The Importance Of Greed In Heart Of Darkness

The protagonist Marlow believes that: “the mind of man is capable of anything-because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future” (109). The basis of Heart of Darkness is Marlow's physical journey up the congo river to meet Kurtz. The main character Marlow goes through many physical and psycological changes from the beginning to the end of the story. In the beginning, Marlow is fairly innocent as he goes up the river, he gets closer and closer to Kurtz, and he moves closer and closer he learns more and more about the hearts of men and the darkness. When he eventually reaches Kurtz, Marlow's perception is obstructed and he physically and psychologically, does not know where he is.

Both Kingsolver and Conrad use similar story construction and point of view in these texts. The truly pivotal characters in each text, rather than the narrators, are the mostly unspoken antagonists of the story. In Heart of Darkness, the story is centered on Kurtz and his actions involving the Congo. The true focus of the novella lies not with Marlow, but rather Conrad uses Marlow as a medium in order to examine Kurtz. In the novella, Marlow is an outside observer. The story follows Marlow’s ever-changing perception of Kurtz in order to characterize the unseen character. When Marlow first learns of Kurtz, he is told that he is “a remarkable person…a prodigy” (Conrad 69), but as the story progresses, both Marlow and the reader delve into Kurtz’s true character and discover a tyrant of imperialism.

In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad suggest that true human existence cannot prevail productively without the dynamics of society. Throughout numerous scenes in the novel, Conrad stresses the necessity of societal restraints through Kurtz’s inability to prosper as a human being when he is removed from the expectations of civilization. In the scene above, Marlow’s myopic observations of Kurtz reveals Conrad’s theme by illustrating the annihilation of Kurtz’s essential human characteristics as he descends into a barbaric lifestyle absent of the norms of society. Not only does the above scene support Conrad’s main theme, but it portrays his writing style, characterization of Marlow, and symbolism as used throughout the novel.

Kurtz was a centralized character in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness who began his expedition as a trading post commander and ivory collector. Before they met, Kurtz was described to Marlow as an idol by the Company’s chief accountant. “‘He is a very remarkable person.’ Further questions elicited from him that Mr. Kurtz was at present in charge of a trading post, a very important one, in the true ivory country, at ‘the very bottom of there. Sends in as much ivory as all the others put together…’” (Conrad 382). Kurtz is obviously very valued

Greed, is the result of somebody who chooses to stay within their own bubble and not

Greed is what drives everything in society, whether that be thousands of years ago or today. The reason we have advancements in our world is greed. People want to live forever, have a legacy that lives forever, or they want to have the most money. People have a natural desire to have the most stuff, whether that be money or physical good, and they will go to the ends of the earth to get it. And because this is human nature, unfortunately, it isn’t stopping anytime soon.

The article by Thomas Cassidy, points out the instrumental role that greed plays in the modern corporation. Modern Economists have always seen greed as not only a necessary element in the corporate environment, but as also a vital part of the successful evolution of a public company. As the article points out, “Economists from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman have seen greed as an inevitable and, in some ways, desirable feature of capitalism. In a well regulated and well balanced economy, greed helps to keep the system expanding”.

     Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novel about a man named Marlow and his journey into the depths of the African Congo. Marlow is in search of a man named Kurtz, an ivory trader. Though Marlow?s physical journey seems rather simple, it takes him further into his own heart and soul than into the Congo. The setting, symbols and characters each contain light and dark images, these images shape the central theme of the novel.

Greed can push both ruthless and innocent people to hurt others. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Europeans wanted to imperialize many countries in Africa for land and resources such as gold and cash crops. They also desired economic, social, and political control along with the success of converting Africans to European politics and religion. Europeans sought to have an economic and political dominance over African Americans. The cruelty that the Africans faced is displayed in Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness. Raising questions about both racism and imperialism, the novel includes Kurtz, a character with greed for the valuable resource, ivory. Conrad comments on the horrific corruptibility of humanity through the narrator, Charles

     Even from the beginning, Kurtz was made out to be an icon, an idol. To Marlow, he was the only thing that made sense in the company, on a journey, in a wilderness full of confusion. The

In Heart of Darkness, Marlow and Kurtz have many similarities. Perhaps the most apparent and literal similarity is the likeness of their journeys. Both men journey farther and farther into the African jungle. Kurtz, however, is driven to

“No man ever steps into the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and he’s not the same man” -Heraclitus. This quote accurately depicts the protagonist, Charles Marlow in the novella Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness is read from the narration of Marlow, an ivory transporter who travels down the Congo. Throughout his journey, Marlow develops an intense interest in the famous ivory trader Kurtz, who is portrayed as a powerful, sage, and evil man. The story is based on Marlows experiences with the encounters he's faced with and his ability to be fickle based in these encounterments. In Heart of Darkness, we see Conrad use the river to symbolize movement throughout the novella.

 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

The constant change in scenery throughout the Heart of Darkness contributes heavily to the meaning of the novel as a whole, for it allows the novel’s author, Joseph Conrad, to expand on the effects the physical journey of travelling through the Congo has on the inner mentailites of the characters- Marlow and Kurtz- in the novel. Conrad’s continuous comparisons between characters, their surroundings, and the plot, create the genuine progression of the novel, while the physical journey that is taken allows the characters to make their own discovery of humankind. As Kurtz’s destiny and the struggles he overcomes go on to deeply affect the two characters’ journey through the story’s plot, as everything in the Heart of Darkness is linked or comes back to Kurtz and all the wrongful actions he has committed in the Congo- as he was the perpetrator of all the darkness in the novel to begin with.

In the book Heart of Darkness, a story within a story is being told. The character, Marlow, is telling the story of Kurtz to legitimize his role in the events that are taking place. A downside to this approach is that the reader only hears rumors and accounts about this mysterious figure, Kurtz, before actually meeting him. Kurtz remains an unknown and enigmatic character in Marlow's mind.