He is the symbol of the biblical Esau—exiling his brother (Ralph) and raging because of his hurt over not receiving what he believes to be rightfully his (the title as chief) (Oldsey and Weintraub 94). Jack grows to hate Ralph and leads a man hunt after him. Jack becomes “capable of the most heinous cruelties in the service of [his] pride” just as any man could (Fitzgerald and Kayser 79).
In Heart of Darkness, all of the characters serve their pride. Pride in the homeland causes prejudice against the natives of the Congo, and this prejudice leads to abominable treatment of the black people (Fitzgerald and Kayser 85). The trading company forgets that the inhabitants of the Congo may very well have a civilization just as important as their own
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All of the “savages” in Lord of the Flies lust for power—it is in human nature to crave someone in charge (Spitz 24). For this reason the events in Golding’s novel are built around forming a hierarchy (Lederer and Beattie 1319). From the very first page, Ralph is over Piggy, and then over the entire tribe with Jack over the choir, then Jack is over the entire tribe (Lederer and Beattie 1319). Almost immediately the boys revert to a power struggle in trying to decide a chief (Egan 140). Even though “what intelligence was shown was traceable to Piggy” and “the most obvious leader was Jack,” Ralph is chosen as chief (Golding 22). Jack symbolizes man’s evil through his need to conquer; he loves the power he feels when killing pigs (Thapliyal and Kunwar 88). This surge of power over a living thing is addictive, and the boys (especially Jack’s group) become greedy for more as “the compulsion to track down and kill [swallows] him up” (Golding 51 and Thapliyal and Kunwar 87). This greed, this need to conquer, leads to the destruction of not only Jack, but of all the boys. They end their story hunting a fellow man; order is destroyed and violence overtakes the once innocent schoolboys (Thapliyal and Kunwar …show more content…
The theme of Heart of Darkness is that “civilization depends on conquest” (trying to force one’s ideals where there is “so-called darkness”) which depends on the evils of man (Sewlall 32, Sewlall 25). Conrad accomplishes his theme by constantly relating the gloom of the Congo to the gloom over London and Brussels (Lindley 178). He also says that “Kurtz is made from all of Europe” (Lindley 192). In other words, all of civilization has
Jack is the leader of the boys choir group in civilization and he is the complete opposite of Ralph. Jack wants to be leader and won’t let anyone stand in his way he rules through fear and shows signs of militarism and dictatorship. He is cruel, sadistic and preoccupied with hunting and killing pigs to help the rest signal for help. His sadism only gets worse throughout the novel, and eventually turns cruelly on the other boys. Jack pretends to show an interest in the rules of order on the island, but he views the differently because they only allow him to inflict punishment. Jack represents greed, savage and the anarchic aspects of man.
Part of Golding’s intent was to demonstrate that the evil is not recognised in specific populations or situations. On the island the beast is manifest in the deadly tribal dances, war paint and manhunt: in the outside world the same lust for power and control plays out as a nuclear war. Throughout ‘The Lord of the Flies’ Golding has managed to show that evil is present in everyone.
loyalty oath. If this happened then that state could setup a new state government. Under
The most obvious contrast found in Heart of Darkness is between that of light and dark. In the beginning of the novel when the sun set upon London, the city began to light up yet the narrator describes the light as a "lurid glare under the stars" (Conrad 6). The lights from the city illuminated the Thames River. Because London is described as being light, the light then symbolizes civilization, or at least Conrad's view of civilization. Conrad's view of civilization is one of great despise. Civilization is a place where evil is ever present but ignored and people believe they know everything. The light is the knowledge that we have gained through exploration and the civilizing of places that have not yet been civilized. In contrast there is the darkness. Represented in the novel by Africa and the Congo River, the darkness is the evil that lurks in the unknown. The darkness is full of savages and cannibals. It is the uncivilized and uninhabited part of the world where people eat people and the savages lurk in the trees and in the darkness. Africa is the "heart of darkness," the place where man's inner evil is brought out in the open and is displayed through their thoughts and actions, such as those on Marlow's boat, letting the bullets fly into the jungle without reason or need.
