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Thematic significance of imagery used in the Heart of Darkness
Symbolism in heart of darkness essay
Thematic significance of imagery used in the Heart of Darkness
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Close Reading Assignment 1 – Heart of Darkness
Prompt: Explore the variety of figurative language and imagery Conrad uses to discuss a single concept in Heart of Darkness (empire, Africa, rivers, etc.). How does Conrad’s choice of figurative language and imagery affect the portrayal of that concept?
In the novella, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the use of the Congo River symbolizes abstract concepts such as the difficulty of the main character - Marlow’s journey to heart of Congo and the representation of the experiences of taking on the journey itself. The Congo River is crucial for Europeans, in this case the Company to travel to Africa, which is also known as the “dark” continent in the novella because it provides a way of transportation.
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Conrad attempts to compare the Congo river to “uncoiled snake” – “But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled” (Conrad 06). This symbolizes the darkness and the uncertainty of the journey that awaits him in the future. This imagery created by the “uncoiled snake: depicts a very slithery journey that confirms it will be dangerous as well. In addition to this journey being dark and dangerous, it is also difficult. The River is very difficult to travel up due to its currents forcing the travelers – Marlow the opposite way. It’s almost as if that the current is the preliminary struggle to keep him out of the inside (of the Africa). Because of the slow progress in Marlow’s travels, the exhaustion of this trip foreshadows the ongoing struggle that Marlow will experience within the Congo itself. From the voyage, it is almost like the uncoiled snake is constructed in a downward spiral in representation of Marlow’s experience in this
Achebe’s claim that the Thames is used as a civilized world that mocks Africa and its supposed “triumphant beastiality” is strong, but the setting itself may be seen as nothing special, causing confusion (338). Stuart Oliver, writer of “Navigability and Improvement of the River Thames,” writes that “the Thames has traditionally been used to provide consumable products, water power, and transport” (166). Any citizen of Britain could have used the Thames, including Conrad. His selection of this specific river may not be an attack on Africa but a logical choice in what was available. Conrad could have used the Thames when visiting the Congo, an idea only leading some to question their own knowledge and ideas of Conrad’s work. Caryl Phillips, a member of Yale University’s English department, states in “Was Joseph Conrad Really a Racist?” that she disagrees with Achebe, for she has “never viewed Conrad—as Achebe states in his lecture—as a thorough going racist” (60). “Conrad uses colonialization,” she writes, “...to explore [the novel’s] universal questions about man’s capacity for evil...I constantly ask myself, was Conrad really a racist? If so, how did I miss this?” (62). The themes Conrad uses are true to the world that surrounds his character Marlow. For Phillips, this is not an act of racism but a
Joseph Conrad’s own experiences during his trip through the Congo helped him provide a foundation for the writing of Heart of Darkness. In 1890, Conrad took a job as a captain on the river steamer Kinshasa. Before Conrad took this job, he had worked for the French merchant navy as a way to escape Russian military service and also to escape the emotional troubles that had plagued him. Conrad had been in a financial crisis that was resolved with help from his uncle. After this series of events, Conrad joined the British merchant navy at the beckoning of his uncle and took the job as the captain of a steamboat in the Congo River. An important fact to remember is that Conrad was a young and inexperienced man when he was exposed to the harsh and dangerous life of a sailor. His experiences in the West Indies and especially in the Belgium Congo were eye opening and facilitated his strong outlooks that are reflected in the book Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s journey through the Belgian Congo gave him the experiences and knowledge to write about a place that most Europeans would never see in their lives.
As a child, the unknown spaces of Africa enchanted Marlow. He would often lose himself “...in all the glories of exploration” (Conrad 21). As an adult Marlow, after shining light on those dark unknown spaces of Africa and it was no longer a blank space on a map, but a place of darkness, there was still one river that charmed him, “...a mighty big river, that you could see in a map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, and its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land” (Conrad 22). The river that charmed Marlow in his boyhood, allowed access into the heart of the African continent. As the main method of the Europeans transportation, travelling along the river enables Marlow to see both sides of the continent, the natives and the evil doings of Mr Kurtz. Marlow is able to see the truths of the evil in the world and where they reign. Marlow went into the Congo as an innocent sailor and after meeting Kurtz and listening to his ideas, “turned to the wilderness, not to Mr Kurtz, who...was as good as buried. And for a moment it seemed to [Marlow] that [he] was also buried in a vast grave of unspeakable secrets. [He] felt an intolerable weight oppressing on [his] breast, the smell of the damp earth, the unseen presence of victorious corruption, the darkness of an impenetrable night” (Conrad
Every aspect in Conrad?s book has a deep meaning, which can then be linked to the light and dark imagery. In the novel there are two rivers, the Thames and the Congo. The...
