Category: Heart Of Darkness

Ben Martin Research Essay Heart of Darkness(1899) 12 April 2019 In-text references; Conrad, J. (2007). Heart of Darkness. Penguin publication. The power of the written text lies in its ability to capture the things that make us human. Examine the extent to which Heart of Darkness has represented its context of the situation to this end. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) portrays an unsettling but vital aspect of human nature; our inherent darkness, which ultimately leads to our capacity for evil. The novel positions the reader to follow the narrator Charlie Marlow through the Congo, exploring the metaphysical meaning of the text and the characterization, symbolism and literacy devices of the European man to represent Heart of Darkness’ context of the situation.

While many of the geopolitical realities have changed since the novel was first published, what points remain salient are the exploration of humanity, predominantly the darker side of human nature; the arrogant belief in the superiority of one culture over another, imperialistic pleonexia and the capacity for evil that lies within the human heart. In the artistic rendering of its context of situation and reflection upon the darker attitudes of human nature, Heart of Darkness endures as a literary masterpiece. During the novel’s timeframe, ivory was extremely valuable and demand was high in Europe; giving rise to European pleonexia. “Under the rule of King Leopold II, Belgian traders, committed many horrifying crimes against native Africans,” in their aim to extract profit, regardless of the impact on the Congolese tribes and the elephants. Charlie Marlow’s boat ride to the Congo in Heart of Darkness has many similarities to the actual experience of Joseph Conrad who in “1889 [became] captain of a river seam-boat.”

Conrad, fuelled by his desire to see the newly colonized continent of Africa, set off on a “seventh-month stay” that would remain with him for the rest of his days, and as for the consequences; “the effects of Leopold’s rule in the Congo almost certainly left him with deeper scars.” This very trip of Conrad’s would later inspire one of his best-known works, Heart of Darkness, however, the real damage was far more psychological. Throughout his journey, Conrad witnessed many horrifying crimes against the Congolese and the elephants by ivory-induced pleonexia. The evil and greed that was shown toward the Congolese people and elephants, challenged his thoughts about human nature. Conrad has then used Heart of Darkness as a vehicle to turn a skeptical eye onto the concept of European colonialism and their justification for their immoral treatment in the name of profit. The book’s title, then, becomes a symbol of a journey into man’s dark soul. Conrad reflects upon human morality and capacity for evil through his use of symbolism throughout the novel, namely; the inhumane treatment of the ‘other’ e.g.

Congolese and animals, and the representations of the European man. Marlow’s first taste of ‘man’s true self, began when he saw the six-man chain gang, “I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope, each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking.” Upon seeing this atrocious sight of the Congolese being treated cruelly and harshly, Marlow compares the white men, who are leading these chained-up Congolese, to devils; “I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men—men, I tell you.” Conrad utilizes this strong biblical analogy, depicting man to be the ‘devil’ voided of any morality, empathy or compassion. Marlow is eager to leave, climbs a hill, “finally I descended the hill, obliquely, towards the trees I had seen,” this is later referenced to as the ‘grove of death.’ To Marlow’s discovery, there are men there dying; “Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth… “They were dying slowly—it was very clear… nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation.”

The grove of trees is symbolic of the cruelty of man, as what human with any sort of compassion or empathy could treat their fellow human like this? The grove of trees alludes to the cruelty of man, this place of suffering at human hands emphasizing the stark lack of compassion and empathy in the actions of the ‘devils’, those that act in cruelty to their fellow men and show the darkness of their hearts. Marlow brings the reader’s attention to one of the dying Congolese who had “tied a bit of white worsted round his neck.” The white worsted is a European fabric, symbolically and literally representing how Europeans have created a death-like control over the natives and represent the choke hold that the Europeans have over the natives of Africa. Furthermore, Marlow also comments on man’s cruelty as he talks about the trance-like state of the men at the central station obsessing over ivory; “a taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life.” The corpse that Marlow describes can be viewed both literally and figuratively. Literally, he is talking about man’s cruelty towards both elephants and the Congolese, resulting in their deaths all in the name of mans pursuit of ivory. Figuratively, he is talking about how the entire colonization enterprise is rotten and full of deceit. Conrad has used symbolism in a number of ways to represent Heart of Darkness’ context of a situation and more specifically, the human capability for evil. This has been shown through the cruel, inhumane treatment of the natives and elephants, biblical reference of man being referred to the devil and symbolic connotations of the white man strangling the natives with western ways and colonization and the lack of care that man has for the Congolese and the Elephants.

Conrad reflects upon the arrogant belief of mans self-superiority through his use of symbolism throughout the novel, namely; the inhumane treatment of the Congolese treating them as working animals due to their lack of superiority in weaponry and primal culture. White men for most of history held little regard for people of different cultures and religions, due mainly to their arrogant belief in their own superiority over every other race and culture, hence, they would dehumanize them, treating them with little human dignity and cruelty; “A quarrelsome band of footsore sulky niggers trod on the heels of the donkey…Long afterward the news came that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.” This quote further illustrates the arrogant belief of the white man’s superiority; in their eyes, the Congolese, who they refer in the contemptuous and offensive term “nigger”, are less valuable then the animals that work with them, suggested by them not caring about the fate of the “less valuable animals.” Furthermore, criticises the arrogant belief of white man’s superiority who viewed the natives as animals compared to the noble and righteous white man. As the boat moves deeper into the ‘heart of darkness, Marlow and his crew are literally moving back to a time when man was primitive; “The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us—who could tell?” European colonialists often associated native people with primitive human history, allowing for an arrogant superiority as many of these natives had primitive weapons and therefore severely inferior to the white man’s weapons and technology; “I [Marlow] stood in the doorway, peering, and the arrows came in swarms. They might have been poisoned, but they looked as though they wouldn’t kill a cat.”

Conrad uses a simile added with a sardonic tone to suggest that through the arrogant belief of superiority the violence of the Congolese wasn’t seen as any real threat. This refusal to view the Congolese as a threat makes it easier for the Europeans to oppress and exploit them, as they know they have all the power. Allowing for the representation of Heart of Darkness’ context of the situation to reflect the arrogant belief of self-superiority over another culture in regards to their dehumanizing and cruel treatment of the natives as less valuable then working animals due to their primitive way of life and weaponry representing this idea to a huge extent. Conrad reflects upon one of the darker parts of human nature, human pleonexia, elucidating mans evil actions; “Pleonexia is a Greek word often translated as greed, but better understood as the insatiable desire to acquire, accumulate and obtain more of anything, whether money, property or power. It is the imbalanced state of never being satisfied.” Conrad does this through his uses of characterization, metaphors and symbolism in mans false justification for colonization, the view of ivory and the madness and insanity that is the consequence of falling under its spell.

Despite claims that colonialism was an effort to “help” the native people, it has generally been understood as a capitalist venture. Marlow’s partner establishes the capitalist notion of mans pleonexia nature in seizing the opportunity to make money against those who are oppressed by exploiting them; “I couldn’t help asking him once what he meant by coming here at all. ‘To make money, of course. What do you think?’ he said, scornfully.” The man’s statement shows how removed he is from the human lives at stake in this business and only in the Congo for financial reasons—helping ‘civilize’ the native people is truly only a facade used only as a justification for colonization. Furthermore, expose the foundation of pleonexia within man. As Kurtz was approaching his death the madness of his pleonexia is reflected in his words, “’ My ivory.’ Oh, yes, I heard him. ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—’ everything belonged to him.” Conrad is using Kurtz as a metaphor for European colonists; mainly reflecting their pleonexia. In this passage, the repetition of the word “my” bring a degree of insanity to Kurtz’s words, as if Kurtz was trying to frantically gather all his belongings in his arms at once, exposing the foundation of pleonexia within Kurtz, as to him and his unchecked greed all he cares about is his material wealth, his power and his ivory.

The Ivory trade is the sole reason for European colonization of the Congo, it can also been seen as a representation of the white man’s greed. Ivory becomes a symbol for the evil that drips from the darkness of man’s heart. “The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it.” This quote offers Marlow’s own impression of the people at the central station, the word “ivory” has taken on a greater meaning of symbolism to the men, to them it was far more than just the tusk of an elephant, it represents wealth and economic freedom. This reverie has allowed the men to loss all connection to reality and, fuelled only by their greed, end up treating this material object as a God. Conrad, therefore, represents Heart of Darkness’ context of the situation to reflect man’s imperialistic pleonexia in their false claims that colonization was an effort to help and civilize the natives where it was really just seen as a capitalist venture to make easy money and how pleonexia breeds madness and insanity amongst those who fall under its spell. Conrad has represented Heart of Darkness’ context of the situation to reflect the things that make us human, predominately the darker side of human nature; man’s arrogant belief in self-superiority (fuelled in their dehumanizing and cruel treatment of the natives as less valuable then working animals due to their primitive way of life and weaponry), man’s imperialistic pleonexia in their false claims that colonization was an effort to help and civilize the natives where it was just seen as a capitalist venture and its subsequent breeding of madness and insanity amongst those who fall under its spell, and man’s capacity for evil in their cruel inhumane treatment of the natives, causing white men to be referred to as the devil and the symbolic connotations of a white man strangling the natives with western ways and the general lack of care that the men have for the Congolese and the elephants. All of this allows Conrad to represent Heart of Darkness’ context of the situation, moral ambiguity, and ultimately the darker side of human nature.

