The Dangers Of Fear In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

“…dragged from the house on his knees. His face was bloody and when he tried to speak he cried with pain.”

In our world fear roams everywhere. In our streets, businesses, schools, and homes. Fear has caused wars, and treaties. Fear can cause people to start something amazing or horrific. People can change because of fear of a thing.

Fear is one of the most basic and vital aspects of human behavior. To our ancestors, it was often the only thing that kept them alive, but today, with less and less things in the natural world people have to be afraid of, it usually just keeps them from working towards their goals. Fear can prevent one from pursuing their dream in that it forces us to be afraid of the future and can act as a catalyst for people giving up.

"The horror, the horror!" Kurtz exclaims prior to his last breath of life on earth. In those final moments, Kurtz was able to say something so true about the whole mess of human life. A life dominated by the fittest, perceived differently through each human eye, and full of judgement lacking understanding of all sides. The various ways the world is viewed causes many problems amongst its people. Whether they are about racism, wealth, or even common sense, conflicts are still subject to arouse. Why? The answer to this is not yet clear because of its complexity and endless variables. Yet what is clear is that it ties into two other aspects-prejudice and social

In this story he was a young black man who recently graduated from high school and was given an opportunity to giving a speech to the towns established white leaders. To him, this was a great opportunity for him to become visible in the eyes of whites. He had high hopes of gaining acceptance that in turn would lead to a brighter future. He had no idea that the humiliation that he would have to go through in order to fulfill this opportunity. When he arrived, he was told that in order for him to give his speech, he would have to take part in the entertainment known as the battle royal, by being blindfolded and put into a boxing ring with nine other black men that he had went to school with and beat each other to a pulp. During the battle, not only did he have to deal with being beat up, he also had to endure the racial slurs such as, "Let me at those black sonsabitches; I want to get at that ginger-colored nigger. Tear him limb from limb” (Ellison, 4), that came from the drunken white men that he was trying to gain acceptance from. Although they allowed him to give his speech, they continued to humiliate him throughout his speech. It is amazing the lengths that one would go through to obtain

    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.

What is fear? Fear is that pit in the back of your stomach, your anticipation to do something, overwhelming yourself for no reason or a nightmare you might have. Most of the time people blame their fear on other people. This is inaccurate; a person only controls there own fears. A person's brain can

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” What is fear? Fear can be a noun or a verb. In the noun form, it is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. In the verb form, it is to be afraid of someone or something that is dangerous, painful, or threatening. If one person looks into fear, then that person becomes feared. But imagine a whole society or community looking into fear. The fear not only gets larger as it spreads, but it also gets more fearful than it already is. The power of fear can be displayed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and in Ronald Oakley’s “The Great Fear”. As fear moves on from one mind to the next, it leaves the

We are forced to do what we don’t want to or maybe it is something we want to do. These things only happen because of fear. Fear can either be a dangerous or precious emotion. Fear is, for sure, an emotion that we can not live without. Without fear, we would be mindless machines without a care in the world. Although our other emotions would be heightened, life would not be the same without fear itself. Fear changes what we actually see and feel, it makes us rethink every single thought and decision we come across, and it propels our minds to blame others for something that we originally did. Fear comes into play during many occasions: when you are communicating, when you are in a certain situation, and also during our daily lives.

Another cause for people having fear is the past experiences they have had. Generally, if something bad has happened to somebody, they try to forget about it and/or they try to make sure it never happens again. However, in doing so, they still have a subconscious fear that something similar to the terrible event they’ve experienced may somehow manage to happen again, especially if there are a few similarities between the past event and the current situation. For example, if a man had surgery for his heart to perform better and he nearly died, he may be very reluctant to ever have surgery to his heart or any other body part(s) again.

In Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, the cultural collisions illustrates the struggles Marlow experiences as he questions the nature of evil in humanity.

"Restraint! I would have just as soon expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battle," comments Marlow as he questions why the hungry cannibals aboard his steamer hadn't gone for the white crew members (Conrad 43). "The glimpse of the steamboat . . . filled those savages with unrestrained grief," Marlow explains after recalling the cries of the natives seeing the steamer amidst a brief fog lift (Conrad 44). "Poor fool! He had no restraint, no restraint . . .a tree swayed by the wind," speaks Marlow of a slain helmsman amidst an attack by tribal savages (Conrad 52). "Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts," says Marlow a few moments after he tells of his first glimpse of

Beyond the shield of civilization and into the depths of a primitive, untamed frontier lies the true face of the human soul. It is in the midst of this savagery and unrelenting danger that mankind confronts the brooding nature of his inner self.  Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is the story of one man's insight into life as he embarks on a voyage to the edges of the world. Here, he meets the bitter, yet enlightening forces that eventually shape his outlook on life and his own individuality. Conrad’s portrayal of the characters, setting, and symbols, allow the reader to reflect on the true nature of man.

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

The two major themes of Heart of Darkness are the conflict between “reality” and “darkness,” and the idea of restraint and whether or not it is necessary. Conrad’s passage describing the restraint of the hungry cannibals exemplifies both themes:  It describes how reality shapes human behavior, and contrasts the characters of Kurtz and Marlow.  “Reality,” as it is used here, is defined as “that which is civilized.”