Analysis Of The Movie ' Heart Of Darkness '

Joseph Conrad's short novel Heart of Darkness (first published in 1902) is undoubtedly critically acclaimed, moreover, it is considered to be one of the greatest English novels. Conrad, who is of Polish ancestry, is as well considered to be an outstanding storyteller and a great stylist of modern fiction (Achebe 2). Even though this novel was written more than hundred years ago, it still draws many people's attention. The plot of the novel revolves around the main character, Marlow, and his journey to the heart of Africa (the Congo River). Marlow accepts to work as a steamship captain for a Belgian ivory-trade company and seeks to meet Kurtz, another important character in the novel whom many people admired, including, to a point, Marlow. On

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.

In Heart Of Darkness, Conrad introduces the following characters, the manager, the brickman, and the foreman, with various distinctive characteristics. Additionally, Conrad applies each man to contribute towards accumulating information about Mr. Kurtz to Marlow. Correspondingly, while Marlow was accumulating information regarding Mr. Kurtz, Marlow encounters a painting created by Mr. Kurtz, which possesses a symbolic connotation to it. Furthermore, as a consequence of Marlow interest in Kurtz, it exceedingly represents Marlow’s characteristic.

Conrad makes Africa seem mysterious and appealing to show why men and settlers would be attracted to Africa. To the Europeans the natives of Africa are not people to them. The jungle is a dark and dangerous place compared to Europe's living standards. In contrast to Africa, Europe is classified as a Utopian society. It holds all the cultured people and the classy people. The people that live in each society is the most contrasting part of the story. The Europeans have a government and productivity and moderzation in their

During the time the novel takes place, Africa was nick-named the dark continent because of how little the Europeans knew about Africa. In reference to the title, the main character in the novel, Marlow describes Africa as “a place of darkness” (Conrad 43). He compares the Congo river to a snake: its head in the sea, its body curving over a country, and its tail in the deep of the land (Conrad 5). Because of how little was known about Africa, it was considered both a mystery and a challenge to Europeans.

Conrad chose that the title of the novel that best conveyed his view of the continent of Africa was Heart of Darkness. Darkness has a connotation of evil, fear, and despair. Also enforcing the idea of darkness, Conrad uses words such as “brooding” and “vengeful” to give his readers a menacing connotation of Africa as well. The word “struggled” is also used to help the reader interpret the difficulty of having to be in such a primitive, unforgiving, and foreign land. Achebe responds to this by using detail such as speaking about the branches above a small group of men as they strode trudged through the forest around them where the branches, “threw a pattern of light and shade in the sandy footway” rather than shrouding the group in the shadows.

When you have to attend to things of that sort, to the mere incidents of the surface, the reality--the reality I tell you---fades. The inner truth is hidden luckily, luckily. But I felt it all the same; I felt often its mysterious stillness watching over me at my monkey tricks, just as it watches you fellows performing on your respective tight ropes for---what is it? half a crown a tumble . . . . (36)

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 story about a man named Marlow and his Journey into the African Congo. By reading the novel and understanding all the imagery Conrad has inserted, we can get a better understanding of the

Joseph Conrad the writer of “The Heart of Darkness” (1899) describes as his own narrator of thoughts, the expedition and imperialism ideology that leads him through the Congo. Conrad has just taken a short ride up river to his company’s station. He was taken up by a Swede, who warned him about fellow men hanging themselves. The environment was new to Conrad, it’s noted as he observes the hills, rocky enclosures, and the naked African-Americans walking about. The specific texts begins, as Conrad’s curiosity of his new station, leads him up a hill. The books describes the new landscape to be close to rapids, the author, who is Conrad narrating her own thoughts, makes the noise and clustered groove to add confusion and unfamiliarity.

Cruelty in Heart of Darkness In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, many motifs were mentioned in the story. Savagery, meaning an act of cruelty, was one of the most important motifs that were exemplified multiple times throughout the novel. As Marlow, the main character of the story, traveled along the Congo River to find Kurtz, he encountered many forms of savagery. In the beginning of the novel while Marlow was taking a break on the Nellie with other crew members, he described how the Romans felt when they were in his position on the river.

Aboard the steamboat are the natives or “savages” that the members of the crew have taken as slaves to do their jobs. This is when Marlow starts to realize just how much colonization has done to Africa. He saw Africa as darkness because it was unknown to him, but when he realized that London was dark because of the greed and evil of the people. They came into the Congo to try and bring light to these savages and in the end he found out that the darkness was everywhere especially in the civilized cities. They hid behind fear and laws to keep them safe from the darkness, which in turn made them, feel above everybody else.

To sum up the harshness and cruelties of imperialism, Conrad explains that, “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”(4). Also, Conrad uses imagery to depict the journey up the Congo and through the darkness of the African Safari. There are two reasons why he described, in extensive detail, Marlow’s trip. The first reason was to show the effects of wilderness on the human heart. Guerard, an acclaimed critic, describes the significance of the actual journey.

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.

The description shows the bleakness of the Congo compared to the outside world, is one of the first representations of the civilized (or outside) world contrasted to the Congo. The uncivilized/civilized comparison and the descriptions of darkness heighten when Conrad increases the contrast by moving Marlow into an oasis of civilization, the Main Station, a port outpost on the coast of Africa, owned and commanded by white Europeans, but kept alive by the slave work of black natives. Upon setting foot on shore,