Word Count

1. 2,044 References Conrad, J. (2007). Heart of Darkness. Penguin publication.
2. Knowles, O., & Hampson, R. (2011). Penguin Classics Introduction to Heart of Darkness; The Congo Diary by Joseph Conrad (p. Excerpt).
3. Cambridge [England]: Proquest LLC. Goonetilleke. (1999). Heart of Darkness – Ed. Goonetilleke – Second Edition (2nd ed., p. Conrads Congo diary).
4. MANSELL, D. (1991). Trying to Bring Literature Back Alive: The Ivory in Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness. Wayne State University Press. Literature Article – Context of the Congo and Joseph Conrad. Conrad, Joseph. (undated). Retrieved from https://online.infobase.com/HRC/Search/Details/12?articleId=1547&q=joseph%20conrad
5. Lowe, W. (1980). EVIL AND THE UNCONSCIOUS: A Freudian Exploration. Dimensions Of Self, 63(1), 1-29. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41178139?read-now=1&seq=15#page_scan_tab_contents
6. The White Man’s Burden. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Man%27s_Burden Pleonexia and Psychopathy. Retrieved from http://www.tecumsehproject.org/pleonexia-and-psychopathy.html
7. Science, L. In Monkey Brain, Seeing Human Parallels. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/37310-human-monkey-brain-parallels.html
8. The definition of humane. Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/humane
9. Joseph Conrad. (2014). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/joseph-conrad-9255343
10. Symbolism Grove of death, from Heart of Darkness. (2011). Retrieved from https://chrise01.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/symbolism-from-heart-of-darkness/
11. The Holocaust. (last updated: 2019). Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust

The novel Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, is centered around a skilled sailor named Marlow and his journey up the Congo River. Marlow was fascinated by the “darkness on the map,” and had a desire to explore. In his novel, Conrad represents time and history by using Marlow’s journey to Africa to expose the reader to a time and place where colonialism and racism exist.

The time period in which the book was written in, colonialism was relevant. In the late 1800s, Europe was being colonized. Europeans wanted to set up connections in other countries, such as Africa. An article written by Ehiedu Iweriebor states that, “Between the 1870s and 1900, Africa faced European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressure, military invasion, and eventually conquest and colonization.” In the novel, the reason for the colonization of Africa was due to the ivory trade. Colonialism can be defined in the dictionary as, “The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.” That is just what the white men did. They came to the foreign lands of Africa and made it their home. They set up their own way of government that they expected the natives to follow. They were going to do things their way, and if the natives did not follow their rules and expectations, they were punished. They exploited the ivory trade and destroyed the land in the process. They gave very little, if anything back to the men. All they saw was the profit that the land and it’s resources could bring them. This illustrates the greediness of the Europeans. One of the main characters Kurtz, claimed that his intentions were to colonize the region. However, later on it becomes clear that his main motive was to get control of the ivory trade. He made a lot of people think he was successful and important, when in reality, wasn’t doing his job justly. By the end of the novel we see that Kurtz was actually a failure and he too realizes it on his deathbed while reflecting on the terrible deeds he had done before mouthing his final words, “The horror. The horror” (part 3 page 11). This can be interpreted as a reflection of how Conrad feels towards the way colonization happened: recklessly and selfishly. The world we live in today is still full of greed and still revolves around exploiting other countries resources for money. But, maybe that is all we’ve come to know since that is how colonization originally started.

In addition to colonialism, time is an important theme within the novel. The river that Marlow is traveling on can be seen as a symbol of the flow of time. Marlow often is talking about what is currently happening in front of him, but describing a civilization of the past. He travels up and down the river, which goes hand in hand with the way he tells his stories in both the past and present. The journey up the river is long and drawn out, which allows suspicion to build the more we learn about Kurtz. Originally, Marlow hears all these wonderful things about Kurtz from other people. He believes that he is the best at his job, and he’s an extremely important man. One person even goes as far as describing Kurtz as a prodigy. Along the way though, he continues to hear bits and pieces of things that makes him unsure about Kurtz such as that he threated to kill the Russian man over ivory that he wanted. The Russian man also said he believes Kurtz might have gone crazy and actually turned into a “savage” himself among other alarming things, all of which makes Marlow grow weary. Marlow encounters lots of issues along the way which causes many different delays in his trip from the delays at the station, to his boat sinking, to his need to repair the boat, the fog that delays his trip further, and so on. He grows impatient which is evident when he says things like, ‘Oh, these months!’ (1.55) and ‘I had to wait in the station for ten days – an eternity.’ (1.45). The reader too becomes impatient as the suspense of the corrupt Kurtz unfolds. Conrad’s use of the delays along the river is intended to build upon the story and create suspense as to what kind of character Kurtz really is, but also to help keep the linear flow of time.

The final important piece of the novel is the way Conrad depicts race. The African people were treated horribly during this period of colonization. The white men referred to them as “primitive savages” (find quote saying this). They were referred to as “criminals,” but they were really treated as slaves who were used to do the heavy, harder labor for the ivory trade company that the white men didn’t want to do (get example of this). They were chained up, starving, overworked and not cared for. Once they were too sick to work, they would be left to die. Marlow describes a time in which he sees the naives and says, “They were dying slowly. It was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now–nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom” (Chapter 1 page 40?). Although Marlow does believe he is superior, he did eventually see the natives as human beings unlike any of the other men. This is a statement about how society was during the colonial times. The whitemen were driven on making a profit and used whatever resources they needed to get it, even if that meant treating the natives like animals. They came, they took over their land, and they took what was valuable. Conrad comments on the dishonest work that the men were doing simply to make money, but justifying what they were doing by saying they were there to colonize the natives when he writes, “It was as unreal as everything else – as the philanthropic pretence of the whole concern, as their talk, as their government, as their show of work. The only real feeling was a desire to get appointed to a trading-post where ivory was to be had, so that they could earn percentages” (chapter 1 page 56?). Thankfully racism in our country has come a long way, but the greed for money and power still remains.

Marlow’s fascination with darkness is symbolic to the time period in the book. The colonial times were in fact a very dark time for people. An article titled Religion and the Founding of the American Republic gives a brief description of early colonial life and states the reason that early settlers left Europe was to escape poverty, persecution, and gain religious freedom. For African American’s, their lives were even more dark. They were slaves and treated as property as seen in the novel. The further into Marlow’s journey he got, the more darkness he saw in regards to Kurtz and his greed, and the power hungriness of his men. In an article written by Nadine Murray a student a NYU, she sums up the main issue of the book by saying, “Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it as is evidenced by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African population.” Conrad uses the notion of darkness to not only comment on the history, but also to comment on the evil of man. We have come a long way as a society, but those are still our roots.

Works Cited

1. “Colonialism.”Dictionary.com,Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ colonialism?s=t.
2. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. B & H BOOKS, 2020.
3. Iweriebor, Ehiedu. “The Colonization of Africa.” Africana Age, http:// exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-colonization-of-africa.html.
4. John, et al. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic America as a Religious Refuge: The Seventeenth Century, Part 1. 4 June 1998, https://www.loc.gov/ exhibits/religion/rel01.html.
5. Murray, Nadine. Heart of Darkness. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/nature/conrad.htm.

How do Defoe and Conrad explore the consequences of British Colonialism in Robinson Crusoe and Heart of Darkness?

Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale, once wrote that Joseph Conrad had a “unique propensity for ambiguity”. Examining Heart of Darkness, it’s not difficult to understand why he might think so. Upon first glance, both main texts discussed in this essay appear to be dated and racist accounts of colonial expansion, rife with xenophobia and bigotry. However, looking closer, examining the narrative voices and the nuances of the writing, it becomes clear that the situation is not that simplistic. While there are certainly moments when the descriptions cross the line of modern acceptability (and rightly so), the overarching moral message of Heart of Darkness seems to be one of condemnation of “the evil of imperial exploitation”. Robinson Crusoe, a novel published almost two centuries earlier, still has its nuances, but seems more resolutely in favour of colonisation. The comparison of these two texts not only allows us to draw a line between satire and racism, but also understand the changing face of British colonialism, and the implications for those involved.

The first aspect I want to deal with is the use of literacy and language as a metaphor for the superiority of western culture. The inability of natives to employ the English language fluently acts as an indicator of savagery and cultural barbarism in both texts. This is conflated with ineptitude or primitivity, rather than being considered as a barrier of translation. This becomes immediately clear upon the introduction of Friday in Robinson Crusoe:

“In a little time I began to speak to him; and teach him to speak to me; and first, I let him know his name should be Friday, which was the day I saved his life; I called him so for the memory of the time. I likewise taught him to say Master; and then let him know that was to be my name; I likewise taught him to say Yes and No and to know the meaning of them”.

