The Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad

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.

In Heart of Darkness, Conrad only gives a few characters name in the novella illustrating the dehumanization of mankind in the Congo. With the exception of Marlow and Kurtz, all the European characters posses titles reflecting their careers as their given names; this defines their entire personality and existence to their chosen occupation. This is a reflection on the European

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes place in a world built on imperialism. Written in 1899, Conrad is living in a world still very much involved in Africa. Infect this presence did not begin to end until the early 1960s. Heart of Darkness can be viewed as a very forward thinking book. Joseph Conrad utilizes his book as a mean to send a message. He utilizes his rhetorical devices and moves in order to help him get this message across. One way Conrad portrays his message is by establishing the connection between light and dark. Additionally Conrad uses vivid description to depict the savage behavior of the natives. He makes meaning by later creating a parallel with the behaviors of the white imperialists. Conrad also utilizes imagery to describe the perceived outcome of the voyage in the eyes of the imperialists. He makes meaning by doing this as he later contrasts this showing how things are oven not as they seem. Continuing the idea that things are often not as they seem is Conrad’s diction

Conrad himself was a member of imperial culture and utilized his own experiences he gained as a seamen in Congo and the Malay Archipelago when he wrote his ‘Heart of Darkness’. While writing ‘Nostromo’ Conrad was aware of the politics of the world’s great powers, and his text was shaped by the pervasive ideologies of the time.

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 novella, Heart of Darkness, was written in 1899, near the end of the imperialism of Africa. Far from European civilization, the imperialists are without rules and ransacking Africa in search ivory and glory. One of the most significant themes in Heart of Darkness is the psychological issues catalyzed by the lawlessness of the jungle. Due to the breakdown of societal convention, the characters of Heart of Darkness are exposed to not only the corruption of imperialism, but the sickness of their minds.

Written in the late 1800’s, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a novella about one man’s travel into the Congo Free State by way of the Congo River. The title “Heart of Darkness” actually holds two different meanings. Heart of Darkness is both a metaphor for a psychological “dark side” of man, and an allusion to Africa. The title suggests both a physical and mental reference.

There are a multitude of contrasts found within Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” For instance, there are contrasts between the different stations in Africa. However, the distinctions between the Thames River and the Congo River truly highlight two important themes within the novel: light and dark and the hypocrisy of imperialism.

At the start of the novel…[use of “dark”]…also at the end…[use of “shadow”, “blackness”] After evaluating these examples, it is possible to assume with little doubt that Conrad considers the very bastions of Western civilization breeding places of a dark malady. It may be an overgeneralization to extend the reaches of this “darkness” to mankind as a whole since the areas “afflicted” with it are considered civilized, limiting it essentially to the Western world.

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.

Joseph Conrad is a well-known writer from the late 19th century mostly known for writing short novels. In his most praised work, Heart of Darkness, he creates a story based around his own personal adventure on the African continent told by a fictional character: Marlow. Marlow’s aunt got him a job with a corporation only referred to in the book as “The Company”. He soon is packed and is on a ship to West Africa. He is assigned to operate a ferry running up and down a river carrying goods and people where they need to be. As Marlow travels the river he hears greater and more retched things about a man named Kurtz, whom he eventually meets. He becomes fascinated by this Kurtz character and becomes obsessed with finding out as much as he can about him.

In Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, there can be many literary images found within that develop the idea of horror. Heart of Darkness is noted for its horror within the Congo between the Africans and the Europeans. The horror in Heart of Darkness is a contribution of many ideas that are formed and contributed from the European colonists. The purpose of this essay aims to argue that the horror in and of the novella, Heart of Darkness is from literary images that correlate within the ideas of racism, colonization, and imperialism.

Joseph Conrad was born by the name Jozej Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on Dec. 3, 1857. He was an English novelist and short story writer who wrote many titles to include Lord Jim, Nostromo, and The secret Agent. He was known for his richness of the use of prose and also using his encounters with living on the high seas. His reputation as a great story teller covers up his great fascination when people are faced with nature’s invaraiable unconcern, man’s frequent malevolence, and his inner battle with good and evil. Conrad’s father was a poet and a polish patriot who was arrested and sent in to exile in late 1861. Conrad was introduced to English at the young age of eight while listening to his father translate some great

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.

       Conrad emphasizes the idea of what is real versus what is “dark,” what is civilized versus what is primitive, what colonizes versus what is colonized, repeatedly throughout Heart of Darkness.  As stated above, “real,” in this case, contains all the implications of a civilized society:  clothing which covers a person’s