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Critical Analysis of Heart of Darkness
Character of Kurtz in heart of darkness
Character of Kurtz in heart of darkness
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Recommended: Critical Analysis of Heart of Darkness
In the novella, “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, the journey taken to Africa reveals the true evils of European imperialism. Marlow, one of the travellers narrates the journey to the deep interior of Africa, taken by he and other Europeans to find Kurtz, the head of the ivory company. The natives of Africa can only be viewed as less than the Europeans, which adds to the evil they bring. Conrad displays this evil when the European men in the novella change as ivory consumes their own lives. Throughout the journey, the truth of Kurtz is also found, as he isn’t the man who he is thought to be by Marlow and the other Europeans. The journey reveals the true evils of imperialism. Instead of bringing imperialization to Africa, the Europeans …show more content…
In the beginning of the Europeans journey, Kurtz is thought to be a godly human that could be compared to Zeus. When the men finally reach the end of their journey into Africa to find Kurtz, he is not the man who they were expecting. The illness that Kurtz has causing him to fall to death allows him to realize his true self as he screams “The horror, the horror!” This horror he is referring to is the human he has become. This realization shows the true meaning of Kurtz’s ivory interest. Instead of being interested in it to trade among Africa, he only enjoyed to have it as a source of decoration. The men also show that their only concern while in Africa is ivory. Marlow who adores Kurtz throughout the novella can only think of ivory when he is passing. He describes the dying Kurtz as having an “ivory face.” Kurtz is a godly creature to Marlow and when looking at him when he was dying this shows how his life has been consumed by ivory, taking over his life and driving his intentions in Africa. The true downfall of Kurtz is shown when a native states “Mistah Kurtz, he dead.” This puts Kurtz character at the same level of how the men would feel if a native were to pass. The man who these men obsessed over coming to see has passed and has been pronounced dead in the most improper way, with incorrect grammar. The great Kurtz brings darkness to Africa and to his European
The novella Heart of Darkness has, since it's publication in 1899, caused much controversy and invited much criticism. While some have hailed it's author, Joseph Conrad as producing a work ahead of it's time in it's treatment and criticism of colonialist practices in the Congo, others, most notably Chinua Achebe, have criticized it for it's racist and sexist construction of cultural identity. Heart of Darkness can therefore be described as a text of it's time, as the cultural identity of the dominant society, that is, the European male is constructed in opposition to "the other", "the other" in Heart of Darkness being defined as black and/or female. Notions of cultural identity are largely constructed through language and setting and are essential to the reader's understanding of the text.
The 1800's were a renowned era in European history. With the rise of imperialism came the ruthless desire to seek new land through the use of authoritative implications. Whether it be the discovery of the Americas, where Christopher Columbus discovered various islands, which were clustered with indigenous people that were eventually completely wiped out for the pure desire of Spaniard power. This craving to "assimilate" indigenous people and to convert them to Christianity was an element, which rooted 19th century Europe. Although the actual question to whether these actions were good or evil are up for debate. Imperialism has been viewed as an expansion that serves only ones "object" and that it has no purpose beyond the benefit of the "self". This paper will explain Imperialism through a sociological perspective, while blending in notions of capitalism and modern day Imperialism that may now be viewed as Globalism.
Directly after Marlow discovers Kurtz’ activities in the jungle, he immediately blames it on his loss of connection with society. Marlow holds the darkness and peculiar forces of the jungle accountable for Kurtz activities. This far into the story, Marlow views the savages as a weakness for having escaped nature. “Never, never before, did this land, this river, this jungle, the very arch of this blazing sky, appear to me so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness” (Conrad). At last, Marlow comes to his senses and realizes that there was nothing to blame Kurtz madness on but Kurtz himself. In contrast to the previous statement, “all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz” (Conrad). Kurtz is engaged, but the engagement has been forbidden by the ladies’ family because Kurtz’ pockets are not fat enough, so to speak. Slowly enough, Marlow begins to see that Kurtz’ insanity and madness is simply a reflection of the evil in humanity around him. Staying in Africa provides Kurtz with a twisted sense of freedom, freeing him from what is and what is not socially acceptable. Talking about Kurtz, Marlow states, “For the wilderness had patted him on the head, and behold, it was like a ball- an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed
Degeneration of Kurtz and Colonialism in Heart of Darkness Kurtz was a personal embodiment, a dramatization, of all that Conrad felt of futility, degradation, and horror in what the Europeans in the Congo called 'progress,' which meant the exploitation of the natives by every variety of cruelty and treachery known to greedy man. Kurtz was to Marlow, penetrating this country, a name, constantly recurring in people's talk, for cleverness and enterprise. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a portrait of the degeneration of the ideal of Kurtz symbolizing the degeneration of the ideal of colonialism as 'civilizing work'. The fading of the idealist mirage of 'civilizing work' in Africa has to be one of the central themes of Heart of Darkness.