Crusoe’s approach is clear: to gain dominance over Friday and to try and alter his identity. He specifically uses language as a weapon of colonisation, renaming Friday and teaching him the basics of the English language. “I let him know his name should be Friday” does not give Friday any choice in the matter, it is imperative and dictatorial. Crusoe later in the novel teaches his parrot to call him “Robin Crusoe” but insists that Friday calls him “Master”. In doing this he also immediately displays his prerogative of gentrification: his first interaction with Friday is one which serves to strip him of his identity and make him more westernised. This comes with the inherent implication that his indigenous identity was not suitable or proper.

The name Friday is, in itself, a commemoration of Crusoe’s bravery and heroism in rescuing him. Not only is this action self-gratifying but it also creates a dynamic of debt and servitude: Crusoe saved Friday’s life, and his name is a reminder of the obligation of repayment he has towards his “Master”. In conversing in English, Crusoe also has the power to decide what to teach Friday and what to exclude. To this end, it could be argued that Crusoe has complete control over Friday’s ability to self-express. We see him abuse this almost immediately: he teaches Friday the word “Master” before even “Yes” and “No”, clearly indicating the priorities in Crusoe’s mind. The rhetoric this creates is that a deficiency in English is conducive to savagery, and that spoken English is the only acceptable paradigm: a clearly xenophobic perspective. This is closely paralleled in Marlow’s treatment of the shipmen in Heart of Darkness. Upon realising their inability to converse in English, Marlow “made a speech in English with gestures, not one of which was lost to the sixty pairs of eyes before me”. He then goes further using the steam whistle so that that the crew will respond to him: “The retreat, I maintained—and I was right—was caused by the screeching of the steam whistle. Upon this they forgot Kurtz, and began to howl at me with indignant protests”. The gesticulating method of communication reinforces Conrad’s notions of the intellectual simplicity of the natives. Conrad then goes further, characterising the native language as inhuman and “like the responses of some satanic litany”.

Chinua Achebe makes valuable points in relation to this subject in his essay ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness”. He argues that the rare cases where the savages employ English rather than their usual “short, grunting phrases” is actually a way of furthering the homogenisation and perverse western conversion which is visible in Friday in Robinson Crusoe; that their innate desire to be “civilised” is strong enough to override their linguistic barriers. This being said, Marlow never uses language as a tool for oppression. While his descriptions may characterise the indigenous tongue as inferior or uncivilised, he makes no attempt to actively change the behaviours and mannerisms of the Congolese, in fact, he himself makes the effort to communicate with them through his “gestures”, rather than taking Crusoe’s route of an insistence on the English language. Marlow seems to have more respect and empathy than Crusoe, describing the language as “amazing words”, acknowledging the “remote kinship” and “humanity” of the savages. This distinction is an important one as it highlights the primary difference between the two protagonists: while Crusoe actively colonises his island, Marlow is more of a traveller in a colonised land. The role of the coloniser in Heart of Darkness is assumed by Kurtz: he is an ivory trader who came to the Congo in search of profit, whereas Marlow is a sailor on a rescue mission.

Things Fall Apart shows an interesting angle on linguistic differences. Written from the perspective of a native, as a response to Heart of Darkness, Achebe uses language creatively to bridge cultural differences. While both main texts refer to the African language simply through “[grunts]” or other nondescript terms, Achebe explores the Igbo language to the extent that English readers understand Igbo terms by the end of the novel. While it is predominantly written in English, it contains Igbo words such as “egwugwu” and “chi”, which, by context, we come to understand as meaning masks and spiritsoul. The clash of languages within the text itself not only serves as an analogy for the clash of cultures, but also frames the native languages in a different light. As western readers, understanding the nuances of African tribal dialects are not things we ordinarily preoccupy ourselves doing, this certainly being the case for both Marlow and Crusoe. Rather than being characterised by savagery or primitivity, Achebe frames the language in a way that is understandable and decipherable by a western audience. This strengthens our connection with Onkonkwo and the other tribespeople, but also helps to mend the lasting traces of xenophobia and bigotry which still exist in this context as a result of novels such as Heart of Darkness and Robinson Crusoe. Achebe works towards the same goal in other aspects of the novel: he presents figures like Marlow and Conrad from an indigenous perspective, allowing a judgement of moral action not previously possible. Achebe claims that Heart of Darkness “depersonalizes a portion of the human race”, and Things Fall Apart seems to be his attempt to undo this damage.

Another clear chasm in cultural discourse is in that of religious imagery and practices in the texts. Both Heart of Darkness and Robinson Crusoe are centred around characters on a near-pilgrimage (even if Crusoe’s is an unintentional one), and religious conversion in a pre-eminent theme, especially in Robinson Crusoe. Again, it is through the example of Friday that this is made clear: ““All things say O to him.” I asked him if the people who die in his country went away anywhere? He said, “Yes; they all went to Benamuckee””. Crusoe asks Friday about his religious beliefs, and upon Friday revealing his paganism, and his faith in “Benamuckee”, Crusoe immediately “[begins] to instruct him in the knowledge of the true God”. While there is the obvious point of religious subjugation, there is also the interest in the irony of this. Given the subjectivity of belief, and the true unknowability of God, Crusoe here is making an implication impossible to quantify: that one “God” can be “[truer]” than another. This is also reflective of western attitudes of superiority: not only is the western language and the way of life seen to be superior, but that western theistic entities are superior to those of other religions. This is particularly ironic given that in 1719 the reformation was still relatively recent, and there were numerous irregularities within Catholic and Protestant doctrine: The idea of one “true” God doesn’t even exist in European culture.

This religious narrative is one which is explored less in Heart of Darkness, but which still holds some significance. Rather than the Christian God being introduced to a faraway land, it seems that the landscape in the Congo is so dire that even divine forces cannot penetrate it. The phrase “God-forsaken wilderness” appears early on in the novel and has the clear intention of solidifying the Congo as a place of desolation and ruin right from the start. Conrad’s portrayal of Kurtz also makes this point implicitly: “for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man”. Kurtz is the microcosm of the effect of the Congo on western culture, and his loss of fear for God implies the godless nature of Africa. Instead, the landscape itself is given a theistic identity: “the other shoe went flying unto the devil-god of that river” and “He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land” both imply that the land is imbued with some malevolent force. This indicates not only that the Congo is “God-forsaken” but is actually characteristic of Lucifer.

An illusion happens in the mind and is the projected onto external data such as experiences or circumstances. Reality is what actually exists independent of the perceiver, it does not rely on the mind to alter it. Illusion and reality directly affect each other, an illusion could not be possible without reality. Likewise, Heart of Darkness is a book that was written by Joseph Conrad in 1899. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Conrad uses illusion to distort the reality of what is really going on in the Congo, the company’s main mission in the Congo, was to civilize the nation. In reality, the company went to the Congo to make money and to turn the natives into slaves. Back at home, the people of Belgium think the company is making money and doing well, although they are actually out of money and bringing terror to the people of the Congo. The novel itself destroys European illusions of Christianizing and civilizing the Congo by revealing the truth of the imperialist conquest.

The way Conrad uses double narrators to add to the illusion and mystery of the book. Marlow tells the story of his journey through the Congo from his point of view to an unknown crewman aboard the boat. This crewman turns out to be the mysterious unknown narrator who then tells Marlow’s story to the readers. The author does this to add to the distortion of reality. When Marlow’s story gets passed to the unknown narrator, he then gets to pick and choose what details to include or omit. This leaves the reality of what happens in the story up to him. “Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzenmast. He has sunken cheeks, a yellow complexions, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol. ….. We exchanged a few words lazily. Afterwards there was silence on board the yacht.” Although there is an external narrator in the story, the description of Marlow depicts his as peaceful, like a buddha statue. This suggests that Marlow will attempt to bring light to the situation in the Congo. He will be the most likely to be truthful about the mission.

The reality of a character named Kurtz reveals some truth in the story. During Marlow’s journey, he becomes infatuated with a character named Kurtz. Marlow spends his whole voyage attempting to find Kurtz and befriend him. Eventually Marlow discovers Kurtz, however Kurtz does not meet his expectations. “But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.” “Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again.” Kurtz has let the natives of the Congo influence him so much that he has gone mad. Kurtz has fully lost his sanity, and does not even have his own personality left.

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness reveals the illusion that many Europeans are under the influence that imperialism in the Congo meant the spread of Christianity. However, The following is a quote from Marlow’s Aunt where she basically tells Marlow to spread Christianity to the heathens. “Good heavens! and I was going to take charge of a two penny-half-penny river-steamboat with a penny whistle attached! It appeared, however, I was also one of the Workers, with a capital—you know. Something like an emissary of light, something like a lower sort of apostle. There had been a lot of such rot let loose in print and talk just about that time, and the excellent woman, living right in the rush of all that humbug, got carried off her feet. She talked about ‘weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways,’ till, upon my word, she made me quite uncomfortable.’

