Heart Of Darkness

Analysis of Novel

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad tells the tale of numerous lives influenced by the desire of power, and the lust of wealth. Marlow is a sailor who ends up far away from home, away from the restrictions society places on an individual. Marlow’s journey takes him through the jungle, in which the only thing controlling your every move is your own restraints. Without control and governing rules Marlow finds that madness prevails at the core of society, in both the heart of the jungle and the civilized European cities. Through Marlow’s discovery of madness in humanity he progressively becomes more deranged by the ominous being of Kurtz, Marlow’s newfound understanding of social status, Kurtz’s madness, and his new outlook on society.

Kurtz’s haunting character is Marlow’s motivation to reach the inner station, and his work is his distraction. Marlow’s trip down the Congo river to the inner station is filled with numerous obscure encounters with nature and man. The closer Marlow gets to the inner station, or in other words the heart of darkness, the more frequent he hears paw- strokes and calls from the wild. The closer to the heart of darkness, the madder you become.

Marlow overhears conversations and stories of Kurtz, and how this all powerful man is seen as a god among the natives. Kurtz’s only desire is to obtain as much ivory as he can, and he does not care at what cost it takes for this to happen. Marlow progressively becomes more paranoid the farther from civilization he gets.

Marlow’s journey down the river entails many oddities, one of which, is the groups of “savages” he encounters. Marlow discovers just how closely related he and the savages are. During this time period very few European men had respect for savages, but Marlow comes to realize that he even has respect for these savages as humans. Kurtz’s lust for wealth and power is portrayed as the darkness fully engrossing his sense of what is morally acceptable.

Kurtz’s desires take over his every being, and his need for ivory his internal drive. This can be judged reasonably because Kurtz discovered who he really was apart from everyone else, even though he turned into a raging lunatic. Kurtz could identify who he was compared to the rest of society, which is more than most people can say for themselves. Could this really be considered so mad?

Kurtz is his own judge of character, or in other words his own discerning eye. Kurtz’s last words: “the horror! the horror!” can be seen as his last judgement of humankind, and how poorly as a society we have evolved. Kutz’s apparent madenning behavior can be considered normal compared to the rest of humankind’s behavior because Kurtz sees society for what it truly is. Maybe Kurtz is sane and the rest of society is insane. The European’s are clueless as to how much more “savage” they are compared to the natives of Africa. The white men are far more lost and clueless of life than the savages who dance around a campfire and scavenge for food. Marlow and Kurtz have always lived in a mad and irrational world, they just lacked the discerning eye to see past the veil that covers it.

Upon Marlow’s return to Europe he has a new outlook on society. Back in the society of frauds, Marlow does not upset the natural order of life. Marlow chooses not to waste his time and try to explain how Europe’s society is mad compared to the savages, and not the other way around. Conrad had a discerning eye, and that is why he was able to write this novel without being biased towards one civilization. Conrad chose Marlow as the narrator with the hope that by the end of the novel its readers would also see society with a discerning eye.

An Analysis of Racism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has been studied for years, and is considered a stupendous piece of literature, that should continue to be read and analyzed. In Chinua Achebe’s criticism titled, “An Image in Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” he argues Conrad’s novella should no longer be taught because of it’s racist atmosphere, but Conrad’s ambiguous narrative structure and distinctive writing techniques used in Heart of Darkness only acknowledges racial distinctions to expose the ferocity of colonialism that was going on at the time, and should not only be read, but also closely studied, as it brings attention to political concerns that were being ignored by the English citizens and politicians back then. While Achebe, and many others, interpret Conrad’s writing as “racist”, it is rather just an attempt to sympathize with those who were being oppressed by both imperialism and colonialism, just as he had gone through a similar case with his home country, Poland.

In Achebe’s criticism, he misinterprets Conrad’s purpose of the novella, and states that it should not be considered a great work because it is “a novel which celebrates dehumanization, which depersonalizes a portion of the human race.” But, Achebe fails to differentiate Marlow and Conrad’s views, which results in a misunderstanding of the overall story. Rather than only portraying the African people in a bad light, Conrad puts everyone, no matter their race in a bad connotation.

