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Essays on Heart of Darkness
Critical overview of heart of darkness
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The Life of Joseph Conrad Throughout time, influential writers have produced many great works of literature. These works of literature impact the stylistic aspect of writing for years to come. Joseph Conrad, one of these influential writers, used his own personal experiences to write harrowing novels, such as Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s impact on literature is his distinctive writing style. Described as a “winding, indirect, tautological, and sometimes frustratingly ambiguous narrative structure” (Davies), Conrad has cemented himself as one of literature’s greatest authors. Surprisingly, Conrad was not directly born with the gift of literary perfection. Instead, Conrad became recognized as a literary genius through his lifetime and experiences. …show more content…
Although Conrad was born into the Polish noble class by Apollo and Evalina Korzeniowski in Berdichev, Ukraine, his life was uprooted rapidly. His parents, being “Polish patriots who conspired against oppressive Russian rule” (Biography Editors), were quickly exiled away from their Polish land to Vologda, Russia. This was mainly due to Conrad’s father being part of the “szlachta, a hereditary social class comprised of members of the landed gentry” (Moran), which conspired against the oppressive Russian government. Consequently, the harsh living conditions of Vologda would soon alter Conrad’s life forever. The hazardous environment affected his parents first, with Conrad’s mother dying “of tuberculosis in 1865” and Conrad’s father dying from “the same disease in 1869” (Moran). Although Conrad was exiled from his home, he was allowed to “return to Poland” in 1867 (Davies). Although Conrad’s parents suffered the worst in Vologda, Conrad “suffered from a number of lung inflammations and epileptic seizures” (Moran). These health issues would plague him for the rest of his …show more content…
During these voyages, Conrad began to study for his “first mate’s certificate” (Editors of Encyclopedia). Shortly after, he experienced two events which would spur along his career as a mariner and provide him with his inspiration for his most famous novel, Heart of Darkness. In 1886, Joseph Conrad became a citizen of Britain, and “three months later he obtained his master mariner’s certificate” (Editors of Encyclopedia). Consequently, Conrad officially settled down in Britain and began his own voyages into the sea. The most interesting and life-changing voyage Conrad ever embarked on was into the Congo. Spanning the duration of four months, Conrad explored the Congo on a steamboat, experiencing sights that would change his life forever. Conrad channels these events into Heart of Darkness, described as
Joseph Conrad is the author of the novel, The Heart of Darkness, along with many other profound works. Compared on any scale, Conrad is nowhere near average. Joseph Conrad is a very interesting character who sees the world through wide eyes. By traveling the world and exploring the many walks of life he is able to discuss common global views and habits that include injustices which are explained in his renowned novel, The Heart of Darkness.
Joseph Conrad’s own experiences during his trip through the Congo helped him provide a foundation for the writing of Heart of Darkness. In 1890, Conrad took a job as a captain on the river steamer Kinshasa. Before Conrad took this job, he had worked for the French merchant navy as a way to escape Russian military service and also to escape the emotional troubles that had plagued him. Conrad had been in a financial crisis that was resolved with help from his uncle. After this series of events, Conrad joined the British merchant navy at the beckoning of his uncle and took the job as the captain of a steamboat in the Congo River. An important fact to remember is that Conrad was a young and inexperienced man when he was exposed to the harsh and dangerous life of a sailor. His experiences in the West Indies and especially in the Belgium Congo were eye opening and facilitated his strong outlooks that are reflected in the book Heart of Darkness. Conrad’s journey through the Belgian Congo gave him the experiences and knowledge to write about a place that most Europeans would never see in their lives.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novel about a man named Marlow and his journey into the depths of the African Congo. Marlow is in search of a man named Kurtz, an ivory trader. Though Marlow?s physical journey seems rather simple, it takes him further into his own heart and soul than into the Congo. The setting, symbols and characters each contain light and dark images, these images shape the central theme of the novel.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the most widely recognized and acclaimed novellas written. But with fame and recognition comes controversy, which is clearly demonstrated by the broad interpretations of the book. Many people believe Heart of Darkness is racist, while others believe the book is perfectly civil. Chinua Achebe, one of Africa's most renowned novelists, strongly believes that the book is dehumanizing and racist; I agree with him, to a certain extent. Three of the most prominent ways that Achebe discusses Conrad’s racism is by the way the African people are portrayed, the African culture, and the comparison of Europe to Africa.
Joseph Conrad is one of the most recognized writers of literary impressionism, who once wrote that the main reason of a writer was “to make you see” (Domestico). Under the name of Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, Joseph was born on the third day of December 1857 in the Russian-controlled city of Berdychiv, Ukraine. However, he was orphaned at the age of eleven when his father was prisoned by the Russians for his nationalist political activities in 1861. Conrad along with his mother followed him to Vologda where he was kept, but the harsh weather caused his mother to die form tuberculosis in 1865. Later on in 1869, his father died from tuberculosis as well (Higgins 2006). In 1874, Conrad traveled to Marseilles, where he worked on numerous French vessels over the next four years. In 1878, Conrad had attempted suicide, but failed and later joined a British ship in April 1878. It was on that vessel where Conrad was brought to Constantinople, and for the first time, London. Consequently, Conrad would serve in the British merchant navy for the next 16 years. At 21, Conrad started learning how to speak English, even though he had been reading the language since he was young. In 1895, Conrad married Jessie George, and later had two sons with her. He continued living in the southeast corner of England, where his life as a writer was encompassed by sickness, and being almost poor. He died from a heart attack on August 3, 1924 in Canterbury, Kent.