Between the 1870s and 1900, Africa faced European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, military invasions, and eventual conquest and colonization. During this time, the citizens back in Belgium were convinced their people were spreading Christianity.

To conclude, the author of Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, uses the literary tools of illusion and reality in multiple ways. During this expedition, the people of Belgium are thoroughly convinced the mission is spreading Christianity, however the imperialist conquest was to export ivory and rubber out of the Congo. Also, the way Conrad uses double narrators adds to the theme of illusion and mystery in the story. Marlow tells his story to an unknown crewmember who later tells the reader the story as the unknown narrator. The way Conrad uses Kurtz’s character adds to the theme of illusion. I believe Conrad was trying to teach us an important lesson with the Heart of Darkness. He was sending a message to the readers to tell them that they have to determine what truly happened. In the story, and in life. We cannot let our reality be distorted by illusions.

Throughout history and in literature, the classic war between passion and responsibility manifests, driving conflict between individuals, as well as drawing divides in characters’ minds. The novels Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, and Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, as well as the film Black Panther epitomize that concept with the internal wars that rage inside each of the respective protagonists. Conrad’s main character, Marlow, compartmentalizes a debate between his thirst for discovery and duty to his country’s mission of ‘civilizing natives.’ Achebe’s lead, Okonkwo, experiences a similar mental struggle. However, he balances a passion for violence and bloodshed with a similar moral compass to Marlow’s, one that leans towards his culture’s traditions, as well as one that considers the best for his family. In the movie Black Panther, King T’Challa wars between following his desire to maintain the isolationist tradition of past kings, his beloved ancestors, or to follow what feels right in his heart and mind: defending his kin across the world and opening up Wakanda’s resources to their access. Heart of Darkness’ Marlow, Things Fall Apart’s Okonkwo, and Black Panther’s T’Challa wage internal wars with themselves, where private passions conflict with their moral duty, creating mental strife, hardship, and wear as a result.

Like the other two protagonists, Marlow, from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, faces the classic tale of a war between desire and responsibility. As he experiences an adventurous, albeit disillusioned life during his travels in Africa, Marlow begins to question the mission that the country he swore loyalty to assigned him. Since childhood, he experienced a thrill for discovery, an adventurous nature, and a passion for learning: “Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth … I would put my finger on it and say, ‘When I grow up I will go there’” (Conrad 10). This yearning, thirst for knowledge, and search for a noble exploration into both unknown places and human nature represent Marlow’s passion, one that motivates him to embark upon a perilous journey through the heart of Africa. While there, he fills the ‘blank spaces,’ traverses new lands, and encounters new people.

However, after he encounters the darker side of his comrades’ nature, doubt begins to grow in his mind, leading him to question his loyalty and duty to the “heavenly mission to civilize [natives]” (Conrad 9). One night, Marlow leaves camp and follows the ‘respected, all-powerful’ Kurtz. But, he becomes entangled in a skirmish with a native, an unnecessarily violent one that demonstrates the savage undertones of Marlow’s mission. Additionally, when discussing Kurtz, Marlow describes, “I tried to break the spell—the heavy, mute spell of the wilderness— that seemed to draw him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal instincts, by the memory of gratified and monstrous passions” (Conrad 110). Kurtz represents the opposite of both Marlow’s sense of right and wrong and his passion for exploring human nature, as Kurtz no longer focuses purely on his duty to represent Europe and civilize natives. Instead, the wilderness, as it begins to tempt Marlow, corrupts Kurtz to rely on savage instincts.

As a result, Marlow must decide whether to continue with this ‘supposed’ mission for his country, one that led to brutality and inhumane conduct, or to return to the simple life of sailing new waters around the world. With the second alternative, he could remain blissful and carefree about matters of state and continue exploring the civil, human nature of right and wrong. When Marlow begins to observe the effect of ‘civilizers’ on natives, and the reciprocal impact of the natives on beings like Kurtz, he debates the morals and ethics behind his mission, as well as the true motivations of his nation. His conflict represents the central theme of Heart of Darkness: maintaining one’s humanity, defined as following one’s passions and desires, as opposed to upholding one’s sworn duty, listening to orders, and following the example of colonizers to strip humanity from others. Moreover, the internal war waging in Marlow, which causes him to question his future actions and choices, relates to today’s militaries. One may wish to disobey an immoral or unjust order from a superior, but he or she becomes conflicted due to the legal nature or direness of the situation, duty to his or her country, or adherence to the mission.

Furthermore, Okonkwo, the protagonist of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, epitomizes the idea that passion and responsibility continuously collide with one another. His inclination towards violent displays of strength and superiority contradicts his innate, moral duty to his tribe, traditional culture, and the future of his family. Okonkwo’s bloodthirstiness becomes evident after the narrator’s first description of him, as well as from clanspeople’s observations: “He did pounce on people quite often. He had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and could not get his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists. He had no patience with unsuccessful men” (Achebe 2). Coupled with his short temper, impatience for inferiority, and tendency to express himself with his fists, Okonkwo’s demeanor continually appears as if he will spring upon someone rashly. That countenance, supported by past skirmishes, leads his tribe to both fear and respect him. Also, in some cases, the rulings of the clan only exacerbate Okonkwo’s passion for violence: “‘That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death’ … Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 48). The clan elders decide that they must kill Ikemefuna for retribution. Although the boy stays with Okonkwo for some time, and his family and friends plead with him to take no part in the killing, Okonkwo’s violent nature ultimately wins the argument. But, Okonkwo justifies his violent action with the fact that the tribe ordered him to carry out the killing.

However, in other circumstances, before violent events fall more out of hand and for the sake of his family, Okonkwo ignores his desire for conflict in favor of abiding by the peaceful decisions of his clan. Achebe states, “Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy’s heart … It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land” (Achebe 100). After he violates the sacred festival peacetime and recognizes the severity of his ‘inadvertent’ crime, Okonkwo calms down and accepts the error of his ways. Because of his responsibility to listen to the tribe’s will, he does not protest his exile and moves away immediately to start over with a new reputation.

Nevertheless, throughout the novel, the constant mental struggle between his violent tendencies and duty to the clan wears Okonkwo down. Before taking action, he carefully considers which ‘side’ would win: destructive outbursts or compliance with the tribe’s orders. After the main conflict, Okonkwo realizes the moral and ethical issues of bloodshed, accepts his fate of exile, and moves tribes to start a new life. There, he develops a new persona and adjusts his values to focus more on crop prosperity, family care, and leadership in the tribe, as opposed to mindless violence. The contention between desire and duty highlights a connection to the audience’s world too: traditions and values that an individual like Okonkwo holds dear may conflict with the morals and ethics of one’s culture and any foreign cultures he or she encounters. This war parallels modern society, as when one experiences a world beyond his or her ‘bubble,’ his or her previous ways clash with the new society’s laws.

In addition, the film Black Panther presents a conflict between one’s personal interests and his or her obligation to others. This conflict appears in the form of King T’Challa’s internal war, where he debates whether to listen to tradition and continue past kings’ policy of isolationism or to act in the interests of his kin around the world, providing Wakandan resources to oppressed groups like African minorities. Even as a little boy, T’Challa follows in the footsteps of his father, learning about past kings’ decisions, as well as observing his father’s foreign policy choices and ruling precedents: “‘To keep vibranium safe … the Wakandans vowed to hide in plain sight … keeping the truth of their power from the outside world. And we still hide, Baba? Yes’” (“Black Panther” 3). From the beginning, tradition seeps into T’Challa’s life. But once his elders pass on, T’Challa becomes lost and confused about the path he should forge in the future for himself, his country, and his people. Accustomed to defending Wakanda and its people only, as past kings and Black Panthers did, when W’Kabi proposes introducing vibranium weapons, resources, and technology “‘to go out there and clean up the world’” (“Black Panther” 18), T’Challa adamantly responds that “‘waging war on other countries has never been our way’” (“Black Panther” 18). Likewise, he reminds Killmonger that “‘I am not the king of all people. I am the king of Wakanda. And it is my responsibility to make sure our people are safe … and that vibranium does not fall into the hands of a person like you’” (“Black Panther” 39). When people increasingly demand him to change Wakanda’s ways, a deep mental divide forms in T’Challa and takes a significant toll on him. He values his elders’ counsel, evident through his choice of traditional dress and sandals on his first day as the king to make a good impression. T’Challa admires kings’ past leadership styles and does not wish to take actions that directly counteract their efforts.

