In Quest of Self in Heart of Darkness
In Conrad's Heart of Darkness Marlow comes to the Congo for experience and self in the ancient belief that a man is shaped by what he does, that character is formed by what happens to one. But surrounding all of man's efforts in the Congo is a presence: Kurtz listened to it and went mad, and Marlow recognizes it but refuses to listen, neutralizes the appeal of the unknown and survives Kurtz, who succumbed to the fascinating wilderness.
In 1899, eleven years earlier than "The Secret Sharer," Conrad published Heart of Darkness, the tale that "delineates the archetypal pattern he continued to refine through his career" (Andreach,1970:44). In this obscure story, he wants to
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The heart of darkness evoked by Conrad is hard to understand, since the story has different levels: instead of concentrating on the account of the events, the reader has to observe the effects which the re-creation of the narrative produces on the narrator, Marlow, since "recent criticism has insisted on the story's being about Marlow, rather than Kurtz, regarding it as a journey into Marlow's consciousness." (Kirschner, 1968:47) Thus, although Marlow does not want to bother his audience with what happened to him personally, "yet to understand the effect of it on me you ought to know how I got out there, what I saw, how I went up that river to the place where I first met the poor chap." (p.5) For this reason, the main purpose of this paper is to look for the clues which can illustrate those changes produced on Marlow by the events which take place while penetrating into the heart of darkness.
Marlow's story -- which starts after a kind of frame-narrator, employing the first person plural, has already introduced us into the narrative--tells us how he had a passion for maps since he was a little boy:
"I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration. At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth...by this time it was not a blank space any more...It had ceased to be a blank space of
Joseph Conrad's short novel Heart of Darkness (first published in 1902) is undoubtedly critically acclaimed, moreover, it is considered to be one of the greatest English novels. Conrad, who is of Polish ancestry, is as well considered to be an outstanding storyteller and a great stylist of modern fiction (Achebe 2). Even though this novel was written more than hundred years ago, it still draws many people's attention. The plot of the novel revolves around the main character, Marlow, and his journey to the heart of Africa (the Congo River). Marlow accepts to work as a steamship captain for a Belgian ivory-trade company and seeks to meet Kurtz, another important character in the novel whom many people admired, including, to a point, Marlow. On
Heart of Darkness is a story that is split up in three parts and is narrated by the protagonist Charles Marlow. Marlow tells his story to five men that were all on the boat, journeying up the Congo River into the heart of Africa. As Marlow is telling his story during their excursion, the men and the reader observe that he is an ivory trader and he works with Kurtz, however during the story the reader can notice the racism. However, this created the suspense to the readers because Joseph Conrad showed the “darkness” that was displayed between London and Africa. Also, throughout this story the reader can experience many moods and emotions such as good and evil, fear, and power. The mood is dark, gloomy, and very evil. Throughout, the novel the
Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad is dramatic tale of an arduous trek into the darkest part of Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. The story follows the protagonist Marlow, an English marine merchant, as he travels through the African jungle up the Congo river in search for a mysterious man named Kurtz. Through Marlow's narration, Conrad provides a searing indictment of European colonial exploitation inflicted upon African natives. Through his use of irony, characters, and symbolism in the novel, Conrad aims to unveil the underlying horrors of colonialism. By shedding light on the brutality of colonialism in Heart of Darkness, Conrad shows that European values have been irrevocably eclipsed by darkness.
He wants to see Africa and explore it, so he applies to a trading company where he can operate a steam boat up. His Aunt suggests that the Company is an imperialistic one, but Marlow says, “I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit” (77). Once he arrives to the Congo, he must quickly adapt to not only new physical conditions but also to new cultures and societies. Because of this shift, Marlow’s “id, superego, ego” becomes unbalanced.
Furthermore at the time of the writing of this novella, approximately within the 1800's, exploration was seen as a wonderful adventure and the period of mapping out the world was well under way. Europeans saw Africa as a black place on the map waiting to be discovered. When Marlow was young "[he] had a passion for maps. [He] would look for hours at South
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.
At the end of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow has has finally returned to Brussels from the Congo, and his interactions with the Intended lead to revelations surrounding the true intentions of Kurtz’s actions. As opposed to Part I, where Kurtz’s words place a veil over Marlow and cause him to seem conflicted in his judgement, Marlow now realizes what he has implicitly contributed to by enabling Kurtz. Marlow initially withdraws judgement and condones Kurtz’s actions due to the persuasive nature of his words; however, this ambivalence eventually transforms to horror as he realizes the grave repercussions of Kurtz’s brutal dominance.
Similarly, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness explorers an actual Imperial narrative. This novel traverses morality in the inverse of the aforementioned allegorical reading of Dracula, as the protagonist goes from imperial England to the Congo. The protagonist of the novel, Marlow, goes up the Congo River in search of a highly reputable ivory trader named Kurtz. Prior to his spiral into insanity, Conrad describes Kurtz as a man of “promise”, “greatness”, a “generous mind”, and a “noble heart” (2008-9). Hearing of this reputable Victorian man, Marlow sets out to meet him, only to discover that these descriptors no longer fit the man he finds in the heart of the Congo, even if they ever truly fit him at all. As Marlow describes Kurtz at the start of
Marlow’s evolution renders ‘Heart of Darkness’ a remarkable work of literature, but it is not simply the budding of the narrator’s mind that makes the novel sensational. Marlow’s perception of the voyage is what truly renders the work exceptional. European expansion, as written by European writers, was generally cast in a positive light. When Conrad depicts the desolation of the journey and reveals the sanities and lives robbed through the conquest, he clearly does not conform to the writers of his time. This exposure of European expansion in such a sinister a fashion was innovative for writers of the late 17th century. This revolutionary perception is what truly allows ‘Heart of Darkness’ to be considered a novel rich in moral and detail.
Joseph Conrad utilizes the essential differences between “primal” and “primitive” to tell the story, Heart of Darkness. Through Marlow, the reader is posed with existential questions on personal beliefs and humanity. A resounding theme of the story is the emotional journey for purpose and the idea that it is not enough to find a purpose, but to be candid in the fulfillment of said
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 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.
The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a frame narrative which creates a clear and organized structure. This structure helps emphasize upon the hypocrisy of imperialism in the novel and Marlow’s journey to discovering his true identity. The orderly and systematic nature of the structure corresponds with the Company in the novel and how it seems so structured on the outside while their mission is actually extremely chaotic underneath as displayed by Kurtz. The cyclical structure of the novel outlines Marlow’s journey in finding himself and his true identity. As the chaos of the journey is uncovered, Marlow delves deeper and deeper into uncertainty regarding the things going on around him in his life.
Marlow is also transformed as he travels into the heart of the jungle. As he follows the river upstream in search of Kurtz, he feels unsettled, yet enlightened, by the events that are unfolding around him, and is forced to reconsider his impression of the Africans. He acknowledges that they are indeed very much human, contrary to what most Europeans assert. "But what thrilled you," Marlow says, "was just the thought of their humanity - like yours - the thought of your remote kinship with" those