Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad

Throughout his novella, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad implies that the defining difference between ‘civilized’ and ‘savage’ society lies within the power of controlling laws and principles which encourage men to hold themselves to a higher set of standards, thus restraining the savage tendencies of those left to their own devices. It is the long-waging war between order and chaos that defines how the world categorizes ‘primitive’ and ‘civilized’ cultures. Civilization seems to be most comparable to a teaching, as a man must be taught to be governed by societal expectations in order to live a respectable, ‘civilized’ life in the eyes of society. However, it is also civilization’s analogousness to a teaching, which defines the boundary between

While Marlow is "thrilled" at the idea of a "remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar,” he remains cognizant of the powerful draw presented by the primitive surroundings, appealing to man’s inherent primordial tendencies (2.8). Throughout his time in the Congo, Marlow remains separate from the capture of primitive humanity. Instead, Charles Marlow observes the fundamental change that has occurred in Kurtz as he has given in to the instinctual state of mind comparable to the ‘savages’ of the Congo. Marlow is able to conclude that Kurtz “could not have been more irretrievably lost" from the conventions of the civilized society in which he was raised (3.9). Kurtz explored the appeal of the “heart of darkness” and found that it is the common denominator present regardless of ‘civilization’ or ‘savagery’ thus justifying his fate and supporting the fragility of ‘civilized’ fundamentals.
In my opinion, there are no grounds for the assertion of either those living in the Congo or the British Empire as being more ‘civilized’ or ‘savage’ than the other. Although from a technological standpoint the British exhibited more advancement, the morals taught by the ‘civilized’ society did not make its members any more advanced than that of those they viewed as ‘savages.’ The fragility of civilization, as exhibited by Kurtz, reveals the weakness presented by the argument supporting the contrast between the civilization of the British Empire and savagery of the