As such, T’Challa’’s viewpoint at one time represents a more isolationist perspective, where he cannot yet recognize his responsibility to people akin to Wakandans around the globe. Then, Killmonger, T’Challa’s ‘enemy,’ brings up good points, forcing T’Challa to question his decisions: “‘It’s about two billion people all over the world that looks like us. But their lives are a lot harder. Wakanda has the tools to liberate ’em all … didn’t life start right here on this continent? So ain’t all people your people?’” (“Black Panther” 39). When Wakandans witness the struggles of individuals and groups across other nations, they fail to comprehend why their prosperous, resourceful home-state refuses to come to the aid of those in need.

T’Challa’s internal debate of passion for his home over his duty to people around the world expands and manifests physically in the war with Killmonger. Wakandan people come to blows, killing their kin and fighting over their impatience to act and protect others around the world, as opposed to maintaining Wakanda’s secrecy and isolation. Increasing conflict and strife teach T’Challa a lesson: such debate does not benefit the overall health of the country. King T’Challa quickly realizes he needs to act and compromise with the opposition. He concludes: “‘You were wrong! All of you were wrong! To turn your backs on the rest of the world! We let the fear of our discovery stop us from doing what is right! No more!’” (“Black Panther” 49). As the wars begin to take their toll, T’Challa finally resolves to act in the best interests of both his subjects and similar people around the world. After declaring his initiative to the United Nations, T’Challa sets up outreach centers in other countries and delegates their leadership to capable and trusted family members and advisors. He eventually understands what it means to act as an example: as a leader to his people, as a progressivist generation to traditionalist ancestors, and as a country to the violent, outside world. The film’s significant internal and external conflicts represent its central idea on two fronts: an internal war raging inside the king and a physical war fought to represent that mental debate.

Literary works often share a common theme of warring desires and moral responsibilities, as exemplified by the conflicts in Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart, and Black Panther. Internal debates rage between one’s passions for, respectively, adventure, violence, or personal interests and one’s service to his or her country, the traditions and laws of a clan, and duty to protect one’s kin no matter their citizenship. This continuing conflict in history also symbolizes a realistic issue to audiences, allowing them to learn from the morals of the stories, seek to help others, and consider solutions to problems similar to those shown in the novels and film. For example, researchers raise a debate about using modern technology like Artificial Intelligence as weapons to help oppressed peoples or to advance technological developments beyond what scientists previously thought capable. However, this passion for innovation runs into the obstacles of ethical constraints and safety responsibilities. These literary pieces, with their theme of desire conflicting with duty, teach audiences a valuable, applicable life lesson: when considering one’s decisions and actions, one must ensure that passions do not run abound, but they instead possess ethic, moral, and legal limits to prevent a metaphorical war from manifesting into a physical one.

Works Cited

1. Achebe, Chinua, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The African Trilogy: Things Fall Apart ; No Longer at Ease ; Arrow of God. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2010.
2. ‘Black Panther’ Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2020. Web. 27 Jan. 2020. .
3. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. London, Capuchin Classics, 2010.

Cross-cultural encounter facilitates personal growth and challenges understandings of the self and world. By encountering different cultures, individuals are able to gain an understanding of their own culture as well as the world around them. Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, explores the journey of British explorers up the Congo River and the inhumanity towards various individuals as a result of imperialism. By using Africa as a foil to Europe, the depersonalisation of Africa itself clearly highlights the slander and injustices towards countries that are considered less superior than another. Similarly, Caryl Phillips’ travel narrative ‘Anne Frank’s Amsterdam’, highlights the role of cross-cultural racism in challenging understandings of the self and the world around them. The dealings and comparisons of various cultures address the injustices present in society and instigates critique and judgements on civilised and less civilised areas around the world.

The realisation of differences between different cultures stemming from cross-cultural encounters give rise to biased opinions and racism. By experiencing different cultures, individuals’ preconceived notions are challenged, allowing them to develop new perspectives on themselves and the world they live in. Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, explores cross-cultural racism through the inhumanity and depersonalisation of Africa and Africans.

Marlowe dehumanises the Africans and portrays them as wild and primitive. This is exemplified within animalistic imagery coupled with zoomorphism, “All their meagre breasts panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered, the eyes stared stonily uphill”. This depersonalisation of Africa as a culture and continent highlights to the audience the cross- cultural racism present as a result of Conrad’s European assumptions during his time. The dehumanisation of Africans is further portrayed within the simile coupled with visual imagery, “They had faces like grotesque masks”. Conrad’s description of African men’s faces here consolidates his racist perception on the culture as comparing the men’s faces to ‘grotesque masks’, Conrad lumps them all in with the distasteful things Marlowe sees in the Congo. This inhuman grotesquery accentuates the condescending attitudes of both Marlowe and Conrad towards Africans, deeming them to be nothing but savages. Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist and critic, regards Heart of Darkness as a general slander against Africans where it celebrates dehumanisation and depersonalises a portion of the human race. By deeming Africa to be a country devoid of all recognisable humanity to which the Europeans can take advantage of, Achebe portrays to the audience the racism present as a result of cross- cultural encounter between the two cultures. This thus emphasises the biased opinions and racist remarks instigated as a result of various differences between cultures. Individuals’ understandings of the self and world are challenged as readers come to understand that “the dehumanisation of Africa and Africans which this age-long attitude has fostered and continues to foster in this world” is still prevalent in today’s society. Thus, cross-cultural encounters facilitate personal growth as individuals are more aware of the problems that exist in society, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. Similarly, Caryl Phillips’ travel narrative ‘Anne Frank’s Amsterdam’, explores cross-cultural racism stemming from one’s encounter with a different culture. Phillips portrays his intolerance of the American culture through his hostility towards the encounter of the American tourists. This is exemplified within the emotive language coupled with the negative connation of ‘cackle’, “Then American voices began to cackle in my ears”. This highlights the role of cross-cultural encounter in instigating discrimination between different groups of individuals, ultimately challenging understandings of the self and the world. Debbie Lisle’s “Introduction: the global imaginary of contemporary travel writing” highlights the role of travel writing in shaping the way we understand the world. Through ‘Anne Frank’s Amsterdam’, one is able to realise the prevalence of cross-cultural discrimination in the world and how this ultimately impacts the individual’s perception of themselves and their surroundings. As Debbie Lisle asserts, “Travel writing organises the world through a number of prevailing discourses and sediments that world into a seemingly incontrovertible reality”. Exploring the inevitability of racism, Caryl Phillips accentuates to us the role of travel writing in highlighting the harsh realities in the world where cultural differences between countries are frowned upon. Thus, the realisation of differences between countries as a result of cross-cultural encounters pave the way for discrimination and biased opinions. These realisations ultimately challenge one’s understanding of the world and portrays cross-cultural encounters as negative experiences that instigate feelings of hostility amongst individuals.

The role of imperialism instigates civilised and uncivilised depictions of the world and presents cross-cultural encounter as a catalyst to this negative perception of the world. Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, raises various questions about the impulse towards imperialism and how exerting influence over other countries was one of the central values of the British. During the period when Heart of Darkness was written, Britain controlled various colonies around the world and this dominance became the foundation to which Britain defined its identity and purpose. Portrayed through symbolism, the physical darkness of the forestation as Marlowe journeys deeper into the Congo, highlights to the audience the emotional conflicts between the civilised and uncivilised individuals. The Africans viewed the civilising troops as a disruptive force that overtook their lives whereas for the British, occupying the land and controlling the Africans is a gradual process that ultimately corrupts them. The irony here is that the British who were sent to civilise Congo eventually become the ones who are uncivilised, resorting to brutality and growing power-hungry. Exemplified within the metaphor coupled with the gaze “he became instantly the prey of an abject funk, and would let that cripple of a steamboat get the upper hand of him in a minute”, Marlowe minimises the skills of the African helmsman and declares him to be almost of no worth. In this sense, Conrad emphasises the narrator’s condescending view of Africans as to Marlowe, Africans will never be the masters of their own land. This thus emphasises the role of imperialisim in instigating civilised and uncivilised depictions of the world, presenting cross-cultural encounters as a catalyst to the negative perceptions of Africans and the British. According to The New Yorker article, “The Trouble with Heart of Darkness”, Achebe believes that Heart of Darkness “is an example of the Western habit of setting up Africa as a foil to Europe”. By using Africa as a backdrop on which to project European insecurities, Denby believes that Conrad’s real purpose is the desire to comfort Europeans in their sense of superiority. Thus, as Achebe asserts, “Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as ‘the other world,’ the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization”. Emphasising Conrad’s obsession with superiority and the intention to use Africa as a backdrop on which to project European insecurities, the cross-cultural encounter of Britain and Africa instigates the civilised and uncivilised depictions of the world as a result of imperialism. Similarly, Caryl Phillips’ travel narrative accentuates the confronting encounters by Phillips as he realises the dire treatment of Jews by the Nazis. The Holocaust made a powerful impression on the young Phillips and this is accentuated through the rhetorical question “If white people could do that to white people then what the hell would they do to me?”. Questioning humanity, Phillips portrays to the audience the negative impacts of the twentieth century fascism in Europe in instigating negative representations of cross-cultural encounters. Hence, Phillips gains a deeper understanding of the world around him as he realises the confronting nature of humanity. As Lisle connotes, travel writing is an important cultural voice because it “reveals how previously colonised, marginalised and silenced groups are engaging and struggling with the hegemonic power relations currently shaping the global sphere”. Through the tourist gaze, Phillips’ travel narrative highlights to us the comparisons between Germany and the Jewish population where the marginalisation of Jews in the past still resonate with today’s uncivilised depictions of the world. Thus, one’s desire for power instigates negative perceptions of different cultures and presents cross-cultural encounter as a catalyst to critique and judgement of the world.