On the surface, Heart of Darkness is the exploration of the African Congo where the explorers are trying to conquer the natives and make a profit in the ivory business. However, there is much more to the short novel written by Joseph Conrad than just the surface. It is also the exploration of the unconscious where the goal is to conquer the unknown. At the same time when Heart of Darkness was surfacing in the 20th century society, a psychologist named Sigmund Freud was publishing his research findings. Freud’s research of the unconscious and Conrad’s journey into darkness is remarkably similar. John Tessitore, a modern critic, says of the similarity, "...it is enough simply to observe that two great minds found themselves arriving at identical conclusions and expressed those conclusions through the modes of their individual disciplines" (Tessitore 93). Specifically comparable are Conrad’s exploration of the mind and Freud’s exploration of the id, superego, and ego.
Joseph Conrad grew up to become quite the sailor, starting as an apprentice on a French vessel in 1875 and working his way to become a master of English ships from 1878-1889 (Jean-Aubrey 19). He spent fifteen years at sea, traveling to destinations all over the globe. After much traveling he returned home to Europe. While there, he tried desperately to find a new ship to command, but there were none available. He spent months searching and still could not find a ship to call his own. It was then, while stuck in Europe with nothing to do, that Conrad wrote Almayer’s Folly, his first novel. When Conrad was presented with the opportunity to go to the Congo in 1889, he did not hesitate. After months of correspondence between himself and members of the Societe Anonyme pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo in Brussels and the killing of a steamboat captain by natives in the Congo, Joseph Conrad was ready to journey deep into the heart of Africa.
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
Without personal access to authors, readers are left to themselves to interpret literature. This can become challenging with more difficult texts, such as Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness. Fortunately, literary audiences are not abandoned to flounder in pieces such as this; active readers may look through many different lenses to see possible meanings in a work. For example, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness may be deciphered with a post-colonial, feminist, or archetypal mindset, or analyzed with Freudian psycho-analytic theory. The latter two would effectively reveal the greater roles of Kurtz and Marlow as the id and the ego, respectively, and offer the opportunity to draw a conclusion about the work as a whole.
Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story.
Every story has a plot, but not every story has a deeper meaning. When viewed superficially, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a tragic tale of the white man's journey into the African jungle. When we peel away the layers, however, a different journey is revealed - we venture into the soul of man, complete with the warts as well as the wonderful. Conrad uses this theme of light and darkness to contrast the civilized European world with the savage African world in Heart of Darkness.
Beyond the shield of civilization and into the depths of a primitive, untamed frontier lies the true face of the human soul. It is in the midst of this savagery and unrelenting danger that mankind confronts the brooding nature of his inner self. Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is the story of one man's insight into life as he embarks on a voyage to the edges of the world. Here, he meets the bitter, yet enlightening forces that eventually shape his outlook on life and his own individuality. Conrad’s portrayal of the characters, setting, and symbols, allow the reader to reflect on the true nature of man.
‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad was written in 1902 at the turn of the century. It is a novella and published in 3 parts in the Blackwood’s Magazine. It is regarded as a significant work of English literature and is part of the Western Cannon. The work was well received by a fairly bewildered Victorian Audience. Joseph Conrad born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was Polish-born. Conrad had become a naturalized British Citizen although he could not speak fluent English until he was in his twenties. Conrad had served in the British marines for over 10 years had travelled to Africa, which meant that he had experience what he was writing about. Conrad was actually sent up the Congo River to an inner station to rescue an agent as did Marlow in ‘Hear of Darkness’. The novella is somewhat representative of Conrad’s own experiences.
Since its publication in 1899, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has rarely been disputed on the basis of its literary merits; in fact, it was long seen as one of the great novels of the burgeoning modern era, a sort of bridge between the values and storytelling styles of the waning Victorian period and those of the modern era (Gatten), and regarded a high-ranking space amidst the great literature of the century, if not the millennia (Mitchell 20). Conrad’s literary masterpiece manages references to other great literature, universal themes which cut to the heart of philosophical questions of the innate goodness or evil of man, and historical references such as the Belgium and Roman empires (Kuchta 160), among other accomplishments, and so has garnered a lexicon all its own in the annals of literary criticism, debate, and analysis.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a great example of a Modernist novel because of its general obscurity. The language is thick and opaque. The novel is littered with words such as: inconceivable, inscrutable, gloom. Rather than defining characters in black and white terms, like good and bad, they entire novel is in different shades of gray. The unfolding of events takes the reader between many a foggy bank; the action in the book and not just the language echoes tones of gray.