Conrad's Heart Of Darkness example essay topic

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness does not explicitly deal with a struggle between war and peace: the conflict is a psychological, moral one; however, the text's implications that society is a thin veil over our innate savagery, the darkness at the roots of Western civilization, reveals disturbing truths about the peaceful, orderly lives we take for granted. The key to understanding Conrad's novella lies in ascertaining the metaphorical significance of the "heart of darkness", a search which may yield an answer as complex and obscure than any geographical, sociological or psychological solution. Since its publication, several critics have categorized Heart of Darkness as a travelogue, or, at the least, a seaman's tale mixed with autobiographical elements from Conrad's life, yet the story itself refutes such interpretations: The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be expected), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze... (Miller 68) Conrad's story is obviously about more than a bad trip into the jungle. In several respects, it is a "study on the effects of man's isolation from the civilized world, represented by Kurtz" (Miller 129).

The title 'Heart of Darkness' the name itself implies a sense of unknown evil, and invokes thoughts of secrecy and mystery. It paints paradoxes of seemingly clear concepts and states, such as the mental condition of central character Kurtz, an enigmatic ivory trader deep in the heart of the 'Dark Continent. ' The setting indeed takes place in a region remarkably like the Congo that has led many scholars to automatically label it as such. (Lackey) For the purposes of this essay, I will acknowledge such connections while keeping in mind that we are dealing with a work of literary fiction, which places its ultimate basis outside the realm of real-life locales.

Unlike Lord of the Flies and other works, Heart of Darkness is not relegated to a singular, primeval location removed from the rule of law. It includes Brussels and London, though not directly stated, places within the confines or "heart" of civilization. This does not necessarily mean the "heart of darkness" exists throughout all the places described. Before reaching that conclusion, the imagery and diction employed to depict each setting must be looked at. At the start of the novel... [use of "dark"]... also at the end... [use of "shadow", "blackness"] After evaluating these examples, it is possible to assume with little doubt that Conrad considers the very bastions of Western civilization breeding places of a dark malady. It may be an overgeneralization to extend the reaches of this "darkness" to mankind as a whole since the areas "afflicted" with it are considered civilized, limiting it essentially to the Western world.

The Congo in Africa is home to dark native peoples that are portrayed with a natural, primal quality, a stark contrast to the civilizations in Europe. This is the setting for British imperialism at work. It is therefore the setting where the supposed sophistication of civilized men is deconstructed, and all men are revealed to share a common darkness. Africa and its inhabitants show an external darkness, while it is revealed that the colonizers contain darkness within. Heart of Darkness is a criticism of imperialism that uses the metaphor of darkness in the human heart to show the similarity between cultural groups perceived as different; elements of racism are used inside the darkness metaphor to emphasize anti-imperialism. Darkness and its opposite, light, are contrasted in Heart of Darkness to reveal the irony of imperialism.

Traditionally, light and darkness represent civilization and the uncivilized world, respectively. In some cases, the description of darkness appears racist, yet it serves to reveal how the opposite of the European colonialist way of thinking is true. Marlow tells his shipmates about his childhood dreams of visiting uncharted places on maps. However, once a space had been discovered by Europeans, 'it had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery - a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness' (22). Once the location had been discovered by the civilized world, it was exposed to the light of development.

Without the arrival of the light of the Europeans for use in comparison, the Congo would be neither light nor dark; it is civilization that creates the primitive darkness. The initiative that compels imperialism is the idea that the radiance of civilization will bring light to the darkness of uncivilized nations. However, since the darkness does not exist until the light arrives, the notion of imperialism places a result before its cause. The irony of imperialism is introduced in the first scene of the novel, where the narrator states that London 'seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth' (17).

The pinnacle of European civilization is covered in darkness, the same darkness that surrounds the uncivilized Congo, 'a colossal jungle, so dark green as to almost be black' (28). Marlow describes the black natives of the jungle as possessing 'bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast' (28). Despite their outward dark appearance, they inside they are vibrant. There is an irony in that behind what the colonists see as darkness, a brightness shines though. When black inhabitants are forced to work under the conditions of European mechanical labor, they acquire expressions of the 'deathlike indifference of unhappy savages' (30). The imposition of European progress brings the men closer to savagery.