Cross-cultural encounter facilitates personal growth and challenges understandings of the self and world. Both Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness and Caryl Phillips’ travel narrative ‘Anne Frank’s Amsterdam’ explore the depersonalisation of various countries and presents cross-cultural encounter as a catalyst to critique and judgement of the world. By exploring the realisation of differences between cultures and countries, both texts emphasise the prevalence of racism as well as the role of imperialism and fascism in instigating civilised and uncivilised depictions of the world. Thus, the dealings and comparisons of various cultures and countries address the injustices present in society and goes on to challenge understandings of the self and world.

Bibliography

1. Achebe, C. ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.’ Heart of Darkness : Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. Ed. Paul B Armstrong. 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006.
2. Conrad, J. Heart of Darkness. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
3. Debbie Lisle. ‘Introduction: The Global Imaginary of Contemporary Travel Writing.’ In The Global Politics of Contemporary Travel Writing. Cambridge, CUP.
4. Denby, D. ‘The Trouble With “Heart of Darkness”’. The New Yorker. (1995)
5. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/11/06/the-trouble-with-heart-of-darkness.
6. Phillips, C. ‘Anne Frank’s Amsterdam’ From The European Tribe. 1987.

In contemporary literature, novels such as The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas or The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander depict the cycle of oppression among African Americans. A book from the perspective of a Caucasian police officer advocating white privilege or racism is rarely seen on the shelves of bookstores, much less debated or cherished for its literary merit.

Set in the 20th century, Heart of Darkness by author Joseph Conrad is a largely controversial work of well-crafted literature that has been banned and brought back to many school libraries. Despite its disturbing portrayal of native Africans, Heart of Darkness should be taught in schools for its ambiguous, yet valuable, viewpoint on European colonialism and racism. Through Conrad’s well-crafted literary techniques such as creating unreliable characters and frame narration, Heart of Darkness lends itself to many diverse interpretations and raw and necessary discussions in order for students and readers to reassess their own racist bias.

Firstly, Heart of Darkness forces students to critically analyze not just the character’s perspectives, but also the author’s perspective in the context of the time period he lived in. Through this process of assessing cultural and social norms of 20th century England, students will further understand why Conrad’s racism is so shocking and appalling, especially in the modern 21st century where books such as Heart of Darkness are rarely written. However, suggesting that Heart of Darkness should be taught does not equate to advocating and looking over Conrad’s racism. Through the unnecessary usage of the n-word, the author quite clearly establishes his racist intent for shock value. Indeed, as professor Lennard J. Davis comments in The Value of Teaching From a Racist Classic, “when I did some research into this issue, I found an article that claimed, with some authority, that Conrad used the N-word long after it had become a term avoided by sensitive people in British culture” (Davis). The professor points out that Conrad’s use of the n-word was uncommon even for the era that he lived in, indicating that the author’s inclusion of the n-word was not a character trait of the main character, Charles Marlow, in order to represent him as a synecdoche for a typical 20th-century British man. Thus, even among his target audience in the 1900s, Conrad’s racist portrayal of Africans was never widely promoted to be true. It can be assured that in this modern era, it is rare for a student to pick up Heart of Darkness and believe its inhumane representation of Africa to be factually accurate.

While Heart of Darkness is undoubtedly a beautifully written piece of literature, the actions of Marlow are shrouded in uncertainty, hypocrisy, and contradictions. Along with comparisons between “light” and “dark” as well as “sanity” and “madness”, Conrad uses the contrast of “truth” and “lies” to further create skepticism on the honesty of Marlow’s narration. Early on, Conrad creates Marlow as an exception to his environment because he is one of the few ship passengers that embarks on his journey with a yearning for adventure rather than wishing to profit off of African ivory in exchange for deceitfully cheap goods. Conrad establishes a world around Marlow riddled in irony and oxymorons. For instance, this contrast between idealistic perception and the corrupted truth can be seen through the selfish pilgrims, the exploitation of the company’s Congolese employees, and the establishment of the weak and helplessly mad Kurtz as a deity amongst the local indigeneous community. The honest truth that Marlow so deeply values is negated behind the lens of his rose-tinted glasses. For instance, a character trait that Marlow establishes in the beginning of the book is that he absolutely detests lies. He complains, “There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies – which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world – what I want to forget. It makes me miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do” (Conrad 64). However, it is not often in the literature that authors purposefully make their main characters unreliable as well, causing confusion and ambiguity. Throughout Marlow’s journey to the Congo, his seemingly unbendable moral compass is often tested but never reversed, creating a sense of trust and authenticity. This bond is essentially destroyed in the last few scenes of the novel. Marlow announces to the young African woman, the Intended, that the commander Kurtz’s last few dying words were that of her name, rather than the warnings of the horrors of European colonization. Immediately after, Marlow is consumed with guilt and regret, believing that he had committed a grave sin. “The house would collapse before I could escape, that the heavens would fall upon my head” (Conrad 124). Nevertheless, Marlow’s contradiction of his morals is irreversible and only encourages the Intended’s faithful perception of Kurtz as a brave and honest man. Marlow ends the novel by creating a powerful chain of misleading lies and deception, causing a reassessment of the reliability of his previous actions and behaviors. Through Conrad’s contradiction of Marlow’s steadfast morals, the retelling of his entire journey is thus entirely open to interpretation.

Additionally, Conrad employs literary techniques such as complex frame narration between himself, the narrator, and Marlow. The layers of narration add ambiguity on whether Conrad himself was racist, or if he used Marlow to criticize racist European impressions on the African people. In critic Chinua Achebe’s commentary, An Image of Africa, he notes “Certainly, Conrad appears to go to considerable pains to set up layers of insulation between himself and the moral universe of his story. He has, for example, a narrator behind a narrator’ (Achebe). Conrad’s usage of a retrospective frame narration was in order to protect himself as a separate individual from the problematic behavior of his fictional characters. On top of the entire book being subjective to Conrad’s own perspective, the narrator’s voice weaves in and out of Marlow’s tale, a recreation of the story Kurtz wanted him to spread so that the readers often have to switch back between one perspective and another. Thus, frame narration paints a coat of unreliability to Marlow’s recount of his story especially as he narrates with more emotion than fact, indicating that the readers should take his inauthentic narration with a grain of salt. The anonymous narrator even begins the novel with a beautiful illustration of the sunset shrouded in an ambiguous “haze” and “mournful gloom” (Conrad 37), foreshadowing the struggle for Marlow to describe the cryptic darkness of Africa. Conrad’s purpose of the primary narrator is to build a foundation of trust that forms a bridge between Marlow’s inaccurate and subjective viewpoint, to the reader. Further, the narrator heeds a direct warning to the reader in the beginning of the novel, explaining that “we knew we were fated, before the ebb began to run, to hear about one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences” (Conrad 42). The primary narrator establishes that there should be no one, straightforward interpretation of Conrad’s book. Conrad hopes that his book is not to be categorized as a direct solution to European imperialism and racism, but as a psychological commentary on how complex, divisive and subtle an individual’s innate racism can be.

While Marlow’s retelling remains ambiguous, the purpose of the narrator’s voice is to provide a grounded, reliable point of relatability that mirrors the readers’ reactions. The narrator’s only actions throughout the book are listening and responding to what he is being told, similar to the readers as well. The readers are shown the profound transformation of opinion the narrator goes through once Marlow has finished his tale by providing an early foundation of his morals and values. In the beginning of the novel, the narrator boasts his country’s technological and naval advancements of exploration. It is clear that the narrator is ignorant and naive to the cruel way European colonialism has permanently destroyed cultural traditions and ways of life. The narrator admires bold knights such as Sir Francis Drake, a slave trader, and Sir John Franklin, whose expedition ship’s demise was widely blamed on the local Inuit tribes while thorough research proves that self-inflicted cannibalism, disease, and starvation had led to the ship’s disappearance. Through Marlow’s emotional depiction of anti-imperialism, the narrator is forced to reevaluate all he believes to be true and struggles with his conflicting pride for his country. The book begins and ends with the narrator looking out to the River Thames, the true source of evil. While he once believed his homeland was responsible for glorious accomplishments and revered heroes, he now recognizes it as “the heart of an immense darkness” (Conrad 124). Despite Marlow’s inconsistent and unreliable point of view, he has nonetheless caused the narrator to drastically transform his views on imperialism and racism, as well as to draw his own conclusion that the evil roots of social Darwinism and imperialism stem from the hypocritical Europeans. The narrator’s conclusion serves as an example for readers to do the same and interpret Marlow’s tale for themselves.

