Mark Humble
Mr. Kaneft
Honors British Literature
6 April 2014
The Shallowness of Civilization
Are we so used to our own customs that we consider other countries ways of living and culture too far different, and in some cases uncivilized? Sure, some countries have it harder and do things more dissimilarly then us, but even some of those countries can be considered civilized. Take a country in Africa for example. The first thing that comes to many minds is that it is a “place of darkness” (Heart of Darkness 5) and that they are far uncivilized from the living and ways of other more diverse cultures. These people consider them savage because they are so blinded by how civilized and advanced the place is where they live, and are to ignorant to be open minded about the home of someone else. Kurtz, one of the main characters in Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, is the prime example of the overpowering nature of ignorance and the inability to survive in another setting for a prolonged amount of time without going insane.
Heart of Darkness is a novel that renders many different themes that often can be argued, or present a contradicting idea. For my topic, I have chosen the argument between Civilization and Savagery, and I am going to reveal the true meaning behind what each word means in the context of the book. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad reveals that in reality the Europeans are truly more savage than the more civilized Africans, showing that all is not what meets the eye. In the novel, there is a distinct disagreement among readers weather or not the native Africans are in reality more savage than the Europeans who are intruding in their land.
The meaning of civilization is useless without first thinking about wha...
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Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”
Massachusetts Review 18 (1977): 251-61. Print.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Dover, 1990. Print.
Miller, J Hillis. “Should We Read Heart of Darkness” Bloom’s Modern Critical
Interpretations: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Ed. Harold Bloom New
York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2008. 115-29. Print.
Paris, Bernard. “Journey to the Inner Station.” Bloom’s Modern Critical
Interpretations: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Ed. Harold Bloom New
York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2008. 5-17. Print.
Watts, Cedric. “Heart of Darkness” Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Joseph
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Ed. Harold Bloom New York: Blooms Literary Criticism, 2008. 19-36. Print.
Watts, Cedric. 'Heart of Darkness.' The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Stape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 45-62.
In Heart of Darkness, cultural identity and the dominance of the European, white male is constructed and asserted through the constructions of the "other", that is the African natives and females, largely through language and setting. Thus, while claims of Conrad's forwardness in producing a text that critiques colonialism may be valid, Heart of Darkness is ultimately a product of it's time and therefore confirms the contextual notions of difference.
The Heart of Darkness, a complex text was written by Joseph Conrad around the 19th century, when Europeans were colonizing Africa for wealth and power and were attempting to spread their culture and religion in Africa. It was also a period in which women were not allowed to participate in worldly affairs. Therefore, the text deals with issues such as racism, European imperialism, and misogyny. This essay will look at the different themes in the novel and argue whether or not The Heart of Darkness is a work of art.
Scientists of the nineteenth century speculated that humans were on an evolutionary scale that ran from savage to civilized. The Europeans were considered to be at the highest point yet achieved by humanity -- the civilized. Peoples and races not yet encountered by the Europeans were placed further down the list, and were referred to as savages. Although the Europeans believed they had reached the height of civilization, remnants remained of their own savagery. Throughout the novel Heart of Darkness there is reference to the idea of civility versus savagery - this is also true of the movie Apocalypse Now.
Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism , ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.
“ The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” (Conrad 65) So stated Marlow as though this was his justification for ravaging the Congo in his search for ivory. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it as is evidenced by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African population. Heart of Darkness is indicative of the evil and greed in humanity as personified by Kurtz and Marlow.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the most widely recognized and acclaimed novellas written. But with fame and recognition comes controversy, which is clearly demonstrated by the broad interpretations of the book. Many people believe Heart of Darkness is racist, while others believe the book is perfectly civil. Chinua Achebe, one of Africa's most renowned novelists, strongly believes that the book is dehumanizing and racist; I agree with him, to a certain extent. Three of the most prominent ways that Achebe discusses Conrad’s racism is by the way the African people are portrayed, the African culture, and the comparison of Europe to Africa.
Rosmarin, Adena. "Darkening the Reader: Reader Response Criticism and Heart of Darkness." Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.
The importance of cultural context within any type of text is essential in order to elucidate a distinct argument. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a novella starring the experiences of an ivory trader in Central Africa named Charles Marlow, various themes of racism and human cruelty are discussed in relation to its contextual features. The film “Apocalypse Now” by Francis Ford Coppola adapts this idea of implementing a correlation between its central ideas to a specific cultural context as well. The central research question this extended essay focuses on is how do different features used in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and the film version of "Apocalypse Now" by Francis Ford Coppola help criticize imperialism? In Heart of Darkness and “Apocalypse Now,” the struggle between the barbaric nature of the natives and the oppressive nature of Imperialism is questioned through the use of characterization of various factors.
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness 3rd Ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical, 1988.
Conrad, J. (2006). Heart of darkness. In P. B. Armstrong (Ed.), Heart of darkness (4th ed., p.26). New York London: Norton Critical Editions.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a great example of a Modernist novel because of its general obscurity. The language is thick and opaque. The novel is littered with words such as: inconceivable, inscrutable, gloom. Rather than defining characters in black and white terms, like good and bad, they entire novel is in different shades of gray. The unfolding of events takes the reader between many a foggy bank; the action in the book and not just the language echoes tones of gray.
Heart of Darkness is a story in which racism presents itself so deliberately that, for many, the dilemma of race must be tackled before anything else in the book may be dealt with. Conrad used derogatory, outdated and offensive terminology for devaluation of people’s color as savages. This use of language disturbs many readers who read this book.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical, 1988.