Theme Of Ignorance In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Heart of Darkness follows around Marlow and his journey to the African Jungle in search of Mr. Kurtz to bring him back to England. Marlow eventually finds Mr. Kurtz and witnesses the how he exploits them due to the fact that they worship him; Mr. Kurtz dies on the trip back. Conrad’s language throughout the novel is extremely descriptive of the natural landscape of the new land he is traveling around and within the description of the new land, he is witnessing he also describes the people that live there. Conrad’s descriptions of the Africans has become one of the most discussed conversations surrounding his 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.

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. As Marlow begins his journey into the heart of Africa, he holds onto his idealistic belief in imperialism.

Partway through the first chapter, Marlow and the captain are having a discussion on the boat where Marlow exclaims “The other day I took up a man who hanged himself on the road. He was a Swede, too.” (Conrad 17) and the captain replies ‘“Hanged himself! Why, in God’s name?’ I cried.

In life, people tend to turn a blind eye to or find it challenging to come to terms with their inner corruption, depravity, and despair. In Joseph Conrad’s profound novella Heart of Darkness, however, humanity’s darker side is addressed in a way that is impossible to ignore. Conrad’s meticulous utilization of diction and symbols captivates and enthralls the reader while also heavily contributing to the overall success and meaning of the novella. In his passage, Conrad, instead of adhering to the traditional notions of purity and evil associated with the symbols of light and dark, intentionally subverts and intermingles them to reveal underlying themes concerning the immorality inherent in human nature and the unbelievably horrific tragedies

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.

He's horror struck at the current situation in which this civilization is taking place in, and how the company is in a terrible state of despair. Next he's put through a series of challenges and is tested by enemies/allies various times, this is referred to as the road of trials. Upon arriving at the central station, Marlow is yet again disappointed to find out that the steamer has sunk, once he has it fixed he makes his way to Kurtz, however it almost seems impossible to get to Kurtz with the endless amount of encounters and problems slowing him

A single story can be dangerous for the simple fact that we miss the whole story. The one-sided view on life can lead to stereotypes and judgement of others. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is an example of this single story. This Polish-British writer is claimed to be a great author, with Heart of Darkness being his most popular work. In this novel he speaks through his main character Marlow about white settlers colonizing Africa, harming, exploiting and, portraying the natives in many inhumane ways. Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian author, found this work particularly racist and wrote a response to it, “An Image of Africa”. Through Achebe’s work, we realize Heart of Darkness contained a single story leaving naive readers with a single image of African natives.

Here, the description of Marlow towards the Europe attitudes when they enslaved the natives brutally displays that the situation was totally terrible. Marlow also illustrated the African situation at that time was a hard life and it indicates that Marlow was sympathy towards

In fact, the aboriginals were dehumanized to the status of savages, brutes, and objects. For instance, Marlow deemed his boat’s helmsman a machine and Kurtz’s African mistress a mere statute. The apparent superiority of Western civilization is further evidenced as Marlow journeys to the inner station: “what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly.” Despite having not personally witnessed the natives, Marlow consciously classifies the aboriginals as primitive.

Conrad shows how Marlow shifts from seeing women as useless, “out of touch,” underlings, to amazing, pristine, ethereal creatures. This is evident in the way Marlow describes the wild woman he sees while visiting Kurtz in the Congo, observing how, "She walked with measured steps, draped in striped and fringed cloths, treading the earth proudly, with a slight jingle and flash of barbarous ornaments. She carried her head high; her hair was done in the shape of a helmet; she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire gauntlets to the elbow, a crimson spot on her tawny cheek, innumerable necklaces of glass beads on her neck; bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch-men, that hung about her, glittered and trembled at every step," (Conrad. 55-56). This description is much kinder, much more respectful, than the way he described women at the start of the story. This change reflects Marlow’s own mental change, the transformation which he underwent during his journey.

When he encounters the people and places, he describes them so detailed, it is a joy for one to read. Especially the parts where they are moving on on the river before the hullabaloo prior to arrival in Kurtz’s station. The passage that starts with “Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world…” (41) describes the place so profoundly, readers can almost see and feel it once they shut their eyes. The “silence” and the “warm, thick, heavy, sluggish” air is enough to make one feel uncomfortable while the “reaches opened before us and closed behind” description for the river that is surrounded by an immense crowd of trees definitely makes it possible for one to feel the exact feeling Marlow tries to describe by saying “It made you feel very small, very lost, and yet it was not altogether depressing that feeling.” (43).

This internal conflict with the uncanny, the need to hear Kurtz’s voice and the repulsion at the fact that his journey was meant for only that, stem from Marlow’s cognitive switch to dissociate himself with the dead helmsman at his feet. This small flicker of an uncanny encounter finishes with the tossing of his shoes into the river, and serves as a crucial moment of character development within

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

The main character, Marlow, in Joseph Conrad’s 1910 novel The Heart of Darkness begins his journey into Africa skeptical of what might occur, but naive to the true horrors that were in stake for the young man. Marlow’s detailed descriptions of the sights and torturous actions towards the natives he witnesses along his journey lead to many literary critics to deem Conrad a racist. One author notorious for calling Joseph Conrad out on his racist remarks is Chinua Achebe who gained fame from his article “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”. Achebe’s article professes that almost everything within Conrad’s novel is an act of pure racism. This, however, is not the case, as Conrad was just telling the truth of what occurred within Africa during the time of European colonization. Hugh Curtler refutes Achebe’s statements in his literary criticism “Political Correctness and the Attack on Great Literature”. This article takes a practical viewpoint about the book and stresses the point that Conrad was trying to explain the events that occurred during his time in Africa in a style of writing for the people at the time. Literary critics like Achebe label Conrad as complete racist, however, he is, in fact, the complete opposite as he utilizes this story as a way to paint a picture of the cruel actions that occurred at the time.