Rather than providing a direct answer for students, Conrad’s intentional, well-thought ambiguity allows for many interpretations of the book to be drawn by students, encouraging discussion and debate that would not have otherwise been brought up. Conrad could have easily written a book that clearly and decisively criticizes racism. However, the frame narration creates depth and puts the reader right in the shoes of an unsettling viewpoint. In literature, one must be prepared to confront different perspectives, no matter how racist or unconventional they may be. As uncomfortable as it may be, Conrad’s portrayal of institutional racism is just as important as a book on the other end of the spectrum that denounces racism. Works of literature such as Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup are brutally honest autobiographies of African American slaves, the result of European imperialism and the creation of the Atlantic slave trade. However, while these books do provide modern readers the important first-hand experience of discrimination, the readers never question the character’s motivations because they are captured so brilliantly and clearly. If Conrad had written a book that blatantly denies racism such as Frederick Douglass’ memoirs, there most likely would be no discussion of the various interpretations of the main character’s racism and intent, much less the author’s. In reading Heart of Darkness, students may come to a similar judgment to the narrator in that perhaps the Europeans are the true symbol of evil. Other students may perceive Marlow’s increasing madness as he deepens his journey into the Congo that nature knows no differences in race and unleashes a human’s true wild-like animal instincts.

Nevertheless, no two interpretations of the book will be tno two interpretations of perceptions of the book will be the same. Students broaden their literary thinking in further analyzing the context of the book, such as the author and the character’s motivations and behavior, as well as the social norms of that particular era. Through this process, students are urged to come to their own conclusions while deepening their understanding through debate and differences of interpretation that the complex system of racism is neither black nor white, but inconclusive and ongoing.

To simply ban the book from classrooms and attempt to pretend that these racist interpretations do not exist is narrow-minded and ignorant. Furthermore, removing the book suggests that these stereotypes against native Africans didn’t exist in the past and equally don’t exist today. As Susan L. Blake argues in Racism and the Classics: Teaching “Heart of Darkness”, “Whether we teach such work or not, our students will encounter it, perhaps without the critical frame of reference, we would provide. Even if they never do encounter any particular classic, they live in the culture that has produced and applauded it” (Blake). In avoiding teaching Heart of Darkness, nothing is accomplished as these students will eventually encounter another text that is also problematically racist, if they haven’t already. Moreso, students will face these situations in real life as we live in a society that is based on the institutional racism that Heart of Darkness so carefully depicts. Students will only benefit from reading the book as they will be better equipped to recognize the effect the literary techniques Conrad uses has on social implications. Most students who read Heart of Darkness are well-educated enough to feel unsettled and uncomfortable with its racism. Thus, students then question their own inherent racism and bias. Teachers should then have open discussions with students on its racism and how it can connect to the continuation of institutionalized racism through current events that we see today, such as police brutality or incarceration rates among African Americans.

Referring back to Davis’ commentary on Heart of Darkness, he concludes that rereading the book has opened up lines of inquiry and indictments on how its perception towards the public has evolved throughout the years. “For me, there is no way I can forget what the book has taught me. But when I reread it next time, I will do so with the face of my student before me” (Davis). In allowing the book to be read in his classroom, he caused his student’s uncomfortable interpretation of the book to be deeply racist and refused to read it again. Davis was then confronted on his own teaching methods to minority students and his own potential racism, despite having read the book before. This is the most valuable lesson that the book inflicts on its readers, as it causes these honest discussions and unique reactions. Conrad himself had hoped he wrote with enough brutality and power that his book would “hang in the air and dwell on the ear after the last note had been struck” (Conrad). Through Conrad’s ambiguous writing techniques such as frame narration and analogies, Heart of Darkness forces the reader to reassess their own inherent racist bias. No matter if one is a professor at a prestigious university or a high school student, or whether one is reading the book for the first time or the hundredth time, Heart of Darkness’s beautiful ambiguity creates many diverse interpretations so that readers may be more careful and self-aware when handling situations when racial microaggressions or discrimination is involved.

Analytical Essay

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad tells the story of Marlow during a night on a ship on the Thames River. Marlow recounts the time he spent working for a European company, it follows his first visiting the European business “the Company” headquarters. The story then continues to follow him as he travels to Africa to gain control of his steamboat and witnesses a lack of reason, inhumanity, and neglect. The novella can be read and viewed through a variety of lenses which can alter the way the book is read. These different lenses give the reader a new perception and meaning to the piece of work while reading the text. Viewing the novella from an ecocriticism, critical race theory, and post-colonial criticism lens helps the reader better understand the true nature of what is happening in Conrad’s book. These lenses best pertain to the book and provide the most insight into the true meaning of the text.

By using the Ecocriticism lens, the writing is addressed by means of an environmental and ecological aspect. In Xiaolan Wang’s abstract “Ecological orientation and moral concern in Joseph Conrad’s jungle novels,” he further explains the usefulness of the Ecocritical lens in Conrad’s work arguing his “marine and jungle novels imply some ecological ideas–criticism of industrial civilization and advocate of primitivism. Therefore, ecocriticism provides us a new perspective to Conrad’s novels.” In Conrad’s work descriptions of the Earth, Nature, and Marlow’s surroundings are commonly used allowing the reader to gain a better understanding of the environmental status of the Congo. Descriptions of ‘[t]he air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, a town on earth is such an example (406). Looking at this quote without a lens leaves the reader with a scenery, although investigation through the Ecocriticism lens shows the reader what might be environmental air pollution caused by the so-called “biggest and the greatest” city. Terrence Bowers displays the effects of nature in his article “Paradise lost: reading the Earth in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness’ stating, “Nature’s power assumes a more ominous aspect when Marlow represents the African ‘settlements’ as barely surviving.” He continues to say the western colonizers have no better chance of beating nature than the natives. The story’s last page continues to portray “ … a black bank of clouds” resubmitting the ideas of this environment and nature’s effect on the story throughout (471).

The Post-Colonial Criticism lens discusses the work as a consequence of post-colonization issues such as identity, culture, and politics. The colonization of Africa plays a major role in the novella, utilizing the Post-Colonial Criticism lens to further establish this. In Marlow’s story Africa, more importantly, the land is described as “invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion” (423). Viewing this quote through the Post-Colonial lens shows the colonization of Africa to be an infiltration of the land, the word invasion shows how the colonization is undesired. Similarly, Samet Güven speaks about how the African natives were affected in his journal “Post-Colonial Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Güven acknowledges “[the colonizers] dominated nearly all parts of Africa to benefit from the natives” quoting the Marlow in Conrad’s story:

I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men—men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly. How insidious he could be, too, I was only to find out several months later and a thousand miles farther (417).

The use of the term ‘devil’ illustrates the cruelty of colonialism and imperialism imposed on the people of Africa by the Europeans (Güven). Viewing the narrator’s words can give a bigger picture of why the colonization in the story is occurring:

The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth… Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!…The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires (xxx).

The narrator shows that behind the colonization is greed for wealth. The description of the many different types of people gives the reader the understanding that this is a societal problem rather than just a single group of people. Pietro Deandrea also identifies the colonization aspect of the story in his contemporary literary criticism “Dark Paradises: David Dabydeen’s and Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Postcolonial Re-writings of Heart of Darkness.” He shows how the “Heart of Darkness’s voyage into the Congo has inevitably lent itself to several postcolonial reflections, triggering off an ongoing critical debate around the novel’s supposed eurocentrism/racism or anti-colonial stance.” This observation shows the worthiness of the Post-Colonial Lens to the analysis of the story.

Adopting the Critical Race Theory lens examines racism and power as written in the book. It is no secret that Heart of Darkness is filled with racist ideologies, and as seen in the novel, Marlow blatantly uses derogatory slurs to describe the Africans as “dusty niggers with splay feet” in Conrad’s original text. Yet when employing the critical race theory lens, even more racism becomes obvious. Colonials are shown to call the native Africans “savages” and go as far as expressing that they will hate them until they die (419). In her short story criticism “Colonizers, Cannibals, and the Horror of Good Intentions in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” Carola M. Kaplan sets up the definition of racism as the mistreatment of another human being based on their looks. She makes the claim Marlow’s relation of cannibalism to the native Africans, a relation that is not because of any evidence, is a “violence” inflicted by Marlow onto the culture (Kaplan). She then points out that this “violence” is an example of all “linguistic descriptions” of one persons, and their culture, using their power and exploiting another person’s people and culture (Kaplan). Kaplan’s final claim is that of the language used to justify intrusion, usurpation, and conversion caused the physical violence throughout Heart of Darkness (Kaplan). Or in other words, the judgment of the natives is not because of any of their actions but the fact the native Africans are cannibals, therefore, giving the colonizers an excuse to mistreat the people. In the story, Marlow seems to have a similar lens identifying “The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves. . .” (409). This realization perfectly shows the racism involved in conquering other lands, identifying the only reason they are treated as less than human is because of their appearance to the colonizers. The same can be said when Marlow recognizes that the Africans were nothing but humans “[t]hey were dying slowly—it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now—nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom” (xxx). Continuing to support the idea of the Natives being mistreated. In Chinua Achebe’s article ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,’ she suggests “that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist.” This observation reassures the observations that can be made through the Critical Race Theory lens.