Jack is about Ralph's age, with a skinnier build and red hair. His freckled face is described as being "ugly without silliness." From the very beginning, he seems to harbor emotions of anger and savagery. At first, he is the leader of his choir group, who becomes hunters as the book progresses. Finally, his savage personality and ability to tell people what they want to hear allows him to overtake Ralph as chief. Jack does not believe that the Beast exists and is the leader of anarchy on the island. From the start of the novel he does not like abiding by rules of any kind. He simply wants to hunt and have a good time. Not seeming to care about being rescued, Jack and his tribe are examples of the Beast running rampant. In the beginning of the story Jack, still conditioned by the previous society he had been apart of, could not bear to kill a pig that was caught in the brush. As the plot progresses he becomes less and less attached to any societal norms.
Heart of Darkness shows imperialism in more of a physical and psychological perspective. The main character Marlow, in his beliefs, shows a positive side to imperialism. Marlow does openly admit that he does not belong as an invader to this land that is not his; however, he also says that he will try to help these people, the antithesis of most, if not all, of his comrades. Concerning these imperialistic invasions, he says,
In The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a seaman named Marlow examines European imperialism before his very eyes and how it is affecting the natives in the area they are imperializing, which is the Belgian Congo. Conrad conveys to the reader that multiple people have multiple views on the natives and their habitat. On the other hand, Conrad also displays how the natives have different feelings for the Europeans that are intruding on their land. Through Marlow’s eyes, we see a very prospective view as he speaks of how he does not favor the treatment of the natives yet he does nothing to stop it. However, we are also able to see the viewpoints of others. Conrad shows us that the Europeans do not have feelings for the natives and their main motive is to gain more ivory.
3. Kurtz, who is not the protagonist or antagonist is a very significant character in the book as Marlow and Kurtz essentially form a team as the novel progresses. He is the chief of the Inner Station and Marlow basically follows him. Kurtz is a man of many talents (he is a talented musician and painter). His abilities are nothing without his charisma and his ability to lead. Kurtz is a man who understands the power of words, and his writings present a complexity that obscures their horrifying message (his writings are often hard to understand, as they are complex in structure, often hiding the morbid message behind them). Although he remains a “puzzle,” e...
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys from England are evacuated out of their country due to a war. The plane is then shot down and results into a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys are left all alone with no adults, no supplies, and no one to come and rescue them. They are all on their own and have to establish a new “society”. The boys have to choose someone to govern them and that person ends up being Ralph, who had an internal struggle between what is right and wrong closer to the end of the novel. The boys turn into savages, killing each other, and showing their evil inside each of them. According to, William Golding man is inherently evil, evil is in all of us, but it is oppressed by society, and comes out when there is not anything to hold us back, civilization is what holds back evil from coming out, or it is what triggers evil inside of man.
Jack represents the chaos and savagery on the island. After a hunt, Jack gets back with some anger that he does s...
Pride manifests itself into many different forms and will sometimes overshadow a person 's good judgement, in turn affecting their actions. It is truly the cause for the rise and fall of men for centuries and thus has become one of the greatest concepts to be addressed in British literature. Throughout the literary works studied this semester, some form of pride has always presented itself as a major theme.
“ The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” (Conrad 65) So stated Marlow as though this was his justification for ravaging the Congo in his search for ivory. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it as is evidenced by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African population. Heart of Darkness is indicative of the evil and greed in humanity as personified by Kurtz and Marlow.
In conclusion, Heart of Darkness de-humanizes Africans, denies their language and culture and under estimates them by calling them with humiliating names. Heart of Darkness reveals the absolute hypocrisy of Europe. In Europe, colonizing Africa was necessary because it would not only bring wealth to Europe but it would also civilize and educate the “savage” African natives. It shows that the European colonizers used the high ideals of colonization as a cover to allow them to collect whatever wealth they could from Africa. Unlike most novels, Heart of Darkness focus on the evils of colonialism, it also pays attention to the damage that colonization does to the souls of the white colonizers than it does to the black natives.
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.
In conclusion, it is easy to understand how Kurtz came to his conclusions and how a person who is being viewed as “Godlike” might abuse that phenomenon in a questionable way. This is further supported by the fact that Marlow was swayed to believe that the Africans were savages as they attacked his ship. It wasn’t until later that he concluded the attack was prompted by the African’s fear that he would take Kurtz away.