"Heart of Darkness , which follows closely the actual events of Conrad's Congo journey, tells of the narrator's fascination by a mysterious white man, Kurtz, who, by his eloquence and hypnotic personality, dominates the brutal tribesmen around him. Full of contempt for the greedy traders who exploit the natives, the narrator cannot deny the power of this figure of evil who calls forth from him something approaching reluctant loyalty."[1]
Kurtz is innocent as well as the perpetrator. This is a contrast as the ambiguous as the comparison of Conrad’s portrayal of the two evils imposed by Europe’s Imperialist mentality and Africa’s savage nature. As the darkness of imperialism transmits itself upon its victims, it acts as a parasite that controls one person to hurt others, and Kurtz is not at all exempt from this situation. The brutal nature of of imperialism found in the Congo eventually crushed the naive courage and bravery that initially took him there. Eventually, this dual nature of this complex character aids the redemption of Marlow by allowing him to recognize the destruction brought on by the Europeans from what is called the Noble Cause.
Heart of Darkness is an important novella in terms of pre 1914 literature and is considered by many one of the most important books in literature. In the 1890's Conrad sailed up the river Congo, so the novel was written from a good knowledge of the surroundings and personal experience of colonialism and the oppression that was a major part of Africa in the late 1800's. Although slavery was abolished in most places, slavery was still a major part of African life in those days due to many European countries fighting over the prospect of ivory and land and when they did get the land they slaved the Africans either keeping them in Africa to help with the ivory trade or shipping them off to Europe to be slaves there. In the novel Conrad presents Kurtz as a mystical being a god almost to the native people but he also shows him to be an evil and sinister man with a heart of darkness' he does this by not actually presenting Kurtz as a human but a figure a vapour of the earth.' Conrad also leads the reader along by not actually meeting Kurtz until the very end the rest of the book relies on peoples tales of Kurtz and what he has done which lead us to believe that he is a supernatural being.
Imperialism is when strong nations attempt to create empires by dominating weaker nations - economically, politically, culturally or militarily. In America, during the 1800s and 1900s, there was dispute about wether or not we should, as a nation, become imperialists through expansion. American expansion was a decision that could change the US forever in every aspect. It could make or break us, so to speak. Economically, this would mean a growth in industry, an increasing need for natural resources, and the requirement of new markets in which to sell manufactured goods. Nationally, this would create more competition for large empires, a rise in nationalism, and the origin of the belief that the people, ideals and goals not one nation were superior to another. Militarily, this would result in advances in military technology, and growing navies.Finally, socially, new religious goals would arise, as well as a "duty" to spread the blessings of Western civilization, which is an idea that seems to have been coerced by motives similar to those of Manifest Destiny. During the imperialism debate, both imperialists and anti-imperialists would have to keep in mind the importance of their decision and it's relevance to the both the growing power of the US and the nations relationship to other nations.
Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is, as Edward Said says, a story about European "acts of imperial mastery" (1503)-its methods, and the effects it has on human nature-and it is presumable that Conrad incorporates much of his own experience in the Congo and his opinions about imperialism into the story, as another recent critic also suggests: "he seems to approve of Marlow," the narrator (Achebe 1492). These revelations of the author are conveyed to the reader through Marlow's observations, descriptions, reactions, and statements. While "Heart of Darkness" is at times very critical of European imperialism, that criticism for the most part is directed at the false idealistic claims made about the enterprise and the inefficient and savage methods employed by the Belgians; the book does not question imperialism when undertaken competently, particularly by the British.
