Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a tragedy that centers around a man named Marlow as he recounts his story of when he was set to work in the Congo Free State in Africa. The story opens with Marlow and his friends sitting on a yacht on the Thames, waiting for the tide to change. Marlow then begins his story. He encounters the unfairness that the enslaved Africans face and the truth of the Company and their hypocrisy. After learning more and more about Kurtz himself, Marlow is also presented to the darker side of human nature, and the dehumanization that results from the oppression of colonialism. Heart of Darkness explores many complex themes, and uses many symbols (such as the heart, the jungle, and Congo) to convey the dire messages that Marlow and Kurtz represent. Heart of Darkness is a novella that explores the ever-changing dynamics of human nature and its impact it can have on its beholder as well as the environment around them.
Symbolism plays a role in this novella. The darkness is one thing that is mentioned again and again throughout the entire story. The darkness in this story represents many things. The African Americans’ skin is dark colored, and the dark environment of the jungle all represent the darkness that enfolds through the book. The darkness also symbolizes the dehumanization of the
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Africans in Congo due to colonialism, which resulted in lack of order and societal collapse. The heart symbolizes the shape of Congo and the location of it in the continent of Africa. Kurtz symbolizes greedy people without conscience, while Congo itself is the reflection of a place full of darkness and disaster. The symbolism in this story is very pronounced. Joseph Conrad uses a variety of things with deep meaning to symbolize many dark aspects of the novella. The symbolism adds depth and complexity to the plot, as it offers more things to analyze, and more implication to the different objects.
Colonialism in Heart of Darkness greatly portrays the effects it had on civilization, including oppression and dehumanization. The colonialism in this book is shown through the effects it has on the native Africans. They are enslaved, and forced into labor. When they become sick or die, they are simply left at the side of the road, abandoned. The European colonizers fully viewed the Afrcians as objects to be used, not a human that has worth, a limited lifespan, and value. Stripped of their dignity and used as disposable and seemingly never ending resources, the Africans faced mistreatment and exploitation. “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, Part I). The Africans were different from the Europeans, and most of the colonizers took that as a sign to use them however they wanted without paying them much attention. The colonialism in the story is focused on its effects on the people, and traces it back to its source, which is the hypocritical “civilization” that Europe established, devoid of morals and lacking heart for people outside of its “advanced society”.
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Human nature is something that we all possess, no matter dark or light. Heart of Darkness narrows down on the darker side of human nature and what emerges when it is brought to a higher level than the light side. Kurtz is the sole embodiment of evil in this story. The colonialism of the book represents the savagery “civilized” humans are still capable of, highlighting Kurtz’s greed and loss or morals. His last words, “The horror, the horror!” recalls the moral abyss he has already fallen into, which is the price he pays for the greed and cruelty he inflicts on the Africans. “....your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.” (Conrad, Part III). Kurtz continued to accumulate wealth off the suffering of the Africans, and his further hunger for power eclipses any morals he once had, driving away all noble intentions and revealing his brutal disregard for humanity. His tyranny also goes unnoticed and his welcome to develop due to the fact that all the native Afrcians considered him a sort of divine being and left him unchecked in his abuses. The darkness of human nature that is expressed through Kurtz shows us how without any rules to follow or morals to stand by, a person can simply end up as a monster, without any thought for what is happening to the people around them and only focusing on whether they can seize more power through any means possible.
The face of illusion vs. reality in Heart of Darkness is bluntly expressed through the facade and the reality of both the situation in Europe and Congo that Marlow goes through. The illusion of civilization that is expressed in this novella is rooted in the Europeans civilization. The novella suggests that Eruope is rooted in hypocrisy and violence, with no standard morals. European colonizers were "civilizing" Africans and trying to make them more advanced, but only ended up showing them how their own society wasn't even that developed, without any rules or social norms that taught etiquette and empathy. In reality, the European countries also
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needed civilizing and teaching from others. The absence of law or accountability caused Kurtz to fall prey to his beast instincts, succumbing to the darkest impulses within him. "All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz." (Conrad, Part II). This symbolizes that the entire European nation went into making Kurtz who he was, as a person adapts and picks up from their surroundings. In reality, with no more social constraints and barely any morals to begin with, Kurtz slowly fell into inner evil and a taste for brutality. His descent into madness and cruelty reveals the corruption of morality at the core of colonialism, where the illusion of perfectness and civilization rips away bit by bit to reveal the savagery hidden underneath. The illusion of reality in Heart of Darkness explicitly renders the effects of moral corruption on a civilization as well as how a false belief of reality can lead to disaster.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is really a wonderful tragic novella that investigates many deeper and darker themes such as the truth of colonialism, the darkness of human nature and the strain of moral corruption and a false reality on a civilization. Through Marlow’s journey through the darkness, we learn how colonialism is not always beneficial to a nation. Thanks to Kurtz and his descent into madness and evil, we are also warned of how the absence of law and order can disrupt a person and cause them to have a crazy drive to power that results in them not thinking about anybody around them. The illusion of reality in this novella suggests that a civilization is not always as it seems to be. Europe was depicted as a great nation, but in reality, it was a nation that was not much better than the Congo Free State, which it sought to colonize and “civilize”. The exploration of themes in this book and the intense symbolism that the plot holds really makes up a compelling and meaningful novella that holds dark messages for readers to learn from.
Reference:
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
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