Revelations of Dark and Light
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.
The story takes a step back to Marlow in Europe
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The true purpose of the book is to reveal to the European people that Africa is being raped by the ivory traders. Kurtz, the villainous ivory hunter, is portrayed in a captivating manner due to his eloquence. Kurtz is a representation of all European ivory traders, specifically Belgium, who journey to Africa in hopes of striking it rich. Europeans come to take the ivory, but while there, they destroy the land and kill the people. Marlow then meets an accountant after arriving at his post in Africa. The accountant seems to be a representation of the trading companies due to the fact that he is an accountant and dressed immaculately in all white. The trading companies just like the accountant only care about the money being made off of the ivory. The accountant is dressed so perfectly, however is corrupt on the inside. Light and dark is used to emphasize the thoughts of Europeans who thought that the industry of bringing ivory back from Africa was a noble endeavor as stated in King Leopold II’s “The Sacred Mission of Civilization.” King Leopold II states, “But if, in view of this desirable spread of civilization, we count upon the means of action which confer upon us dominion and the sanction of right…our ultimate end is a work of peace” (pg.119). The need for dominance, but succumbing to monetary lusts is the same reason Kurtz is the exemplification
Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story.
From his first mention in the novel--“[Mr. Kurtz] is a very remarkable person”--it is made clear to readers that Kurtz is no ordinary member of the Company. Before narrator Marlow actually encounters this man, he is described as “exceptional”, “of the greatest importance to the Company”, and a “universal genius”. Readers learn that Kurtz came to Africa “equipped with moral ideas” and has brought in an unprecedented amount of ivory, which is the primary goal of the Company. Overall, Kurtz is a prodigy, expected to move up the Company hierarchy quickly, and becomes a sort of obsession for Marlow. Despite this, higher-ups in the Company seem to fear, and
Originally Kurtz had good intentions in journeying to the Congo. He honestly believed in using the ivory trade to better the social and economic aspects of the region, while simultaneously helping the natives to become civilized and part of the world which he thought was superior. Kurtz is only able to impress his own beliefs and ideals upon society and therefore help it however, by taking control of the people of the society. He establishes this control in the
Kurtz only means justice for himself; he does not consider justice for the Congolese from whom he took ivory "at very great personal risk" or for the Company by whom he is employed. However Kurtz meant it, Marlow, in repeating it, assuredly perceives the irony in the statement. Kurtz wanted justice in his possessions, but the jungle took its own kind of justice, by destroying him. Even more ironically, his death even renders irrelevant the human justice Kurtz desired. This begs
Marlow has been an explorer and a dreamer his entire life; he says that he would “look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration” (Conrad 8). These vocations are fostered in modern 1890 Europe. This European mindset leaves the reader with little surprise that Marlow soon idolises Mr. Kurtz to be something of a legendary figure who exemplifies the proper conduct and attitude of an European adventurer in the ivory trade. Marlow becomes entranced by the many descriptions of Mr.
Conrad uses light as a symbol of civilization. Just as darkness is defined as the absence of light, the black jungle represents the absence of white man’s civilization - a civilization marked by corruption and evil. Conrad’s description of Brussels in part one is an example of how he uses detail to convey deeper meaning. “In a very few hours I arrived at a city that always made me think of a white sepulcher.” (953) It is significant that Conrad describes the building Marlow departs from as a white coffin, because the offices in that building are driven by greed and their job is sending men out to their almost certain deaths. The white men in the white town send sailors in search of their white prize, ivory. This cycle of evil begins and ends in this town. Describing the town as white is deceptive, because the town itself possesses an ominous feeling of death. This symbolizes the deception of all the sailors who come to this town in hopes of finding fortune and are sent to their deaths. Conrad makes it clear that this is a deception not found in the darkness of the jungle. When Marlow approaches dying slaves in the darkness of a shaded cove, he states: “They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now, - nothing but black
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
The mysteriousness of the title is the first indicator of the mysteriousness of Marlow's journey into Africa. Seemingly no one--Marlow, Kurtz, the reader--is quite certain if any conclusions he draws over the course of the story are completely accurate.
