Joseph Conrad 's Heart Of Darkness

Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad is dramatic tale of an arduous trek into the darkest part of Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. The story follows the protagonist Marlow, an English marine merchant, as he travels through the African jungle up the Congo river in search for a mysterious man named Kurtz. Through Marlow's narration, Conrad provides a searing indictment of European colonial exploitation inflicted upon African natives. Through his use of irony, characters, and symbolism in the novel, Conrad aims to unveil the underlying horrors of colonialism. By shedding light on the brutality of colonialism in Heart of Darkness, Conrad shows that European values have been irrevocably eclipsed by darkness.

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has allowed me to view the world through a multitude of new lenses. In seeing Kurtz and Marlow’s disintegration when removed from society’s watchful eye, I began to understand that all people have a streak of darkness in them under the right circumstances. While the narrator, and many readers at the time of this novella’s publication, believed that the African natives being colonized were “savages”, this book sheds light on the true brutes in this scenario: the thoughtless Europeans. The other complexity that I never truly understood until reading this book, is the idea that there is a single story told about Africans in Western literature. Africa is portrayed as weak, primitive, and impoverished in most books

The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is one of the most critically debated novellas of its time. It is about a man, named Marlow, who joins the Trading Company, specifically having to do with the ivory trade, so that he can adventure into the African Congo. The setting of this story is around the time of the colonization of Africa. Due to the time period and the sensitive things that are addressed in the story, there are many ethical decisions and dilemmas found in the Heart of Darkness. This is discovered in the time period itself, in Kurtz’s decisions, and in Marlow’s loyalty.

Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness is both a dramatic tale of an arduous trek into the Belgian Congo at the turn of the twentieth century and a symbolic journey into the deepest recesses of human nature. On a literal level, through Marlow 's narration, Conrad provides a searing indictment of European colonial exploitation inflicted upon African natives. By employing several allegoric symbols this account depicts the futility of the European presence in Africa.

Conrad describes them as having “faces like grotesque masks” and their actions are referred to as an “incomprehensible frenzy”. Conrad paints a picture of the African people presenting a “wild passionate uproar” as the Europeans approach; he further states the scene was “ugly. Yes it was ugly enough”. Conrad then continues to contradict his statement admitting “they were man enough” and there was meaning in all the upheaval that “you could comprehend” meaning; relate to. This shows his attempt to understand the perspective of African people. Conrad here accepts the humanness of the African people but nonetheless in a manner that is seen as unconventional today. Conrad’s reference to the “edge of black mass”; the Africans, to be “prehistoric” could be interpreted as derogatory but at the time in which Conrad wrote; was normal. Conrad uses rich imagery as a key method to depict the African people; “the bush was swarming with human limbs in movement, glistening of bronze colour”, this imagery endorses colonialist views as it dehumanises the African people in a way which denotes animalistic characteristics. Conrad refers to their body’s as ‘limbs’ which are moving, through the ‘swarming’ bush which implies animalistic movements, furthermore reference to their skin is a way of noting difference between the Europeans and the Africans and hence marginalizes the African people.

Edward Said, author of “Two Visions in the Heart of Darkness”, provides commentary on the work of Conrad exclaiming that Conrad provided readers a sense of humanity to the inhumane treatments regarding colonization by European powers. Said understands that the primary theme of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness lies in the dissonance of culture and purpose of these African citizens as a result of imperialism.

In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the imperialism of Africa is described. Conrad tells the story of the cruel treatment of the natives and of the imperialism of the Congo region through the perspective of the main character, Marlow. Throughout the novel, Marlow describes how the Europeans continuously bestow poor treatment to the native people by enslaving them in their own territory. Analyzing the story with the New Criticism lens, it is evident that Conrad incorporates numerous literary devices in Heart of Darkness, including similes, imagery, personification, and antitheses to describe and exemplify the main idea of cruel imperialism in Africa discussed throughout the novella.

The book The Heart of Darkness talks about a guy named Marlow that shows leadership traits. A good leader should have willing to pay the consequence in order to succeed. In the book The Heart of Darkness Marlow explains, "I don't like work but, I do like what is in the work." This trait is an important trait because a leader is willing to work and get the benefit of it later on. Marlow connects back to this and shows good examples because he really does not like work but always does it in order to find the outcome of it in a near future. In addition a great leader needs to learn to deal with confusion. According to Cashman, "As leaders too often we step forward with action to deal with complexity without first stepping for the clarity we need."

