Heart Of Darkness Research Paper

Men! The only animal in the world to fear” (Lawerance). This quote demonstrates that man should only fear the animal inside itself. Furthermore, when one becomes so encompassed in darkness, sin, and animal like behavior, the man gets trapped and loses sight of the truth.This statement can be notably seen in Joseph Conrad’s book, Heart of Darkness. Namely, it seems all men that left civilization for the Congo had lost all reason, restraint, and their conscience. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses the literary elements of character development, symbolism, and characterization to demonstrate the theme that when humans are surrounded by darkness, it can be difficult for them to see the truth.

The literary element of character development shows the drastic change main character,Marlow, endures s he gets deeper into the jungle. To begin with, Marlow was instantly shocked at the horrors he sees when he enter the jungle. For example, when he saw the Europeans shooting the “criminals for almost no reason he was disgusted(Conrad). In time, as Marlow begins to journey further into the jungle his good nature begins to slip away. When his helms men is shot, and the blood gets on his shoes instantly he

is angry, his shoes and socks are dirty(Conrad). For a moment, Conrad uses Marlow’s character development to prove, anyone can be blind from the truth. In reality, the helmsman blood would have been the least of a civilized mans worries. The first priority would be that they lost a crew member, someone who was a human and important to their ship. All. Marlow sees around him is darkness, causing his character development to reflect the sinful nature eating away at his conscinse
Conrad uses the literary element of symbolism to help promote the the darkness the main characters are surrounded by, and the blindness it causes them. One example is the forest. The heart of the forest is the root of all the darkness in the Congo. “I saw him extend his short flipper of an arm for a gesture that took in the forest, the creek, the mud, the river--- seemed to beckon with a dis honoring flourish before the sun lit face of the land a treturaous appeal to the lurking dark, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of it’s heart,”(Conrad 29). As long as any human is in the Congo they are surrounded by the darkness of the forest. Nothing in the Congo promotes truth or righteousness, just darkness and pure evil. Another example of symbolism is a painting painted by Kurtz. The painting is of a blindfolded lady holding a torch (Conrad). This symbolizes how blind to the truth the Europeans are. The lady is literally holding the light in her hand, but all she sees is the darkness caused by the blindfold around her eyes. The Europeans in the Congo are blind to the truth right in front of them, and they choose to stay in he darkness.
Through characterization of Kurtz, Conrad hands living proof of a man gone mad from being surrounded by darkness.

Kurtz is an animal. Marlow is able to realize this when he finds out Kurtz has no restraint(Conrad). This causes Marlow to realize that the darkness had eaten away Kurtz’s humanity. Kurtz has been in the “heart of darkness” for so long, he does not even remember what truth looks like. Therefore, all Kurtz can think of is ivory, and being worshiped by the natives. It is so extreme he is willing to do anything to get it, even kill his so called “friend”(Conrad). This causes Kurtz to be the definition of darkness. He is evil to the core, and far from humanity. Due to Kurtz being in the heart of the jungle for so long, he loses sight of all truth, and becomes

darkness.
In conclusion, when humans are surrounded humans are surrounded by darkness, it can be difficult for them to see the truth. Through character development, Conrad demonstrates a man, Marlow, losing sight of the truth the deeper he goes into the jungle. Using symbolism, Conrad illustrates the darkness surrounding man. Furthermore, Conrad uses the characterization of Kurtz to demonstrate a man fully surrendered to the darkness. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses the literary elements of character development, symbolism, and characterization to demonstrate the theme that when humans are surrounded by darkness, it can be difficult for them to see the truth.