How Does Joseph Conrad Use Diction In Heart Of Darkness

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The scene is set. A peaceful evening on the Thames River, the sun glinting off of the tranquil water as five men wait for the tides to change so their ship can sail into the Atlantic. A calm estuary to their backs, a relentless sea in their future. In the exposition of “Heart of Darkness”, author Joseph Conrad uses diction, metaphors, and imagery to create an initially peaceful and serene tone that shifts to a foreboding and ominous one in order to illustrate moral ambiguity. Initially, Conrad uses diction associated with light and haze in order to entice a mellow and relaxed tone. The day was ending in “exquisite brilliance”, the water “shone” and was an “unstained light”. Long rays of sunlight gleamed over the Thames River as the sun set …show more content…

There is an image of “the sky, without a speck” that contrasts heavily with a metaphor of the “gloom to the west”. Open and clear skies are a common image for optimism and hope, which is what many Europeans arrogantly believed they were bringing to Africa. The west, in the time period Joseph Conrad was writing in, refers to Europe and the United States. The gloom Conrad talks about is imperialism in Africa. The reality is imperialism is not a burden white men take in order to improve the life of the “helpless” and “ignorant” Africans, but it is a deeply corrupted system with a base of ignorance and greed supporting it. Past the mist is the truth of imperialism but many Europeans do not make an effort to see beyond their own beliefs to get to the truth. The contrast between the light and the gloom is furthered when the unnamed narrator describes how it is difficult to realize the captain’s “work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him within the brooding gloom”. Again, there is a contrast between the “luminous” European setting and the “gloom” of whatever is beyond the veil, in this case it is African imperialism. Conrad seems to be expressing that while imperialism is idealized by Europeans, when one truly looks past the glamour of it they see the horror that lies

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