The people that the colonists view as 'savage' become even more so when placed in chain gangs, which suggests that it is the Europeans who actually possess the savageness. A further indication of the dark side of imperialism is the setting of Marlow's narrative. The sun is setting before he starts his tale. When he is finished, it is fully dark and 'the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under and overcast sky' (95). This symbolizes how the sailors were exposed to the true darkness of their disposition. The darkness and grave tone are similar to the somberness of the chain gang.

When Europeans are exposed to the bleakness of imperialism, their darkness is revealed to them, just as when the Africans were exposed to imperialism and became engulfed in the European gloom. Marlow makes some specific conclusions about the nature of man in Heart of Darkness. He specifically believes that men are evil and inhuman. He gives a few examples of how this is so in the book.

Just reading the book and seeing the way humans act towards each other you are able to see that humans are evil. Marlow also mentions Kurtz and the manager and their inhumanity. There is a lot of inhumanity. The people are so inhuman that when they are starving, they would be able to eat the youth. The black man is beaten unmercifully and there is a black man with a bullet in his head.

Marlow describes humans being dark, inhuman shapes by the way they act towards each other. ' Dark human shapes could be made out in the distance, flitting indistinctly against the gloomy border of the forest. ' (pg. 141) This is the way Marlow sees humans, even though he does not come out and say it in these quotes. Marlow brings up a specific inhuman being which to him is Kurtz. He says that Kurtz has a dark nature to him. ' He could be very terrible.

You can't judge Mr. Kurtz as you would an ordinary man. ' (pg. 135) Kurtz is a thief and a murderer. One of the murders he has done was drying black heads on the stakes. Kurtz was also a liar and at the end of the book Marlow ends up lying himself. To Marlow there is a different person who exudes more evil than Kurtz does. The manager is truly a monster.

The manager thought that Marlow should have been hanged. ' You ought to be hanged' (pg. 135) The manager wanted to kill Marlow, after Kurtz's death and he really didn't care much about Kurtz's death either. The only thing that the manager cared about was how to get and keep the ivory. Through out the book Marlow and Kurtz show how inhuman they are by torturing and murdering other human beings. This extract isa key forerunner to several of the themes in Heart of Darkness.

The "wilderness", the "heart of darkness", it may be said, is asocial, atypical to our everyday lives. Though Conrad initially describes it as "primitive nature and primitive man", by the end of the passage it is evident that that is but a placeholder for the "unusual", better stated as "the unknown". It is "truth stripped of its cloak of time" which Marlow works so diligently to distract himself from (106). Conrad's words, in these cases, are very damning of civilization and the social structure, little more than a frail entity, a herd of cattle tenuously held together in a semblance of order, easily torn apart into sundered chaos. Heart of Darkness indirectly gestures against this notion with Kurtz. Whereas Carrier and Kaye rts, even Marlow to an extent, may be seen as the "pilgrims" or agents of society, Kurtz is the par excellence, the pure embodiment of imperialist capitalism.

Kurtz's pamphlet, the "Suppression of Savage Customs" is a work of golden achievement that typifies European values. This makes Kurtz's degradation all the more inexplicable. That society is flawed, or at least the individual contained therein, is the only real solution to this contradictory dilemma. (Lackey) Kurtz also embodied the idea of racism. He -- like those who had sent him on the civilizing mission in the first place -- did not believe that the natives were in any way civilized, nor did he believe that the natives could become civilized on their own, if at all. In his report to his superiors, he scrawled across the bottom, 'Exterminate all the brutes!' He did not see the Africans as human beings, but merely as animals.

Instead of civilizing them, which he obviously had decided would be foolish, he felt it would be easier to simply kill all of the natives. In these beliefs, one can see the darkness that came from the civilizing mission. The idea behind the civilizing mission could have been a good one, if it had been to the benefit of the natives, rather than the Europeans. Unfortunately, the Europeans believed that the Africans were mere savages.

What the Europeans did not see, and what Marlow eventually realized, was that the true savagery lay within the people who were taking control over the land of Africa. The darkness was within Kurtz (and people like him), and that darkness was brought to light in the minds of people like Marlow who saw the savagery in their ways. Marlow's enlightenment was best shown in a speech he made about first entering the deeper part of Africa. He said, 'I seemed at one bound to have been transported into some lightless region of subtle horrors, where pure, uncomplicated savagery was a positive relief, being something that had a right to exist - obviously - in the sunshine' (95). It was not until later that Marlow realized what his words had meant. It was not until later that Marlow became enlightened with the idea that the heart of darkness existed within the imperialistic hearts of those behind the civilizing mission.

