Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad influenced the 20th century with its commentary on racism in society and the emptiness of human kind. The novel influenced T.S. Eliot through commentary on human kind and the influence can be found in his poems The Waste Land and The Hollow Men. The savagery of the human race is the main focus of Heart of Darkness. T.S. Elliot understands human kind as a primitive state that, in its most simple form, is a terrible existence. The novel’s savagery greatly influenced Eliot in the writing of these two poems.
In Heart of Darkness the character Marlow travels to the heart of Africa as a steamboat captain employed by “The Company,” a Belgian company that trades ivory in the Congo. When he arrives, Marlow finds the native people used as slaves for the hard labor involved in the ivory trade, and the white, European traders overseeing the slave labor—both groups savage and inhumane but on opposite ends of the spectrum. Marlow sees the simplistic inhumanity of both the white and black men involved in the ivory trade. Marlow views the natives as the simplest form of man and nearly inhuman in terms of intellectuality. The white men there have a different savagery about them. The dehumanization of the native people shows how brutal and evil even civilized man can be. Marlow is tasked with locating and retrieving the enigmatic trader Kurtz. Kurtz has gone rogue and now leads a tribe of natives that worship him as its god. He uses savagery to kill and steal ivory from any competing trader in his area. He is the company’s best trader, but his methods have become too inhumane; therefore, the company wants to take him out of the wild. Marlow has time to learn as much as he can about Kurtz as he is waitin...
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...me.
The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil
waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber un-
der an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense dark-
ness.(Conrad)
Conrad reflected on the history of civilization that the Thames has seen. London was the core of civilization, development of the wild, uncharted lands, around the world. From the Thames, came the colonization of the world for many years, but now the Thames lacks the old spark of civilization. The beacon of light that used to spread the reaches of civilized man is now leading to “an immense darkness”(Conrad). The Thames now represents the greed and evil aspirations of the inhabitants of London. “Now this river has become both for Conrad and Eliot an ignoble waterway of commerce. The glory that was England has vanished” (Mcconnell)
Conrad’s main character Marlow is the narrator for most of the story in Heart of Darkness. He is presented as a well-intentioned person, and along his travels he is shocked by the cruelties that he sees inflicted on the native people. Though he is seemingly benevolent and kindly, Marlow shows the racism and ignorance of Conrad and in fact of the majority of white people in his era, in a more subtle way. Marlow uses words to describe the blacks that, though generally accepted in his time, were slanderous and crude. He recalls that some of the first natives he saw in the Congo looked at him “with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (80; part 1). Marlow casually refers to the Africans with the most offensive of language: “Strings of dusty niggers arrived and departed…” (83; part 1). To Marlow, and thus to Conrad, the Africans are savages, dogs, devils, and criminals. Even the stories that Conrad creates for Marlow to narrate are twisted and false. The natives that Marlow deals with in the book are described as cannibals, and they are even given dialogue that affirms th...
...numerous expeditions, by covering the truth of death as effects through the performance for change on the water and the ship’s patriotism through the atmospheric changes, the suggestions of ships and their historical background, and the anarchic depiction of travellers and their reasons for travelling. The portrayal of life and death are seen in the shifts as a way in suggesting that Marlowe’s expedition is not for the betterment of the Congo.
Marlow, the main character in Heart of Darkness, often recognizes the Europeans' dehumanization of the Africans. As Marlow approaches the company offices at the Outer Station he sees "a scene of inhabited devastation" (Conrad 24). He catches sight of a chain gang of half starved, animal-like Africans. Trying to rationalize the situation, Marlow tells himself that these Africans are criminals, and somehow deserve their ...
Every aspect in Conrad?s book has a deep meaning, which can then be linked to the light and dark imagery. In the novel there are two rivers, the Thames and the Congo. The...
Conrad, Joseph. "Heart of Darkness." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. 6th ed. vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993. 1759-1817.
