Analysis Of ' Heart Of Darkness '

Heart of Darkness is a book about one man’s journey into the depths of the African Congo. He travels to a place where, "’the changes take place inside’"(Conrad 15). For a man named Kurtz, his journey went deeper into Africa then he could have ever expected. Kurtz’s journey into Africa ended up being a journey into the darkness within himself.

1.     The protagonist of Heart of Darkness is a person named Charlie Marlow. Oddly, his name only appears once in the novel. Marlow is philosophical, independent-minded, and generally skeptical of those around him. He is also a master storyteller, eloquent and able to draw his listeners into his tale. Although Marlow shares many of his fellow Europeans’ prejudices, he has seen enough of the world and enough debased white men to make him skeptical of imperialism. An example of Marlow being independent-minded and philosophical is when he takes a trip up a river, as a break from working on ships. Marlow describes the trip as a journey back in time, to a “prehistoric earth.” This remark on how he regards

Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness, describes a life-altering journey that the protagonist, Marlow, experiences in the African Congo.  The story explores the historical period of colonialism in Africa to exemplify Marlow's struggles.  Marlow, like other Europeans of his time, is brought up to believe certain things about colonialism, but his views change as he experiences colonialism first hand. This essay will explore Marlow's view of colonialism, which is shaped through his experiences and also from his relation to Kurtz.  Marlow's understanding of Kurtz's experiences show him the effects colonialism can have on a man's soul.

In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad suggest that true human existence cannot prevail productively without the dynamics of society. Throughout numerous scenes in the novel, Conrad stresses the necessity of societal restraints through Kurtz’s inability to prosper as a human being when he is removed from the expectations of civilization. In the scene above, Marlow’s myopic observations of Kurtz reveals Conrad’s theme by illustrating the annihilation of Kurtz’s essential human characteristics as he descends into a barbaric lifestyle absent of the norms of society. Not only does the above scene support Conrad’s main theme, but it portrays his writing style, characterization of Marlow, and symbolism as used throughout the novel.

‘Heart of Darkness’ includes four-month of Conrad in Congo, and his command of a Congo River steamboat. Conrad experienced and saw the violence made by the European explorers and traders in Congo. He created the embodiment of European imperialism in his character, Kurtz. The novel tell the story of Marlow, a seamen who undertakes his own journey into the African Jungle to find the European trader, Kurtz.

When Marlow first hears about Kurtz he sort of pushes it to the side. He wasn’t very interested in who Kurtz was. He didn’t want to have the same opinion about Kurtz as everyone else. He wanted to form his own. Once Marlow learns more about Kurtz, and how he gave up the rich life of Europe to stay in the jungles of Africa, he begins to admire Kurtz. As the story progresses Marlow begins to become obsessed with Kurtz and getting to meet him. For example, when the crew was on the boat and Marlow heard that Kurtz had died he became devastated that he would not get the chance to meet Kurtz. “I couldn’t have felt more lonely of desolation somehow, had I been robbed of a belief or had missed my destiny in life.” (Conrad, 67-68) “Talking with … I flung one shoe overboard, and became aware that that was exactly what I had been looking forward to – a talk with Kurtz… The man presented himself as a voice” (Conrad, 67). Marlow’s obsession with Kurtz was an obsession with his voice. I think Marlow is obsessed with Kurtz because he believes that Kurtz is different than the other men. He believes that he has some sort of restraint and can control his destiny.

     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.

Examining Heart of Darkness and The Book of Negroes Through Different Perspectives Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad, highlights the corruption seen by a European in the country of Africa and The Book of Negroes written by Lawrence Hill highlights the corruption seen by an African in the Thirteen Colonies. In Heart of Darkness, Charlie Marlow is introduced as a European explorer who travels from country to country. He ends up going to Africa as a steamboat captain for an ivory company and witnesses natives being treated as slaves. Marlow then meets an agent named Mr. Kurtz who tries to civilize the native people but ends up dying of sickness after going mad and committing atrocities. These horrors haunt Marlow even after his return

A white man named Marlow travels to the Congo during the time of The Scramble for Africa. He describes what he sees and his perception of Africans. He describes their appearance and actions. They are characterized as savages and are not seen as part of the human race. Joseph Conrad, the author of Heart Of Darkness is denounced for his racist remarks and dehumanizing aspect throughout this story. Although Conrad makes racist statements, it is relevant to the time period in which the story took place in. During this time period, the Belgians were imperializing Africa and taking its riches resources. However, the Africans were seen as slaves due to the fact that they were subjugated. The problem with this is that this one image of Africa in history

“[H]is soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad” (Conrad 100). In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad portrays man as he perceives him to be, a dark animal consumed by the evil in his heart. Conrad, being an atheist, understands no ultimate authority for right and wrong, but he does see corruption in the hearts of men.

Set in the heart of the Congo, Heart of Darkness is a tale of a man named Marlow who is hired as a steamboat captain by a Belgian owned company. During the late 19th century, Africa was divvied up, so to speak, by imperialistic powers and was the world’s hotspot for the much sought after ivory. Marlow was hired for a quest to set out and find a mystery man named Kurtz who was also part of the same company and was currently in the Congo. Kurtz had apparently gone crazy, so it was the mission of Marlow to locate and retrieve him.

Throughout literature, there are journeys that characters must take to progress from being naive to withhold great wisdom. However, in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the characters progressed from civilized men to inhumane animals. The novel explains the journey of a sailor from London to the heart of Africa to began colonizing. As that people refuse to acknowledge the truth of humanity because “civilized” men unravel their sanity and unites with their insidious self.

The Congo was an extremely dark and evil place. Anyone that came from a normal place like England and lived in the Congo would experience a massive change in their personality and mind. This is exactly what happened to Marlow. Marlow came to the Congo from England and over the course of the book slowly lost his humanity. " And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth."

Although, as a society, we discourage the process of not judging a book by its cover, we have all been guilty of doing it at some point. The first item we look at when we pick up a new book is the title and the cover as a whole. These are two key components when it comes to using our heuristics to decide if a book is worthwhile reading or not. With only two items to judge by, each has to hold significant importance in order to draw a reader into reading the novel. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad represents a mysterious title to draw readers into reading the novel, but hold a much more significant underlying meaning which represents many elements in the novel, while also symbolizing external concepts in the overall plot. The title represents many important elements such as the character of Mr. Kurtz and others, to the setting of Africa in the novel, and to the concept of the evil nature of imperialism outside of the novel. Through the title, Conrad has created significance for elements of the novel creating a very large impact on readers of the book.

Heart of Darkness is written by Joseph Conrad and published in 1899. It is a novella written in the early modernism literary period.