Chinua Achebe, a well-known writer, once gave a lecture at the University of Massachusetts about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Throughout his essay, Achebe notes how Conrad used Africa as a background only, and how he "set Africa up as a foil to Europe,"(Achebe, p.251) while he also "projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization."(Achebe, p.252) By his own interpretations of the text, Achebe shows that Conrad eliminates "the African as a human factor," thereby "reducing Africa to the role of props."(Achebe, p.257)

A famous criticism of Conrad’s novella is called An Image of Africa, which was written by an African native named Chinua Achebe. In Achebe’s criticisms of Heart of Darkness, he points out the difference between descriptions of the European woman and the African woman, who was Kurtz’s mistress. The narrator describes the European woman as being calm and mature, and the African woman as being “savage” (341 Norton). Even though many writers claim that Marlow is kind to the Africans by bringing light to their situation, the real problem does not lie in his description of their situations, but his descriptions of the people themselves (30 Heart of darkness Interpretations).

Setting: On the sea, which is dangerous and risky at the time because they do not have advanced technology to navigate.

The novella Heart of Darkness gives a diverse view of life in Africa during the time of colonization. The main character Marlow, a somewhat naïve man, enters Africa to fulfill his dream of meeting Mr. Kurtz, a prominent man who is said to have a vehement way of speaking. Throughout Marlow’s journey to meet Kurtz, Marlow is required to travel along with other pilgrims, or other white men traveling into the Congo, or as Marlow would like to call it, the heart of darkness. Along the way Marlow is tested and must endure the wilderness that surrounds him, and the natives, who wish to hinder the rescue Kurtz from his own madness, but in the process of saving Kurtz, Marlow is losses his self in his own perdition.

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness depicted women and savages in the same manner, which indicated that in the eyes of the government that the two were essentially the same in their rights and supposed value. They should be seen not heard. In Heart of Darkness, the company functions like a government. Every plan, action, and and decision that is made to some extent is done for the good of the company, or at least for a while. I chose the passage where Kurtz lover appeared by the steamer before he died and I will apply Marxism theory. When we look at this passage through this lens we must ask two questions: what social classes do the characters represent? Also what social or societal values are being presented?

Joseph Conrad often mocked the African peoples. In his novel, Heart of Darkness, he referred to the African people as “savages” and used strong language that looked down upon them. Conrad describes a passing native, “They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages.” Conrad depicts the Africans in very vivid descriptions and uses negative language with an almost disgusted tone. He sees the Africans as inhuman, feels they are not civilized, and believes himself to be far more superior than them. Conrad does not bother to try and understand their culture or language. He insults their language and believes it is merely just incomprehensible grunts. Conrad remarks that looking at an African “was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs.” The comparison he uses is very insulting to the African people and so degrading that Conrad found an African working as so surprising. He was taken away that an African could be civilized and Conrad was just mocking the natives. By using such cynical language, Conrad changes what the readers think of Africans to become negative. This view of African peoples from Conrad contrasts Achebe’s perspective of African peoples and their lives which was more influenced by his own race, culture, and beliefs just as Conrad’s novel was.

In “An Image of Africa”, Chinua Achebe comes to the bold conclusion that Joseph Conrad “was a bloody racist” (788), with his discussion centering primarily on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a racist text. Achebe’s reasoning for this branding rests on the claims that Conrad depicts Africa as “a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar in comparison with which Europe 's own state of spiritual grace will be manifest” (783), that Africans in Heart of Darkness are dehumanized through both the characterization of individual Africans and the Congo as a setting, and finally that Marlow is no more than a mouthpiece for Conrad’s personal views on race and imperialism. However, Achebe makes critical oversights and contradictions in the development of each of these argumentative pillars, which prove fatal to the validity of his overarching contention. This should not be construed, though, as a yes-or-no assessment of whether Conrad was a racist outside of what his written work suggests—Achebe himself has “neither the desire nor, indeed, the competence to do so with the tools of the social and biological sciences” (783)—but as an assessment of claims specific to Heart of Darkness and their implications for Conrad’s views and attitudes.