Takeaways In Heart Of Darkness

There are many takeaways from the book, “The Heart of Darkness.” If the reader stops to read between the lines of words and considers the hidden meanings behind them, they can see many real world applications of this book’s morals. In the book, the protagonist Marlow tells his audience a story about when he worked for a Belgian company that sent him to the African Congo to navigate and pilot through the virtually unexplored country. During his trip, Marlow is appalled by the darkness in the hearts of men working for the company. At some point during the story, Marlow’s job of navigating Africa shifts into a search for a significant businessman named Kurtz. This man in particular is the center of many conversations. Shortly after meeting Marlow,

Kurtz dies. Marlow travels back to England and tells Kurtz’s fiancé about his death.
One of the outstanding messages that the book conveys is the power that greed holds prevalently in our lives. Without God’s guidance to show us the difference between right and wrong, lines are blurred. There is no black and white distinction; there is only grey matter—darkness. Without God’s light, love, and leadership, we have nothing to navigate our lives through the metaphorical and literal dark forests of sin and confusion. This is shown clearly throughout the story in three instances: 1) when Marlow first arrives in the country and is astounded by the effect of the company’s work in the grove of death; and 2) the distinct, dehumanizing descriptions that Marlow uses when talking about the natives of the Congo; and 3) when Kurtz’s fiancé talks about what a charismatic, kind person Kurtz was before he left for the new country. During the first instance, Marlow is appalled to see just how far the company is willing to go to accomplish their work. It doesn’t matter how many natives are injured, starving, or dying—so long as the company is getting the ivory it so greedily craves. Human nature inherently desires the best for itself, disregarding the effects that its actions have on others. In the second instance, Marlow’s descriptions nearly dehumanize the native people of the Congo. Literary Themes for Students describes the dehumanization of the natives in this book quite accurately: “At the first Company station, he sees black people moving about ‘like ants.’ The men of a chain gang have rags around their waists ‘and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails;’ these same men also have joints ‘like knots in a rope.’ The dying men he encounters at the station are nothing more than ‘black shapes’ and ‘bundles of acute angles.’ He often describes groups of natives by collectively referring to a specific body part: the whites of their eyeballs, the flaring of their nostrils, the whirling of their limbs.

The natives who attack the steamboat as the pilgrims near the Inner Station are seen only as ‘naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes.’ The effect is to cause the reader to never picture the natives as fully human.” By emphasizing the barbaric nature of the natives, Marlow shows how inconsiderate humans can be toward other humans. We look down on people who are different than us, simply because they are distinguished from us. He regards them and describes them as if they are lower life forms than him, which simply isn’t true. But the important question is why does Marlow (and all of The Company) think that these natives are simply animals? It’s because the Company holds power that the natives do not have. This goes back to the original thesis of this paper: without God serving as a strong figure in our lives, we look to

power, strength, and greed to give ourselves worth. Because The Company had control over what happened in the Congo, they directly had control over the natives of the Congo. Therefore, they thought that they were more important and more valuable than the natives were. During the third instance, Kurtz’s fiancé describes her husband as a loving gentleman. When Marlow lies to her and tells her that Kurtz’s last word was her name, she is not surprised. She reacts excitedly and claims, “I knew it.” This implies that she knew Kurtz loved her, and that she knew deep inside her heart that he treasured her. This is vastly different from how we first perceived Kurtz—a weak, dying, yet ruthless businessman who killed natives for public image. Kurtz used fear as a motivator; and he killed many of the natives in order to prove his dominance. He manipulated many of them into thinking that he was a god in order to enslave them.
The drastic transformation that happens to Kurtz throughout the course of the story serves as a warning for readers: be careful of what you let rule your life. If you place money as your god, then you will end up discontent and greedy. If you place another person as your god, you will end up trying to appease them and, ultimately, they will let you down. This book portrays how desperately we need God as our ruler and as the center of our lives. Without God, darkness will prevail in your life. (1 John 1:5)