Heart Of Darkness And Robinson Crusoe Analysis

This paper attempts to offer a Marxist reading of Conrad 's Heart of Darkness and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Specifically , this paper highlights how the concept of commodification helps us to understand the struggles and the dialectic between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat which are both considered the products of their socioeconomic and material circumstance with an emergent capitalist culture.

The Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, is a thrilling, yet suspenseful piece, constantly keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. Conrad describes the scenery and details around him, and uses words such as sails of the barges “drifting up with the tide” and a “haze” rested on the low shores in which the audience is able to picture dark skies, with misty skies, over the water (imagery). Conrad creates a deeper and darker tone as he uses words such as “mournful gloom” and “the air was dark”, which makes the audience wonder why the sky is dark and why the surroundings are filled with gloom (tone). Conrad controls the verbal pacing and focus, as he puts a shorter sentence before a longer sentence, building the longer sentence off of the shorter sentence (syntax). Conrad says, “A haze rested on the shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark, filled with gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth”, in the short sentence more emphasis is placed on the “haze” and darkness. The longer sentence goes on to describe more details, building off of the “haze” and darkness.

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.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes”, preaching to his admirers a foolproof formula: think advantageously, their lives will become fruitful but think adversely, their lives will become fruitless. Gandhi’s exhortation, stating that the thoughts a person fills their head with will bleed into the type of lives they live, proves true in both the stories Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, and Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. Kurtz, the idol in Heart of Darkness, and Paul Farmer, the hero in Mountains Beyond Mountains, adapt this formula in paradoxical fashions. Kurtz’s adaptation is to exploit the misfortunate that he comes into contact with, the natives of the African Congo,

Although the author Joseph Conrad never met the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who died more than a century before Conrad’s birth, their distinct philosophies still have numerous points of intersection, suggesting some fundamental truths within the structure of the human reality. Through the novella, Heart of Darkness, Conrad details his perspectives on the faults of man and reality as a whole, with views often coinciding with many of Leibniz’s own, as found in his numerous philosophical works. Consequently, the two perspectives combine together, like a cyclopean image, to enhance and deepen each of the two men’s philosophies on humanity.

In the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad suggests that when removed from civilization and unrestrained, people succumb to the evil in human nature and regress into savagery. Charlie Marlow, the protagonist of the story, ventures out into the depths of Africa, eager to explore its unknown territories. Despite hoping for success, Marlow learns of the horrors that lie behind the curtain of civilization. Throughout the novel, the author presents this main idea with certain elements of fiction. A key scene that portrays the theme of the story occurs when Marlow follows Kurtz’s path from his steamboat into the wilderness. Kurtz, who represents the result of unchecked ambitions, recalls his experience in the wilderness, and readers learn of his character prior to his downfall. This scene displays the main idea using the author’s style, the point of view, and the characterization of Kurtz.

In the passage, Conrad focuses on the worker’s infatuation with ivory. Marlow had just arrived at Central Station and was beginning to offer his impression of the station. Central Station, filled with inconsequential workers, acted as the hub for the Company’s operation in the Congo. It is at this point that all the ivory from around the colony meets before being shipped to Europe. The Central Station also acts as the area where new, bright-eyed workers go before being sent to their respective precinct. The import-export business combines at the one bright point in the darkness of the Congo.

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.

Literary works contain contrasting places as tools to show opposite themes that are a part of the main idea in the play or novel. Authors typically use contrasts as a means to present opposing forces that are at work within the pages. Joseph Conrad, in Heart of Darkness, fills his novel with numerous contrasts. Conrad uses these contracts in order to establish good and evil distinctions between places like Europe and Africa, or more specifically the Thames River and the Congo River. Beginning with the first page, Conrad starts to develop the contrasting scenes of the two rivers.

Characteristics of the genre adventure, consist of a heroic protagonist, a journey or quest, unusual locations, and action and danger. Characteristics of the genre realistic fiction consist of events that could happen in real life, and the themes represent human experiences.

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

In regards to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, many literature reviews focus on the motifs of Imperialism, the symbolism of darkness and fog, or the aspect of racism in Conrad’s work. During the era which Conrad wrote, England was going through the Victorian Era, which was marked by a shift in views on morality. The term “Victorian morality” is used today to describe values which adopt a social code of conduct in a restrictive way, such as views on sexual restraint and a low tolerance of crime (Sanders, 2). The Victorian era saw social issues such as child labor and prostitution become issues which influenced societal views on the roles of women in British society (Sanders, 10). These social norms shaped men’s views on women in general, giving rise to the underlining perceptions of female purity and the role of women as homemakers. This essay will examine the role that societal views on women in the 19th century had on Conrad’s portrayal of women by the analysis of four sets of minor characters in his book, Marlow’s aunt, the two women knitting outside of the office, “The Intended” (Kurtz’ fiancé), and Kurtz’ mistress.

In the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, several key themes are represented through the geography and the relationship it has with the behavior of the characters. Joseph Conrad conveys that savagery is in every man and when exposed to an uncivilized environment, it can bring out that madness from within through the character of Kurtz,who is widely admired in the beginning of the story, but then it is revealed that he becomes mad because of his prolonged time in the uncivilized surroundings of Africa.

In Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, it tells the story of young man from the city York. The original name of Robinson was Kreutznar but was called Crusoe instead because so many people would butcher his name. Robinson was the third son for his father and mother. The first born son for Robinson’s father was in the military as Lt. Col and was killed in action near the famous battle at Dunkirk. The second son of the family was more or less a disappointment, since neither Robinson or his parents knew what happened to him. With Robinson coming from a family of decent wealth, it was now on to him to do well for himself. It seems from an early age Robinson doesn’t plan on going on the path his father wanted him to. In the book, Robinson says “not bred to any trade, my head began to be fill’d very early with rambling thoughts” (Defoe 5). With all the education that his father was providing him, he didn’t have any interests in the direction that his father was steering him to which was law. It seems Robinson wants to venture on his own path and prove that he can be successful on his terms and not that of his father and mother.