[A Report upon the Congo - State and Country to the President of the Republic of the United States of America. ] Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough.
In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, the meaning of the word “darkness” changed throughout the story to symbolize different things. Conrad used this term in ways to identify social and intellectual elements in order to help the reader get a feel of his outlook and his own opinions of the world. The two most noticeable interpretations of “darkness” were how it symbolized racism in the world and it also symbolized the enormous impact that an uncivilized world can have on a civilized person.
Conrad, Joseph. "Heart of Darkness." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 6th ed. vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993. 1759-1817.
Civilization is not as advanced as first assumed. Joseph Conrad asserts this disheartening message in his novel, Heart of Darkness. The novel follows a European man reliving his journey to the Congo through story telling to his shipmates. Through Marlow’s journey, Conrad reveals the stark contrasts between European civilization and African savagery. Heart of Darkness explores the struggles of different societies with an intention to expose the weaknesses of a complicated imperialistic ideal.
Conrad’s shifting setting introduces new environments and attitudes for Marlow to cope with. Marlow begins the novel in “a narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, [with] high houses, innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting right and left, [and] immense double doors standing ponderously ajar” (Conrad 45). Nearly all of the surroundings have intimidating connotations, which surprisingly fight Marlow into a comfortably safe and secure standing. Marlow notices the map in the office, and examines it to see just where his travels will take him. After observing the map, he points out that he was not going to the points of Africa that seem welcoming but he “was going into the yellow. Dead in the centre. And the river was there – fascinating – deadly – like a snake” (45). He already realizes he will have trouble transitioning into the new environment, being surrounded by what seems like death. Because Marlow grows accustomed to the urbanized streets of Brussels, the difficulty of the transition to the Congo develops exponentially. Before Marlow knows it, he travels to a land with “trees, tress, millions of trees, massive, immense, running up high” and they “made [him] feel very small, very lost” (75). Marlow, already apprehensive of the change to the Congo, shows his loss of confidence in his new environment.
In “The Heart of Darkness” setting is a huge impact on the major theme civilization vs savagery. The setting is either dark or light. The Congo river is a divider, keeping Marlow separated form the natives and the evil ways of Kurtz. The river not only allows Marlow to see both side of the continent, but allows him to see both sides civilized and savagery. When Marlow said “one of the darkest places of the earth”.
London: Penguin Group. 1995 Cole, David W., and Kenneth B. Grant. "Conrad's Heart of Darkness. " The Explicator 54.1 1995.
Boasting a length of 2,920 miles, the Congo River stretches through the vast continent of Africa. This massive, twisting body of water offers the setting for Joseph Conrad’s complex novella, Heart of Darkness. Charlie Marlow, a British seaman who is curious about the undeveloped Congo region, travels to Africa to work for the Company. In Europe, he hears about the mutualistic relationship between the Company and native Africans, but the reality of their relationship is much darker than Marlow envisioned. He discovers that the white ivory traders are brutal and malicious, enslaving the natives for labor without proper living standards.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad may be a narrative about colonisation, revealing its drawbacks and corruption, but it may also be understood as a journey into the depths of one’s psyche, if taken at a symbolic level.
Joseph Conrad creates a motif of light and darkness within society, never quite placing Marlow on either side, and thus isolating him from everyone else. When first getting to shore, Marlow refers to the natives as criminals, creatures, and savages. This immediately gives the reader the idea that Marlow thinks himself different than them. One of the first things he notices when seeing them is their midnight black skin and that “each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain” (Conrad 70). By describing the dark skin of the natives, Conrad manipulates Marlow to think of them as the dark part of society. The chain ties the natives together literally but also figuratively. This metaphor is created to show the unity between the natives and that, whether by force or by choice, they stick together. Although the natives may not have much else, they have each other’s company which is later used to juxtapose the isolation in Marlow. When meeting the white men in the Congo, his reaction is quite different. After taking in the acco...
We are locked out of Conrad’s (the narrator in this case) world, allowed to feel only what he let’s us, see the savages as he does, through his eyes, feel with his body. We are not able to see how the world views him. Is he seen as superior, a drone, a sailor? His dreamlike consciousness navigates us, the readers, down the river as if we are a part of the flow of things, ripples in the water, patches of the darkness.