Michael Lackey posits that the postscript to Kurtz's report ("Exterminate all the brutes!" ) is singularly bound to the report's headline ("Suppression of Savage Customs"): Marlow does not wholeheartedly support Kurtz. He is horrified by what he perceives as Kurtz's moments of madness. In essence, Marlow detects a conceptual gap in Kurtz's report. On my interpretation, however, there is no such gap. The report is so horrifying because it is logically and internally consistent.

Kurtz merely articulates in the postscript what the report logically implies. (Lackey) Therefore the colonialism and imperialist mode of thought is defective from the start. As Miller points out, this manner of hypocrisy remains today in "utopian promises made for the new global economy and the new regime of telecommunications, but injustice, inequality, poverty, and bloody ethnic conflicts continue all over the world" (134). Kurtz's idealism leaves him hollow to the core as its bloody end cancels out a philanthropic basis, leaving only a "heart of darkness" to fill in the vacuum. Kurtz is both the virtuous spirit of the Eurocentric world-view and "its dark shadow, a ghost that cannot be laid, the 'it' that is the inevitable accompaniment of imperialism... ".

(Miller 133 Just as the concept of "darkness" is meaningless without "light", order requires unruly acts to validate it and give meaning to the abstract. To simply reiterate the status quo, "the simple reaffirmation of rules and conventions that are already in place and remain in place", is as productive as stating "one equates to one" with no real insight gained (Miller 165). It seems necessary, then, for Western civilization to have a dark-side; however, Western civilization may not be necessary to begin with. Lackey states that morality, an integral part of society, "is inviolable; it is beyond reproach, beyond critique.

But that is precisely why it is so dangerous" (Lackey). In his interpretation of Heart of Darkness, Lackey reveals Conrad's atheist and amoral views. Conrad himself writes in one of his letters, "There is no morality, no knowledge and no hope; there is only the consciousness of ourselves... ". (qt d. in Lackey) In this light, the interaction of Kurtz with Marlow is not simply society coming to terms with its own complex nature, but the play of society, its moral and immoral values, against an amoral backdrop, which is the "heart of darkness". Kurtz's descent into madness, and Marlow's paralleled trip, is not the result of solely societal ills. It is society confronted with the "other", true "darkness".

Against such a curtain, the whole of European thought crumbles into an insignificant, appalling madness. Throughout the novella, Conrad repeatedly references this "other" via indirect means. The "unusual", the "savage" and the "heart of darkness" are all catachreses for something unknowable. Kurtz's own last words ("The horror! The horror!" ) are not merely conveying the grotesque insanity that has consumed him, leading him to what we deem as horrible acts. They are a last utterance before the truly terrifying, overwhelming quality of the unknown.

Marlow acknowledges this with: And it is not my own extremity I remember best-a vision of grey ness without form filled with physical pain, and a careless contempt for the evanescence of all things-even of this pain itself. No! It is his extremity that I seemed to have lived through. True, he had made that last stride, he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot. And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.

Perhaps! (149) That threshold of death is the "heart of darkness", past the moral judgments, cultural norms, the virtues and pitfalls of a society. "It" ("it" is just another word to displace meaning) dwarfs them, obliterates them, laying out their hypocrisy and worthlessness. As Miller writes, .".. by being measured against the "it", these Eurocentric views are radically criticized and shown as what they are, that is, as elements in a deadly and unjust ideology" (128). The ultimate factor in making ethical choices is ourselves, so it is up to us to take responsibly for our actions and decisions. Morals are what allow us to rationalize the bloodshed worldwide to secure our own wealth and our rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".

Justice demands a criminal to be put on trial, but who puts the law on trial? Heart of Darkness throws such a light upon us, enlightening out positions as conscious creatures. It is our duty to be able to make the right choices, and follow our morals, if we ever want a world free of bloodshed. We must follow the light, yet if we have no darkness we would never know what is right. Therefore, darkness is needed for us to follow the light.

Bibliography

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer. New York: New American Library, 1950.
Conrad, Joseph. "An Outpost of Progress". The Experience of Literature. Ed. Gene Montague. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970.
59-81. Lackey, Michael. "The moral conditions for genocide in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness". College Literature Wnt r 2005: Vol.
32 il p 20 (22). Detroit: Gale Research, Feb. 2005.
Infotrac. Gale Group. 15 Mar. 2005.
Miller, J. Hillis. Others. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.