Heart Of Darkness Ideal Civility

Civility is something all humans today cherish and attribute to their communities. Heart of Darkness is a book written by controversial and revolution author Joseph Conrad, it depicts the fall from grace of a once godlike figure and a reversion to a savage state. Over the generations, civilization has evolved drastically. Transforming from hunter gather societies with little to no laws, into expansive cities with long lists of comprehensive guidelines. However, what actually differentiates these two ways of life, is there a really a difference between the two and how does one define what is ideal civility? Every culture is different; in some cultures, entering a home with your shoes on is considered uncivilized while others do not blink an

The people around an individual is what molds some and allows one psyche to subdue the other. People need the company of others in order to understand and value the life of another. Without companionship or judgement then it can be difficult to see what the worth is in sacrificing some of your own fortune for the wellbeing of other person. This is precisely what allowed Kurtz’s id to overthrow his superego. He lost all meaningful forms of companionship and at the same time had no one around him to judge him if he began to act in an id dominate manner. In order to maintain your superego without these two things you need, “an idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretense but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea – something you can set up, and bow down before.” (70) Something that is impossible to determine if you have unless you are willing to perform the dangerous experiment of traveling into darkness with only your deepest thoughts. Kurtz performed this experiment and to his surprise, he was not the righteous man he thought himself to be. He allowed the lack of society to change him. Kurtz, “needed an audience” (134) in multiple different ways. Kurtz needing an audience meant two things. It meant that the idea that Kurtz believed and bowed before was fame, a selfish concept and that Kurtz needed an audience to keep his superego in check. Fame was truly, what Kurtz desired, even when he was in Europe, what he thought was his desire to help others was truly his selfish need for recognition disguised as altruism. When the social pressure of achieving fame in a “moral” way was gone then Kurtz turned the easiest way to achieve his true desire. He let his id take over his superego because it allowed him to achieve the idea he believed in. Moreover, once a person’s id takes over their superego then their savage instincts overtake their civilized