The Symbolism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Often there is a continual battle between this light and dark in the battle, the darkness continually tries to overthrow the lightness of European civilization. Kurtz’s fiancé is still living in civilized England but the darkness of the Congo has reached her there: “She came forward, all in black, with a pale head, floating towards me in the dusk. She was in mourning,” (Conrad 69). The light and the dark are in battle in this quote. The “pale” represents the lightness in her. The Intended represents the light of European civilization with her pale complexion and generally positive view on imperialism. The black clothes she is in represents the darkness that Kurtz’s death has brought her. This shows that she feels that the emotion of mourning is a dark feeling, from one’s savage roots. The feeling of mourning is taking her over, she is being consumed and covered in its dark clothing. The savagery is taking root in her everyday life. To further add to this battle of light and dark the scene takes place at dusk, the meeting point of light and dark. At this intersection, the dark starts taking over and it becomes night. This time exemplifies the battle of the dark overtaking the light in the world. Like in Avatar this example from Heart of Darkness highlights the battles between the imperialists and the natives through the symbolism of light and

Heart of Darkness portrays the differences between the civilized Europeans and the “savages” of which they were tasked to bring into civilization. Marlow recounts a tale of his experiences as a captain of a river-steamboat for a Company that trades ivory. He retells the story of his predecessor, Fresleven, a Dane, characterized as being told of being “the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs.” Fresleven dies in a scuffle with the natives due to an argument regarding two black hens. This is the first image shown by Conrad that depicts the madness displayed by Europeans who venture into the “heart of darkness”.

They say that with knowledge comes power; so it’s safe to assume the inverse is also true: “with no knowledge comes vulnerability”. In the passage from the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses austere syntax, concrete details and strong diction to express his view that there is no real justification for the march of civilization, when in reality it is a matter of selfishness and brutality.

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the natives of Africa – the Blacks – were represented in such a way that they seemed to have close to little or no value compared to the Whites. The constant use of animal imagery in the novel is both a comparison and a symbol that has been used in order to dehumanize any character that was not White. As such, it can be said that the novel seeks to represent the Blacks of Africa as lowlife beings, prehistoric barbarians and savage creatures that have no rights to say anything for themselves. However, Conrad also shows a flipside to the typical ideology of Whites being superior to Blacks by representing the Blacks as a strong and restrained group of people, confined only due to helplessness.

Ignorance of another's personal values or situation results in an impassable schism between the two parties. People fail to understand each other, and as such, they regard each other in lower lights. In “Heart of Darkness”, Joseph Conrad, through Marlow, writes his novella through a lense of ignorance and the perspective of the typical white person of the time in order to relate his story to the reader. Marlow and the accountant are contrasted with Kurtz to display the effects of evil on an individual.

In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad shows human nature’s tendency toward callousness through the use of greed, imperialism, and darkness. Throughout the book the topics of greed, imperialism, and heartlessness give examples of the flaw that humans cannot fix. Humans tend to help others when there is a benefit for them to gain. This greed drives humans to overlook the unthinkable in order to satisfy their lust for power and money. The attempted help of the Englishmen becomes the disease that slowly starts to cripple the host to gain the power they desire. Conrad utilizes ideas of greed, imperialism, and the symbolism of darkness to show that humans are inherently selfish.

From the beginning of life on Earth, social status has determined one’s quality of life. Early life on this planet were obsessed with social status as many are today. There are natural instincts in animals to try to be dominant so they may thrive over others. The animals that do end up proving their dominance over others are more likely to reproduce and have offspring compared to others. Over time, social status has slowly evolved and what makes one person dominant varies by culture and the specific time period.

Hunt Hawkins presents the controversy that Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, encounters, as its contents portray Africans as dehumanizing, savage, and uncivilized beings. In order to provide a sufficient amount of information with regards to the controversy, Hawkins introduces the analysis of distinct scholars to describe racism, imperialism, and human nature. As a result, an analysis of the characters are provided to the audience and allow an individual to understand why Conrad decided to write Heart of Darkness the way he did. Thus, during this process, Hawkins describes the manifestation of the darkness that eventually consumes Kurtz.

The use of various literary devices in Joseph Conrad’s novel helps to bring his story to life, which ultimately is to his advantage. Conrad brings the reader into the darkness, displayed the corruptibility of humankind and left them pondering the absurdity of evil and imperialism. One of the strongest literary devices that Conrad uses to engage the reader in his novella is the use of imagery. However other important literary devices that are used throughout the novel as well as in the extract above is: similes, metaphors, personification, foreshadowing, and symbolism and narrative techniques.

Into the Darkness: How and why is a social group presented in a particular way?

The Wasteland, written by T.S Eliot, was shortly written after Eliot read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Both authors uses symbols in their texts to create a connection to life, death, fear, and self-reflection. Conrad and Eliot both use the symbolism of water in their texts to create the meaning of life and death.

To be bluntly honest, after having gotten to page 8 without having understood a word of the text, I was very frustrated. Not only did Heart of Darkness have an old-fashioned English style of writing but the first few pages were completely filled with references, symbols, metaphors and vivid imagery. I found myself either looking up each metaphor to understand it better or rereading each imagery because of its vividness. Thankfully, as the book progressed and Marlow’s story began, the plot became clearer and the story started to carry on more smoothly.

Often in literature, the physical journey the main character takes represents their psychological growth. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Marlow’s journey into the heart of the Congo represents his progression into the darkest parts of his mind. As he travels deeper into the foreign terrain, he begins to question the world around him and himself.

In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the imperialism of Africa is described. Conrad tells the story of the cruel treatment of the natives and of the imperialism of the Congo region through the perspective through the main character, Marlow. Through the lens of New Criticism, it is evident that Conrad incorporates numerous literary devices in Heart of Darkness, including similes, imagery, personification, and antitheses to describe and exemplify the main idea of cruel imperialism in Africa discussed throughout the novella.

‘Heart of Darkness’ was written in 1899 by a Polish novelist Joseph Conrad, about the expedition up the Congo River in the Heart of Africa. This essay will mainly deal with the reference of the ‘darkness’ in the novel and it even deals with the theme which will further support the statement.