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Analyse darkness as a powerful symbol of darkness
Short note on themes of darkness in the novel the heart of darkness
The heart of darkness analysis
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In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad recognized that “We live as we dream…alone” (65). This quote compresses life into the capacity of a dream. While dreaming one is frequently taken into a world of absurdity that can be experienced by the dreamer alone. However, not all dreams are pleasant; some dreams are nightmares. Marlow has dreamed of adventure since he was a child which ultimately leads him to travel to Africa. The adventure soon becomes a quest for self-knowledge. In contrast, Kurtz’s dream is darker and based off a desire for power which leads to his death. The overall concept presented in the novel of isolation and alienation in a civilization seemingly full of life is emphasized by the quote, “We live as we dream…alone” (65).
From the beginning of the novel Marlow is seen as a lonely figure. The narrator describes Marlow as “…a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus flower” (38). During his narration Marlow does not seem comfortable among other people. His journey into Congo has changed him forever. Marlow struggles to convey his tale to the narrator and explains the difficulty when he says, “It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream- making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream sensation…” (64). He knows how impossible it is to translate feelings into words but continues on with his story hoping to convince the narrator of ending his journey.
In order to keep himself sane in a world where he is isolated Marlow devotes himself to his work. Marlow does not like work but the chance work gives him to find himself (66). Without his job Marlow has no purpose in life; he would become a hollow man. The manager of the Outer Station is a hollow man. He has no skills or va...
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...hat isolates him even further from the world. Marlow’s eyes have now been opened and he will never be the same. Marlow’s self-imposed duty to Kurtz is what keeps him from giving the Company Kurtz whole report. His loyalty is also what prevents him from telling the Intended the truth even though he says, “There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies...” (64). Marlow knows that it is impossible for the Intended to truly understand what he would be telling her. Civilization is not ready to try and comprehend the hidden darkness in all of us. Marlow may have escaped the heart of darkness, but is unable to truly share his boon. The narrator understands Marlow’s story but will not allow it to stop him from going to Africa. It is hard to live in a world where one is unable to convey or express their feelings to others. Therefore Marlow lives as he dreams…alone.
The more simple comparison is that between Marlow and a quester. Marlow’s apparent ‘quest’ stems from his childhood interest in maps and exploring the unknown. Though the “...blank spaces on the earth” were later explored, he still took curiosity to the Congo River. He decided he wanted to take a steamboat for trade on it, almost impulsively as he described, “[t]he snake had charmed me”. Being younger and with
Marlow needs to see the trouble arising as the only reason he had achieved this job is due to the old employing dying from incidents in Africa by natives, as there are signs an individual may notice or not which can stop these incidents from occurring. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow had stated, "I had to wait in the station for ten days – an eternity." (Joseph Conrad, 27) This quotation demonstrates that Marlow was impatient to begin this path and journey of his life, as he wanted to discover this piece of land for than anything the slightest bit of delay is driving him insane.
Marlow’s journey into the Congo River is treacherous and unpredictable. Therefore, in a desperate need for civilization and escape from savagery, the boat serves as a sanctum from the natives, and becomes the link to moral civility. Throughout Marlow's voyage, he and his crew encounter mass amounts of fog. The fog symbolizes ambiguity in its most primal form, not only obscuring but it also distorts. The fog impares not just physical visibility, but which often ends up being wrong, which suggests that the fog has both literally and figuratively clouded Kurtz’s judgement. Marlow’s need to be on the boat, reflects the boat as a safe haven, a place where he can examine his own moral conscious more clearly. When his is not on the boat, he is less decisive and his judgement and moral compass are
Conrad's racism is portrayed in the actions and perceptions of Marlow along his trip up the Congo. Marlow's views of the area during the beginning of the trip are given as inhumane, and uncivilized. The Heart of Darkness for Marlow is the ignorance and brutality that he witnesses from natives as well as Whites that are met upon his trip.
Heart of Darkness ?gHeart of Darkness?h, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a wide range of references to problems of politics, morality and social order. It was written in a period when European exploitation of Africa was at a gruesome height. Conrad uses double oblique narration. A flame narrator reports the story as told by Marlow, assigned to the command of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an exploring expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an important trading post of ivory, located in the interior of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the reality through their work in Africa. Marlow felt great indignation with people in the sepulchral city after his journey to the Congo region because he discovered, through his work, the reality of the universe, such as the great virtue of efficiency, the darkness in society and individuals and the surface reality. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said ?gThe horror, The horror referring to his life in inner Africa, which caused him disintegration. Marlow emphasized the virtue of ?gefficiency?h throughout the story because he thought of it as the only way to survive in the wilderness. After seeing the dying natives in the forest of the outer station, Marlow described them as ?ginefficient.?h Under ?gthe devotion to efficiency,?h incompetent people were excluded from society. Only efficient people can survive. For example, since Kurtz was the most efficient agent, with regards to producing ivory, his employers respected his achievement and regarded him as an essential person.
