system of racial hierarchy created the division essential for European success. The spillover effects of colonialism imparted detrimental affects on the African psyche, ultimately causing many, like Shanu, to, “become victims to the white man’s greed.”
“ The Marxists hate imperialism and consider it as the highest stage, the peak of capitalism and coincidently Heart of Darkness has been considered as an anti-imperialist work, so the work invites a Marxist approach in itself.” (Sardar) The natives were basically stripped of their agency and were forced under the European influence to do hard labor with the ivory. “This imperial relationship between Europe and the underdeveloped world as defined by Lenin is certainly detectable in the historical setting of Heart of Darkness.” (Sardar) They weren’t given the same opportunities as the others. “European imperialism would suggest that this is a utopia considering they can exploit the African masses for maximum gain and they believe that they bring civilization and light to a dark and savage area…” (Rodarte101litcrit 1) And this is kind of topsy turvy because Marlow dreamed of having a utopia. Now that he has met Mr. Kurtz and has seen, and personally worked with his many wonders that he so powerfully possessed, he’s convinced that what he is doing is right. Marlow was naive and hopeless, and Mr. Kurtz seemed all powerful and glorified. Yet we see through the hands of Mr. Kurtz, power is not to be dealt with people who do not know how to control
On one hand, Marlow is saved by his self-discipline while on the other hand Kurtz is doomed by his lack of it. Before Marlow embarked on his voyage to Africa, he had a different view. Due to propaganda, he believed that the colonization of the Congo was for the greater good. In his head, he judged that the people of Africa were savages and that colonization would bring them the elation and riches of civilization. Despite an apparent uneasiness, he assumed that restraint would function there.
Heart of Darkness was written during the time of British imperialism and extreme exploitation of Africans in the Congo. The British were exploiting the Africans in an effort to extract ivory from the primitive jungle. Throughout the novel, Conrad expresses his dislike with the 'civilized' white people exploiting the 'savage' black Africans. Conrad also uses several literary devices in his writing to portray and express several messages. The writing style, techniques, structure and themes in Heart of Darkness all combine to create one of the most renowned, respected and mysterious novels of all time. Conrad wrote an ultimate enigma for readers to interpret and critically analyze for years to come.