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness contrasts light and darkness, to represent the civilized and uncivilized sides of the world. Conrad uses light to represent the civilized side of humanity while contrasting the dark with the uncivilized and savage. Throughout the thematic stages of the novel, that is the Thames river London, the company's office in Belgium, the journey to the "heart of darkness" and the conclusion, light and dark is used to represent these sides of humanity, but on a deeper level many assumptions of darkness and light are challenged, with the appearance of light and dark, and in turn good and evil contrasting with the reality.
They weren't 'dark' until the coming of the 'light'. The reader is presented with conflicting and complex meanings, and is affected accordingly. They become sympathetic toward the natives, despite the fact that they are supposed to be evil and uncivilized. Similarly, the metaphor of light representing the white man's nature of civility and goodness is flawed. The white man is civilized, but is that really a good thing? The reader can see that although the white men are civilized, they are brutes that are interested only in capital gain. The ivory that they hoard is white too. Again, the contradictory nature of these metaphors produces interesting effects on the reader. They pity that which is dark, which is only in darkness because of the light. They pity that which they are not really supposed to pity, and they are being asked to all throughout the text. It can be seen then, that the darkness and lightness as metaphors in regards to the natives and the white men, creates effects for the reader that are only strengthened, as they get further through the text.
Kurtz, who has an obsession to power is included in the novella by Conrad to symbolize the greediness for ivory and the immoral values of the Europeans. Initially, Kurtz was out to explore and actually benefit the natives, but that changes when he becomes powerful. Eventually, Kurtz makes it obvious that he is out for one thing, and that is ivory. Unlike the Company, he actually displays his greediness for ivory by threatening his own employees. Kurtz “[declares] he would shoot [the harlequin] unless [he] gave him the ivory” and then commands him to leave the country (126). This presents how he utilizes force to achieve his goals. Kurtz represents the unconcealed avarice of the Company. Kurtz is also another one of the characters that knows that he is harming others, but still desires to get as much ivory as he can. Ivory “was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were
Marlow's journey leads him in an urgent search for Kurtz, the one man who can provide him with the truth about himself. Like Marlow, Kurtz came to the Congo in hopes to bring "light" and civilization to a backwards society. He is a highly-educated, refined gentlemen; yet, in the end, the brutal nature of the Congo forces him to resort to the life of a murderer and pilferer. The name Kurtz itself has symbolic meaning. "The physical shortness in Kurtz implies a shortness of character and spirit" (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation). Marlow and Kurtz both symbolize the two conditions of human nature. "Kurtz represents what man could become if left to his own intrinsic devices outside protective society. Marlow represents a pure untainted civilized soul who has not been drawn to savagery by a dark, alienated jungle." (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation). When the two come face to face, each man sees a reflection of what he might have become in the other. In Kurtz, Marlow sees the potential
In the book, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, all the characters are pulled into a well of black despair. Conrad uses the darkness of the situation contrasted to the light of society to show man’s dependence on western morals, and how when these morals are challenged by the darkness, the light crumbles under its newly weakened foundation. The contrast between light and dark is most stark in the themes of setting, the changes in Europeans as they drive farther into the Congo, and the white man’s collapse under the ultimate darkness of the Innermost Congo.
Kurtz's whole orientation in the Congo was based on the quest for ever-increasing quantities of ivory. In this lay the weakness of Kurtz, for he wanted something, unlike his Russian companion. Kurtz's intelligence, his ideas, and his plans, were captive to his status as ivory gatherer. Kurtz's rejection of the validity of the 'unsound method' was not the problem. The problem with Kurtz, which Marlow does not realize, is not that Kurtz went native, but that he did not go native enough. In other words, Kurtz did not abandon the ivory-fetish. Kurtz's link with colonialism is therefore his undoing, even in the individual decay he undergoes.
Evil: Morally bad or wrong; wicked. Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious. The definition of evil, a term used very cautiously in modern society, is very diverse among different people. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the term evil is articulated through several ways mainly four characters: the cruelty within the people of the Belgian Congo, main mystery of Kurtz, the setting upon which the characters reside, and the atmosphere in which the Belgian Congo produces from the elements prior stated. The smarter Europeans used their intelligence and arms strength to cruelly overcome the weaker