Light vs. Dark in Heart of Darkness Essay

Darkness is everything that is unknown, primitive, evil, and impenetrable.  To Conrad, Africa is the very representation of darkness.  Marlow often uses the phrase, “We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness” (Conrad 68), to describe his progress on the Congo.  By traveling farther and farther down the Congo, Marlow and his crew get closer and closer to the epicenter of this foreboding darkness, to the black heart of evil.  Because of Africa’s physical immensity and thick jungles, it appeared to be a land of the unknown where “the silence . . . went home to one’s very heart—its mystery, its greatness, the amazing reality of its concealed life”(56). This portrayal of Africa as both a romantic frontier and a foreboding wilderness continues to dominate in the minds of Westerners even today.

There can be multiple inferences from the clues that Conrad gives us. It is adding to the novel and giving the meaning. It could mean that there is just as much “darkness” in Europe as there is in Africa. Conrad’s main character, Marlow, has never been one that was easy to read or figure out. So why should the intended message be given to us plainly?

Darkness permeates every circumstance, scene, and character in Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness. Darkness symbolizes the moral confusion that Charlie Marlow encounters, as well as the moral reconciliation he has within himself while searching for Kurtz. Marlow's morals are challenged numerous times throughout the book; on the Congo river and when he returns to Brussels.

From the start of the novel, Conrad foreshadows Marlow journey into the "heart of darkness" through the use of light and darkness. Marlow's journey to the Belgium company's office, where he encounters two women knitting black wool. The two women are commonly interpreted of representing two of the three fates of Ancient Greek mythology who spun, wove and cut thread to represent the birth, lifespan and death of mortals. This darkness used perhaps foreshadows the evil he will encounter, something that merely fate may decide. Marlow describes the place as the "city that always makes me think of a whited supulchre", and the "city of the dead", thus, white in this instance is used to represent the exploitation of the company and the true evil, which is hiding behind the façade of light and progress. Therefore Conrad uses the civilized white to represent the evil of the "dead city" and the search for the "precious trickle of ivory".

When Joseph Conrad composed Heart of Darkness he created a literary masterpiece which embodied the essence of light contrasting with darkness. Throughout the novel Conrad constantly utilizes the images of light and dark and uses them to mold a vision, which the reader is then able to use to decipher the literal and metaphorical meanings of the novel. As Conrad said, " my task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel- it is, before all, to make you see." (Crankshaw 34) In Heart of Darkness Conrad makes the reader "see" by absorbing into every aspect possible of the book images of lightness and darkness. The light and dark images of the novel

     Every great author posses the ability to create a novel deeply woven in symbolism and subliminal messages. Underneath the literal journey encountered in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness lies a tale saturated with subtle, yet, significant imagery that brings forth the true meaning of the novella. Throughout Heart of Darkness Conrad uses a plethora of simple colors, objects, and places to convey multifaceted images and ideas. His fine execution of the tools of the English language allows him to quickly lure the reader aboard the Nellie and not release him until the horror is over. Although the interpretation of symbols in the Heart of Darkness is elaborate, due to their simplicity they

One might be focused on the color of the Africans skin tones and the fact that they are darker, but I have noticed that Conrad mainly mentions darkness when he is referring to the jungle. I think the title relates to the fact that imperialism of the jungle is the heart of darkness. Since it is the most uncolonized place on the planet it has become the center of the movement for imperialism which is the essence of darkness because it leads to countless evils. That is just my interpretation, as when I read this novella I focused on the imperialism and the criticism to

1# "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." Part 1, pg. 4

Morality has been interpreted in different ways throughout life, but there is only one true definition, which leads to the reality of what society truly is. Joseph Conrad uses narration in Heart of Darkness to explain and analyze human’s moral values. It is true that all humans are savages, but this savage nature does not make someone a bad person. If a person uses one’s savage features for evil and do not restrain from doing so, then it is the lack of restraint that brings upon the evil in humans. Restraint is necessary for the sake of mankind because it helps a person to ease into understanding the harsh reality of life. Morality is the ability to restrain from using one’s savage nature for the demise of

Moreover, another moment of awakening in these uncongenial surroundings was when Marlow witnessed the heads—“black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids” (Conrad 57)—mounted upon stakes at Kurtz compound. Marlow’s description of blacks throughout the text represents the state and conditions they had been forced into by their oppressors. Many critics found his diction rather spiteful and hateful, but it was more so his boundless explication of the inhumane treatment he witnessed humans commit apathetically to other human, which highlights Conrad’s sophisticated use of irony. Marlow’s “talks of lies, untruths, veiled life, contrasting appearance with reality” (Raskin 31) in the text “suggests that the preoccupation with appearance and reality was prompted by Conrad's recognition that ‘pretty fictions’ camouflaged the horrors of Belgian colonialism” (Raskin 31). In “Heart of Darkness: The Manuscript Revisions,” Literary critic Jonah Raskin, states, that Conrad’s “interest in the dichotomy between appearance and truth was, at first, not abstract or theoretical but tied to the

In the book, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad we are introduced to the concept of light and dark as they relate to the people of Africa and the people of Europe. In the beginning of the book the intro gives an insight into the journey that the main character, Marlow, is about to embark on. Conrad symbolically introduces the sun setting on the river as Marlow enters the mouth of the Thames. Conrad reveals this allegory by indicating that Marlow is about to enter a dark place morally, and physically as a reference to the Negro people of Africa. Light and dark are used by Conrad to represent morality and immorality.

Various parallels can be drawn when comparing and contrasting Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Frank Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", while taking into consideration Heart of Darkness is a novella and "Apocalypse Now" is a film. These differences and similarities can be seen in themes, characters, events and other small snippets of information including anything from quoted lines to strange actions of the main characters. Both pieces follow the same story line but they are presented in different contexts, allowing for many differences as well as the ability to see how Conrad is able to write a piece of literature that can be transposed to many different settings regardless the time period and still convey the same

Written in the late 1890’s, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness holds two different meanings. Heart of Darkness is both a metaphor for a psychological side of man, and an allusion to Africa. The title suggests both a physical and mental reference. During the time the novel takes place, Africa was called the dark continent. This was because little was known about Africa, and it was rather a mystery to Europeans. The main character in the novel, Marlow describes Africa as “a place of darkness” (Conrad 43). He also 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. Marlow speaks of it with this meaning, saying the place “had become a place of darkness.” The beginning of Marlow’s journey on the French steamer starts his descent into proverbial darkness.

“Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: The horror! The horror!”

The late 18th century held the beginning of a new literary movement. Authors who wrote to candidly exhibit the human experience were part of the realism movement that transpired all around the world. Rather than restraining art to what is good and beautiful, these authors included what is simple and sometimes unpleasant in their work. The social and psychological conflict of stories in a literary realism piece can be clarified by the articles of clothing that characters wears. Clothing functions not only to protect the bodies they are worn on but also to communicate messages of status and beliefs.