The Secret Sharer By Joseph Conrad

To explain, in one instance, prior to coming in for a therapy session with his psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, Conrad was feeling panicked and says “ I can’t get through this! It’s all hanging over my head!” (Guest 223) illustrating that he is in a state of distress. If someone tried to deal with the stress on their own, the stress would have strained and exhausted their brain. However, confiding in another person proved to give them another perspective on how to think, thus calming them down; as seen when Dr. Berger's wise words: “punishment doesn’t do a damn thing for the guilt, does it? It doesn’t make it go away. And it doesn’t earn you any forgiveness” (Guest 228). By confiding in others, people can get advice that they otherwise, would not have thought of: and lowering their stress levels as a

    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.

“Oh, propriety...We’re always so concerned with propriety. Even in total madness, we will stick to our hierarchies and chains of command.” This concept--human concern with fitting societal standards and hierarchies--is a clear theme in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Even as ivory transporter Charles Marlow journeys into Central Africa, a land described as “mad” and “savage”, those around him remain primarily interested in maintaining a set image and social standards, a strange concept amidst such perceived “madness”. This obsession with propriety in Heart of Darkness is seen through the anomalous character development of both Kurtz and Marlow, and the Company’s response. Overall, this contributes to a larger meaning explored by the novel--the question of good and evil and whether or not the two are truly distinguishable.

In his narrative, Marlow declares, "You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies, - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget" (Longman 2210). In spite of these strong words, he lies to Kurtz's "Intended" when he visits her and tells her, "The last word he pronounced was - your name" (Longman 2246). Marlow's words, spoken in Part I to the audience, seem to contradict his words spoken in Part III to the Intended. Upon closer examination however, it is clear that it was keeping to his beliefs that caused Marlow to lie to

As the Heart of Darkness snakes its way into the savage shadows of the African continent, Joseph Conrad exposes a psycho-geography of the collective unconscious in the entangling metaphoric realities of the serpentine Congo. Conrad’s novella descends into the unknowable darkness at the heart of Africa, taking its narrator, Marlow, on an underworld journey of individuation, a modern odyssey toward the center of the Self and the center of the Earth. Ego dissolves into soul as, in the interior, Marlow encounters his double in the powerful image of ivory-obsessed Kurtz, the dark shadow of European imperialism. The dark meditation is graced by personifications of anima in Kurtz’ black goddess, the savagely magnificent consort of the underworld,

Through the formation of new experiences a link can be seen between the protagonist and his alter ego. Upon the Captain’s initial voyage, he is portrayed as being a lenient man, incapable of providing hash orders to his crew members. However, as the Captain spends more time with Leggatt, his double, the Captain’s personality starts to switch as well. As a result, he becomes more determined to make his crew follow his instructions. This is portrayed by the Captain’ response to the inquiry of one of his mates, as the Captain replies, “The only reason you need concern yourself about is because I tell you to do so” (Conrad 21). Through this quote, it becomes clear that the Captain no longer feels a need to justify himself to his crew, but has

This chapter follows his first observations as Commander and the immediate actions he sought to implement. He notes that the crew seemed relieved by the departing Commander and realized that he must come up with a new leadership model to reach his crew. As he noted in the introduction that high percentage of turnover among crew bothered him and he notes some trends in society that contribute to this problem. The long economic boom had made most people unafraid of losing their jobs, or finding new ones. Thus he believed it manager 's challenge to retain them by motivating them to "work with passion, energy, and enthusiasm." (p.12) By reading over the exit surveys he assumed as many that low pay was a main reason for people leaving, but was shocked when it was in fact 5th. The top four are strikingly similar to the slide we studied in class on "What Associates Want from Their Job" in wanting appreciation, ability to make impact, not being listened to, and more responsibility. This helped him understand his crew better and try to "see the ship through the eyes of the crew." (p.13) He encouraged his crew to challenge the way in which they carried out their jobs by asking, "Is there a better way to do what you do?" If so, then he wanted them to take the responsibility one their own to implement the change, unless it involved major implications.

Just because you bark commands at the members of your crew, does not make you a leader. The role of a leader is to make sure that all crewmembers are well trained and confident in their ability to perform, much like Captain Marquet ‘s experience. He states that, “Those at the top have all the authority and none of the information. Those at the bottom have all the information and none of the authority.”

"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

Inherent inside every human soul is a savage evil side that remains repressed by society. Often this evil side breaks out during times of isolation from our culture, and whenever one culture confronts another. History is loaded with examples of atrocities that have occurred when one culture comes into contact with another. Whenever fundamentally different cultures meet, there is often a fear of contamination and loss of self that leads us to discover more about our true selves, often causing perceived madness by those who have yet to discover their own self.  Joseph Conrad’s book, The Heart of Darkness is a story about Man’s journey into his self, the discoveries to be made there and about

What does this mean?: In short, the captain remembers the person who was in his cabin, Legatt, and since he was a former first mate, he is similar to the captain. The last line signifies that Legatt has moved on to a new life. Throughout the story, we see the captain refer to Legatt as his second self, or double, but I think that the reason that he calls him double is because he's looking at himself and who he used to

February 15, 1894, was the most interesting afternoon in the otherwise dreary history of Greenwich Observatory. Earlier in the day, Martial Bourdin, a skinny anarchist, traveled by train from Westminster to Greenwich, concealing a small bomb. As he ominously ambled through Greenwich Park, towards the Observatory, something happened - no one knows exactly what - and he blew most of himself to shreds. The British, who loved to quantify in the late nineteenth century, noted that the explosion spread bits of flesh over a distance of sixty yards. Martial Bourdin remained alive for another half hour, but gave no hint as to the reason for his choice of such a bizarre

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.

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.”

Leggatt comes to the side of the captain's ship, and tells him that he has only two options, to come aboard or to continue swimming until he drowns. He comes up, the captain fetches him some clothes (one of his sleeping suits exactly like the one he is wearing), and then he shares his secret with the captain, and confesses that he has committed a murder weeks ago, and jumped off the ship and swam until he reached the captain's ship. The captain decides to help him, he empathizes with him, "He appealed to me as if our experiences had been as identical as our clothes." This striking physical resemblance, and overwhelming empathy between these two has led some critics to believe that Leggatt is only a figment of imagination of the young captain who feels a stranger on his own ship and is struggling to establish his authority on the ship's crew members, and is grappling with his