A nation of tortured slaves with bodies so emaciated one could count the ribs, death lingering in every corner as overworked natives line the ground with their lifeless forms, a people so scarred that evil men are allowed to rule as gods. Unfortunately, the gruesome description reigns true for African tribes that fell victim to the cruelty of colonialism. Pointing out the abhorrent evils of the imperial tradition, Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness to expose the possibility of malevolence in a human being. Throughout the novella, Conrad illustrates sickening images of the horrendous effects of colonizing African tribes while incorporating themes such as a reversal of black and white imagery, the “fascination of the abomination”, and the inherent evil within humanity. Uniquely, Conrad often describes good and virtuous situations or people using the commonly negative description black. Likewise, Conrad also uses the word “white” to describe negative, evil, or unfortunate events and people. Another use of theme arises as Conrad’s main narrator, Marlow, becomes fascinated with the savage people and the cruelty under which they live. Although the situations and people are described as wild, Marlow pays special attention to the details of these people because they are all human, like him. Lastly, the protagonist, Kurtz, falls into deep evils as his soul is consumed by power-hungry and greedy ambitions. Conrad often discusses the possibility of evil within every man if the environment is unrestrained and open to a dictatorship-like control. Despite the main idea of the novel being the evil within man, a native Nigerian professor, Chinua Achebe, greatly criticizes what he believes to be both obvious and subtle racist undertones through...
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
Civilization is not as advanced as first assumed. Joseph Conrad asserts this disheartening message in his novel, Heart of Darkness. The novel follows a European man reliving his journey to the Congo through story telling to his shipmates. Through Marlow’s journey, Conrad reveals the stark contrasts between European civilization and African savagery. Heart of Darkness explores the struggles of different societies with an intention to expose the weaknesses of a complicated imperialistic ideal.
Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness.” Norton Anthology of British Literature. 7th Edition. Vol. B. Ed. M. H. Abrams, et. al. New York: W. W. Norton, 2001.
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.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” offers an interpretation of the modern world that on one hand underscores the disillusionment of the future in a world that is fragmented and bare, and on the other hand, presents a case for recognizing freedom and meaning in the “heap of broken images” that make up the modern climate. The opening segment “The Burial of the Dead” looks toward a future that is composed of fragments and paradox. The fragments in the waste land that is presented are that of memory. More specifically, the fragments represent a failure in the human condition to connect memories of the past to those of the present in a way that is hopeful and inspiring. Jewel Spears Brooker and Joseph Bentley present this concept in Reading the Waste Land: Modernism and the Limits of Interpretation. Here they describe a waste land in which “She [Marie] perceives the dualistic and paradoxical present as cruel because, in remembering the past and intuiting the future, sh...
While Heart of Darkness offers a powerful view into the hypocrisy of imperialism, it also delves into the morality of men. Darkness becomes a symbol of hatred, fear and symbol of the power of evil. Marlow begins his story believing that these elements exists within the jungle, then with the natives and finally makes the realization that darkness lives within the heart of each man, even himself. People must learn to restrain themselves from giving into the "darkness." Marlow discusses at one point how even suffering from starvation can lead a man to have "black" thoughts and restraining oneself from these thoughts would be almost impossible in such hardship.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad may be a narrative about colonisation, revealing its drawbacks and corruption, but it may also be understood as a journey into the depths of one’s psyche, if taken at a symbolic level.
Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, was written in the year 1902, a time of modernist literature. Heart of Darkness talks about the problems with alienation and confusion as much as it does about imperialism. In the early 1900’s, the lifestyle in England veered towards the Victorian values. Conrad’s novella makes a bridge to connect the Victorian values with the ideas of modernism. Thus “it belongs to a period of change.”(Sardar) For example, the natives are following in the footsteps of their predecessors, following a life of tradition, and their ideas of life are constantly being attacked by people like Mr. Kurtz who think they are doing what is best, when in reality they are creating more confusion
By the time Marlow and Kurtz meet, Marlow is already well aware of the similarities they share. Both are imperialists, and while Marlow detests the treatment of the natives by his employers (Belgian colonists), he also makes apparent his abhorrence toward the Africans. On the other hand, Kurtz abandons the pretense of helping the natives achieve civilization, as displayed by the Europeans. Instead, he adopts their customs and becomes their leader in the never-ending quest for ivory. "He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of the supernatural beings- we approach them with the might as of a deity' (Longman, 2000, p. 2226). Marlow also admired Kurtz' resourcefulness and survival skills, especially his perseverence through jungle fever. "The wilderness had patted him on the head....it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite." (Longman, 2000, p. 2225).