Conrad begins his novella by describing the characters by their jobs, rather than their names to show how the Europeans were so consumed by their work, and thus emphasizes the hollowness of the European civilization. positive view of Africa, comparing Europe to Africa, the place where man originates from. With the late helmsman Marlow almost feels a connection to him, had formed a kind of bond with him, and a connection to Africa. Conrad starts off the novella by explaining Africans in a bad context, but as the novel goes on, he realizes their humanity.

The matter is more personal to Achebe, and he hates Conrad, so he blows the racism in Heart of Darkness out of proportion. Achebe sees Africa as the Heart of Darkness, but Europeans greed and how they treat Africans can also be considered a heart of darkness. Europeans seem to be able to go to Africa and do whatever they want without any consequence, so the europeans are representing the darkness, not the Africans.

The Symbol of Women in The Heart of Darkness

In the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, women symbolize “pretty illusions” and the European civilization’s capability to hide its bigotry and racism behind “pretty” ideals. In many areas in the book, women are described to be “out of touch” with the truth, and oblivious to the horrific events happening around them. This depiction of women is meant to portray them as lesser than men, and only as followers to the nefarious ideas of the West. They are also seen as devotees that elapse the beliefs of the white colonists, illustrating them as stupid and naive. Throughout history, women have been depicted as such, and Conrad’s novel is no exception.

Joseph Conrad became a citizen in the late nineteenth century— and introduced the public to new perspectives regarding the autonomy of women and the gender roles assigned to them. Due to the presence of these perspectives—and the difficulty in ignoring them due to their controversy—Conrad’s text can ultimately be found sexist due to its portrayal of women as non-complex figures for the male gaze despite the author’s likely introduction to the contrary.

This lack of individuality displayed in the novel represents how women weren’t viewed as singular people, but always paired with a man, or an inanimate object; However, Conrad never hesitates to describe their physical appearance, which is evidently more important than their current personality or name. “she was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent,” (Conrad 56). This shows the reader how he mentions how magnificent she is, but also throws in the fact that she is ‘savage’. The use of this word gives an understanding as to how Marlow describes the women as beautiful, however, since she is African, he still sees her as an animal because of her race.

Overall, this connects with the theme of women being used as shields to hide the barbaric ideas of the West, because it displays how Marlow describes their appearance, but fails to mention anything about their personality; Thus, women are seen and used in the novel only for their beauty, painting them as the ‘pretty illusions’. This is exemplified because Conrad also gives names to inanimate objects used by men and the colonists, but leaves out the names of actual people, while still pointing out how beautiful they are. Implying that their beauty is their ‘only use’ in the novel, and something that isn’t even human has more worth than them.

In summary, the women in Heart of Darkness are used as “pretty illusions” for the colonists to hide their hypocrisy and racism behind “pretty ideas”. This is illustrated by the fact that Conrad gives women little to no narrative in the book, how Marlow only sees females for their beauty, and how they’re depicted as naive conformists. The minimal narratives given to female characters combined with the superficial view of women display how, in conclusion, Conrad’s novel exemplifies how women keep a pretty picture of the hypocrisy and corruption of the European colonists.

Conclusion

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad tells the story of the white man’s need for power. Through Marlow’s discovery of madness in humanity he progressively becomes more deranged by the ominous being of Kurtz, Marlow’s newfound understanding of social status, Kurtz’s madness, and his new outlook on society. Throughout Conrad’s novel Marlow learns that not everyone can see through a discerning eye, and it takes a special individual to see the world in this way.

Before Marlow and Kurtz traveled to the Congo, they lived in a mad world, they just couldn’t see it because they lacked a discerning eye. The question posed at the end of the novel is left to the reader to decide whether or not someone with a discerning should try and pass it to the rest of us. If you could see humankind through a discerning eye, would you try and teach others?