Heart Of Darkness By Conrad (1063 words)
Heart Of Darkness By Conrad
Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a wide range of
references to problems of politics, morality and social order. It was written in
a period when European exploitation of Africa was at a gruesome height. Conrad
uses double oblique narration. A flame narrator reports the story as told by
Marlow, assigned to the command of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an
exploring expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an important trading post of
ivory, located in the interior of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the
reality through their work in Africa. Marlow felt great indignation with people
in the sepulchral city after his journey to the Congo region because he
discovered, through his work, the reality of the universe, such as the great
virtue of efficiency, the darkness in society and individuals and the surface
reality. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said gThe
horror, The horror referring to his life in inner Africa, which caused him
disintegration. Marlow emphasized the virtue of gefficiencyh
throughout the story because he thought of it as the only way to survive in the
wilderness. After seeing the dying natives in the forest of the outer station,
Marlow described them as ginefficient.h Under gthe devotion
to efficiency,h incompetent people were excluded from society. Only
efficient people can survive. For example, since Kurtz was the most efficient
agent, with regards to producing ivory, his employers respected his achievement
and regarded him as an essential person. However, once he fell into
disintegration, he was considered no more the than dying natives and thus was
treated as if he were dead. He was then buried in the darkness. The symbol of
inefficiency was the color green. Marlow illustrated a picture of dying natives,
when he said, g[They were] black shadows of disease and starvation lying
confusedly in the greenish gloomh(20). Another example of inefficiency is
shown in the description of the body of Marlowfs predecessor as gThe
grass growing through his ribs was tall enough to hide his bonesh(13).
Marlow realized the real darkness did not existed in Africa but in Europe, and
not in Africans but in Europeans who engaged in colonial exploitation, including
Kurtz. Due to the nativesf physical features and customs like
cannibalism, Marlow defined Africans as the darkness. On the other hand, he
considered Europeans as the light because of his illusions of civilization.
After witnessing the evil practices of the colonizers in the Congo, Marlow
discovered the moral darkness in whites. European invaders in Africa dehumanized
natives under the name of enlightenment for the sake of profit. They practiced
no moral laws and inflicted callous and barbaric cruelty on indigenous people.
Marlowfs description of the Companyfs offices in Paris revealed
his discovery: A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses,
innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting
between the stones, imposing carriage archways right and left, immense double
doors standing ponderously ajarh(13). Moreover, the older woman at the
offices was like a gatekeeper of gDarkness.h These descriptions
indicated that the real darkness was in greedy whites, who were without moral
sense, thus dark-skinned natives were victims of darkness of whites. Through his
work in the Congo, Marlow found only gsurface truths,h which had
been adulterated and concealed by European culture, not core truths. The reason
why gthe meaning of episode [for him is] not inside like a kernel but
outsideh(9) was that Marlowfs viewpoint was trapped in these
surface truths. He could not touch the inside of the kernel because he did not
go deep enough. Furthermore, he just watched and judged things from the outside.
Marlow expressed, htruth stripped of its cloak of time c -the man
knows and can look on without a wink. But he must meet at least be as much as of
a man as these on the shore. He must meet that truth with his own true
stuff-with his own inborn strengthh(38). Not only did he have a fear of
natives, but also he refused to be like them. Since natives were, for Marlow,
savage and mean-spirited fellows, he would not debase himself. Marlow used work
as a pretext. Mowever, he acquired gsurface truthsh in the Congo
region by handling the steamboat in the gfiendish row.h On the
other hand, Kurts went to natives and found the heart of darkness in him, which
was the primal reality of a deeper region of his mind. Kurtz brought moral ideas
to the wilderness. He said early in his work, gEach station should
