Heart Of Darkness Greed Quotes

Greed: the intense and selfish desire for something (Oxford Dictionary). It is one of the seven deadly sins, and society recognizes the vile nature of this trait, yet it is an integral part of our society, visible through our abundance. Joseph Conrad’s Europe was one of abundance: the more you had, the better you were regarded, and appearances were important, social success was gauged by what was observable. In response to vain society, to obtain social success you needed greed, for greed equated to more money, more power, more success. Ivory laid in the very heart of this mindset. It was the symbol of abundance, used in items including pianos, pool balls, and dominos. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses ivory as a catalyst to showcase the dual nature of greed encouraged by society, and caution about its consuming, destructive nature, especially when unreigned by society. Kurtz, while not the most liked man, is revealed to be revered. He is

Kurtz can no longer control the extent of his greed, wanting, needing to possess more, to possess everything. “'My ivory.' Oh yes, I heard him. 'My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—' everything belonged to him” (Conrad, 34). However greed can never be satiated, possessing the object of your greed, feeds into it. So while Kurtz owned everything, in essence he really owned nothing. The extent of his greed pushes him to collect more ivory, disregarding his health and falling status in the Company. Kurtz is a slave to his greed, it takes priority over all other aspects of life: “Evidently the appetite for more ivory had got the better of the—what shall I say?—less material aspirations”(Conrad, 40). Kurtz's has lost his self-control, lost sight of anything other than ivory, and with that lost his only safeguard against his uncontained