In Heart of Darkness the character Marlow travels to the heart of Africa as a steamboat captain employed by “The Company,” a Belgian company that trades ivory in the Congo. When he arrives, Marlow finds the native people used as slaves for the hard labor involved in the ivory trade, and the white, European traders overseeing the slave labor—both groups savage and inhumane but on opposite ends of the spectrum. Marlow sees the simplistic inhumanity of both the white and black men involved in the ivory trade. Marlow views the natives as the simplest form of man and nearly inhuman in terms of intellectuality. The white men there have a different savagery about them. The dehumanization of the native people shows how brutal and evil even civilized man can be. Marlow is tasked with locating and retrieving the enigmatic trader Kurtz. Kurtz has gone rogue and now leads a tribe of natives that worship him as its god. He uses savagery to kill and steal ivory from any competing trader in his area. He is the company’s best trader, but his methods have become too inhumane; therefore, the company wants to take him out of the wild. Marlow has time to learn as much as he can about Kurtz as he is waitin...
Humans, being a visually oriented species, lack objectivity in their actions and observations; two people could interpret any particular incident in countless ways. Joseph Conrad’s attitude towards imperialism in Heart of Darkness ignited a flame of controversy. Cedric Watts and Chinua Achebe, two prominent writers, took different sides on this seemingly endless debate; a debate originating from the “darkness”. In Watts’s Indirect Methods Convey Conrad’s Views of Imperialism, Watts argues that Conrad is an artistic anti-imperialist, subliminally conveying the “corruption and hypocrisy of imperialism” (Watts, p.1). Achebe interpreted Conrad’s intentions in a completely opposite manner compared to Watts; Achebe’s critique of Conrad’s novella – Conrad’s Racism – revolved around the imperialistic aspects of Conrad’s personnel, and the imperialistic-byproducts that were notable in Conrad’s novella. Racism and the dehumanization of the African figure were two of those issue that aroused Achebe’s emotional ties to his “original” roots. Achebe’s attitude in his critique was that of great perplexity; solely driven by patriotic emotions and fear of belittlement, Achebe degraded the novella to a non-artistic work, in attempt to defend himself, rather than the Nigerians, who he supposedly represents. This, I believe, lessens the authenticity of Achebe, and puts Watts’s perspective on this controversial issue a few steps ahead. Conrad, from my perspective, courageously revealed the commonly misinterpreted – and usually hidden – ideology of imperialism in his novella, proving him an anti-imperialist thereof.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a testament to the evils expounded by European domination of Africa and African peoples in the nineteenth century. Hidden behind the veil of a story centered on a white man’s downward spiral, Conrad strategically frames the dehumanizing aspects of slavery against a backdrop of lustful greed and brutal tyranny. On a ship sailing along the Thames River, a meditative ship captain called Marlow recounts the tale of the so-called ‘darkness’ he experiences on an expedition to Africa. In his retelling, Marlow observes the ineffective and brutal treatment exhibited toward the captive native Africans by his European comrades, who, like himself, have traveled to Africa with the intention to exploit the land for the
Heart of Darkness The life of Joseph Conrad began on December 3, 1857, in the Polish Ukraine with the name Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. At a young age, Conrad’s father was exiled to Siberia after being thought to have plotted against the Russian government. After the passing away of his mother, Conrad was sent to live with his uncle in Krakow. Conrad never saw his father again.
By the time Marlow and Kurtz meet, Marlow is already well aware of the similarities they share. Both are imperialists, and while Marlow detests the treatment of the natives by his employers (Belgian colonists), he also makes apparent his abhorrence toward the Africans. On the other hand, Kurtz abandons the pretense of helping the natives achieve civilization, as displayed by the Europeans. Instead, he adopts their customs and becomes their leader in the never-ending quest for ivory. "He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of the supernatural beings- we approach them with the might as of a deity' (Longman, 2000, p. 2226). Marlow also admired Kurtz' resourcefulness and survival skills, especially his perseverence through jungle fever. "The wilderness had patted him on the head....it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite." (Longman, 2000, p. 2225).
...me greedy. As Gene M. Moor has stated, Conrad hated imperialism in central Africa of its savageness, selfishness and devastation. Kurtz’s final words, ‘the horror’, ‘the horror’, are about how a civilized man can change to savagery when there is no restriction” Therefore, Kurtz can be considered as corruption brought to Africa from Europe. The death of Kurtz can be regarded as subversion of colonialism as it destroys both the colonizers and the colonised people.