In Joseph Conrad’s short story, “Heart of Darkness,” the narrator, Marlow language, and point of view to convey the conflicting emotions he has about Kurtz due to the image he fabricated Kurtz to be, and the reality of Kurtz. Marlow’s language throughout the piece reveals to the reader how he feels about Kurtz and how he perceives Kurtz’s actions. Marlow’s point of view also allows him to support both of his perceptions of Kurtz because he doesn’t see only bad or only good in
Marlow’s thoughts are so consumed by Kurtz, that he is built up to be much more of a man than he truly is. In turn, Marlow is setting himself up for a let down. He says at one point, “I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time...the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home...towards his empty and desolate station”(P.32). When Marlow reaches Kurtz’s station, he begins to become disillusioned. He begins to hear about, and even see, the acts that Kurtz is committing, and becomes afraid of him. He sees in Kurtz, what he could become, and wants nothing to do with it. He does not want people to know he has any type of relationship with him, and says in response to the Russian, “I suppose that it had not occurred to him that Mr. Kurtz was no idol of mine.” (P.59). It is at this point that he begins to discover the darkness in his heart.
Marlow has always been mystified and curious about the parts of the world that have been relatively unexplored by the white race. Ever since he was a little kid he used to look at many maps and wonder just what laid in the big holes that were unmapped. Eventually one of these holes was filled up with the continent of Africa, but he was still fascinated especially by this filled in hole. When he found out that he could maybe get a job with a company that explored the Congo area in Africa he sought after it and got it. After all, it was as a steamship captain on the mighty Congo river. This was "a mighty big river...resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail in the depths of the land" (p. 2196). This snake like river was full of mystery to the adult Marlow and seemed to call him to it.
Marlow is the raconteur of Heart of Darkness, and therefore is one of the more crucial characters within the plot. He embodies the willingness to be valiant, resilient, and gallant, while similarly seeming to be cautiously revolutionary. He is, seemingly the epitome of bravery, going into the jungle. Marlow’s voyage is, in essence, a “night journey into the unconscious, the confrontation with an entity within the self” (Guerard 38). The ominous coast is an allegory for the idea of the unconscious mind. “Watching a coast as it slips by the ship […] there it is before you—smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering” (1...
An example is his inability to deal with the dying natives at the “grove of death”, offering a native a biscuit as an apparent gesture of kindness. Yet this is only due to him not being confronted with situations like this previously where his own values, and the whole premise behind colonialism, the exploitation is revealed. The patriarchal views of women he displays also outline the background of Marlow and the associated values.... ... middle of paper ... ... "This heart is drowned in a bath of light shed by the advent of civilization.
The value of restraint is stressed throughout Heart of Darkness. On one hand, Marlow is saved by his self-discipline while on the other hand; Kurtz is doomed from his lack of it. Before Marlow embarked on his voyage to Africa, he had a different view. Due to propaganda, he believed that the colonization of the Congo was for the greater good. In his head, he judged that the people of Africa were savages and that colonization would bring them the elation and riches of civilization. Despite an apparent uneasiness, he assumed that restraint would function there. When he reaches the Company station, he obtains his first astonishment. Everything seems worthless. Marlow finds no evidence of any devotion to efficiency but finds what he considers a miracle among the disorder. This “miracle” is the chief accountant. The reason Marlow finds this man so phenomenal is because he shows restraint. He maintains his appearance and his books are in “apple-pie order.” Marlow finds respect for this complete stranger because this chap shows backbone and self-discipline.
... to a man's soul. Marlow's journey was not only into the heart of Africa, but also into the heart of Kurtz where he realizes the truth of colonialism and the potential evil it entails.
Marlow also symbolizes the uncorrupted men that traveled to foreign lands to help the 'uncivilized' become cultured, but unlike the others Marlow does not become indoctrinated by an alternative motive. He is able to see through the materialistic ideals that had plagued the men before him. Marlow has the open-mindedness and sensitivity that was absent during Imperialism, but doesn't have the courage or power to stop the abuses that where ongoing. Marlow is proof that when confronted a man's evil side can be both informative and perilous.
In Heart of Darkness, the main character Marlow is being exposed to a whole new side of the world. He is on a trip down the Cong...
Marlow starts out as just as everyman, trying to put some bread on the table. His original plans were setting out to make money, but his journey turns into so much more. His expedition turns into a quest to find and save Kurtz, and to understand the people so many were prejudice against.