All three of the critical lenses can be used in some instances, such as this single quote from Marlow:

In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent. Pop, would go one of the six-inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech—and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives—he called them enemies!—hidden out of sight somewhere (415).

The beginning of the quote shows the Ecocriticism lens with reference to the environment around them. This lens is continued with baffling firing into the continent for no apparent reason considering the shots had no effect on anything. This leads to our next lens: post-colonial criticism. When viewing the quote from this angle you see colonizers destroying the very land they are trying to obtain disregarding what they have taken from others. Through the critical race theory lens, the calling of the natives “enemies” is obviously racist considering they pose no threat to the crew and are not even to be found nearby.

Using the three critical lenses: post-colonial criticism, critical race theory, and ecocriticism, the reader is better able to understand Conrad’s work from different angles. Each of the lenses provides different insight, therefore, revealing the secondary meaning of the text and a better analysis. These three lenses draw attention to the major ideas within the book and draw attention to certain important aspects. The book is then given more meaning because of the lenses providing a more inclusive takeaway from the novella it becomes more useful to the reader.

Works Cited

1. Achebe, Chinua. ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.’
2. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited by Russel Whitaker, vol. 148, Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center, https://ezproxy.cerrocoso.edu:2419/apps/doc/H1420062121/GLS?u=cclc_cerroccc&sid=GLS&xid=658b2fb2. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019. Originally published in Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays, 1965-1987, Heinemann International, 1988.
3. Bowers, Terence N. ‘Paradise lost: reading the Earth in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.’
4. Conradiana, vol. 45, no. 2, 2013, p. 93+. Literature Resource Center, https://ezproxy.cerrocoso.edu:2419/apps/doc/A453294296/GLS?u=cclc_cerroccc&sid=GLS&xid=1b8aa173. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.
5. Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness.” Philosophy and Literature, edited by Cameron Thompson,
6. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, 1969. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.
7. Deandrea, Pietro. ‘Dark Paradises: David Dabydeen’s and Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Postcolonial
8. Re-writings of Heart of Darkness.’ Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 368, Gale, 2015. Literature Resource Center, https://ezproxy.cerrocoso.edu:2419/apps/doc/H1100118545/GLS?u=cclc_cerroccc&sid=GLS&xid=e151732f. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019. Originally published in Rewriting/Reprising, edited by Georges Letissier, Cambridge Scholars, 2009.
9. Güven, Samet. “Post-Colonial Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Journal of
10. History, Culture & Art Research / Tarih Kültür ve Sanat Arastirmalari Dergisi, vol. 2, no. 2, June 2013. EBSCOhost, doi:10.7596/taksad.v2i2.233. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.
11. “Heart of Darkness.” Edited by Judith Boss and David Widger, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph
12. Conrad, Project Gutenberg, 18 June 2009, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/219/219-h/219-h.htm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.
13. Kaplan, Carola M. ‘Colonizers, Cannibals, and the Horror of Good Intentions in Joseph Conrad’s
14. Heart of Darkness.’ Short Story Criticism, edited by Joseph Palmisano, vol. 69, Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center, https://ezproxy.cerrocoso.edu:2419/apps/doc/H1420056487/GLS?u=cclc_cerroccc&sid=GLS&xid=d9de792a. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019. Originally published in Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 34, no. 3, Summer 1997.
15. Wang, Xiaolan. ‘Ecological orientation and moral concern in Joseph Conrad’s jungle novels.’
16. Forum for World Literature Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 2009, p. 159+. Literature Resource Center, https://ezproxy.cerrocoso.edu:2419/apps/doc/A287112079/GLS?u=cclc_cerroccc&sid=GLS&xid=77a1a720. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.

Introduction to the Theme of Fascination with Abomination

Mankind’s “fascination with the abomination” (Conrad, 31) is the general theme which permeates both Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart Of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation Apocalypse Now; both stories follow a man’s fascination with the abomination, as well as his eventual initiation and descent into the ‘heart of darkness’. Both Conrad’s original novella and Coppola’s film reimagining are portrayed as frame-stories—stories told within stories—narratives woven within one another, flashbacks within flashbacks, quotes within quotes; both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now tell the story of a protagonist and follow his voyage into darkness, bookended by a prologue and an epilogue.

Narrative Structure: Frame-Stories and Mediated Narratives

Conrad’s novella begins with an anonymous narrator’s account of a tale he was told recently aboard the ship The Nellie while idling in the Thames River; Captain Marlow’s tale. The majority of the novella is the anonymous narrator’s recounting of Marlow’s tale, recited as though it were in Marlow’s own voice. Marlow’s words are voiced seemingly invisibly by the narrator—acting as a conduit relaying information; remaining the unseen and mysterious ever-present mediator. The mediation provided by the anonymous narrator is a near-perfect analogue for the mediation provided by a camera lens in the context of a film; both are invisibly interposed between the audience and the author, controlling everything we hear and see. This mediated narrative structure is therefore comparable to the nature of filmmaking; and as in Heart of Darkness the narrator is present to retell Captain Marlow’s story, Francis Ford Coppola’s camera in Apocalypse Now is present to retell Benjamin Willard’s tale.

Setting and Atmosphere: Congo vs. Vietnam

The settings for Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now are drastically different, the former taking place in the African Congo and the latter taking place in Vietnam; however, the narrative structures and use of sound and lighting found within both stories are undoubtedly similar. Both narratives are stories within stories being relayed to us the audience by a mediating narrator—the story is narrated retrospectively in the disembodied first person. Our first introduction to both of our protagonists, in the novella and in the film, is with their account of how they received the appointment detailing their river voyage. Heart of Darkness is bookended by the same location—The Nellie; the introduction is calm: “the day was ending in a serenity of still and exquisite brilliance […] the water shone peacefully; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unsustained light” (Conrad, 28). Apocalypse Now, in contrast, begins with discord—chaotic images that dissolve into one other; palm trees beget poisonous gas; palm trees beget impending helicopter blades. Both works then similarly transition into the exposition of the river voyage, both move from darkness into light; from Conrad’s quiet brooding sunset and from Coppola’s silent dimly lit hotel room we are taken back in time to a world which immediately blinds us with light and sound.

Journey into Darkness: Marlow and Willard’s Voyage

Both protagonists, Captain Marlow and Captain Willard, begin their river voyage with the aim of collecting company materials—Marlow retrieving ivory and Willard retrieving valuable information—by travelling upriver and visiting several company outposts; both Marlow and Willard are entrusted to travel to the furthest outpost upstream to locate a Captain Kurtz and bring him back to London. At Captain Marlow’s first stop, the government controlled outpost located at the mouth of the river, Marlow witnesses enslaved African natives who are yoked together by metal collars and chains. Marlow describes this scene by remarking that he witnessed “a lot of people, mostly black and naked, [who] moved about like ants […] they were not enemies, they were not criminals” (Conrad, 42). These people are victims of an imperialistic system which had transformed these men into “black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom” (Conrad, 44). Marlow stays at the government station for a total of ten days before continuing to the Central Station; during the journey between these two stations, Marlow describes the desolation of the land; abandoned villages covered in burnt grass. Once Marlow reaches the Central Station, he is told that his steamer vessel cannot travel and must be repaired over the next several months. In Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola combines the first two stops of the protagonist’s journey into one single stop, and all of the action which in the novella takes place over several months is condensed into a mere two days. Captain Willard’s initial stop is with the purpose to rendezvous with his river escorts, the Air Calvary. Similar to Marlow, Willard’s first stop is heavily characterized by victims of an imperialistic system; the United States Military has assumed authority over a small village in Vietnam and is utilizing its absurdly powerful firepower to mow down seemingly unarmed natives. Similarly to Marlow having to wait for his steamship to get repaired at the second outpost, Willard also faces an issue that impedes his further progress: only two points exist where there is enough drawn water to enter the Nung River, and both are being controlled by the Viet Song. A decision must be made regarding which is the more beneficial to assault of the two sites so that Willard’s ship may be delivered safely to its destination. A massive and hellish helicopter attack is launched on the decided site, a scene which portrays mankind at its most monstrous while the audience watches. Both scenes describing the horrors of imperialism are crucial to the underlying theme of the texts, do all of us harbour a hidden fascination with the abomination? Marlow is intrigued by the state of affairs as he observes the horrors in the Congo, and we as an audience are intrigued by the choreographed violence taking place in Vietnam. For both protagonists, the journey upriver transforms into a deeper exploration—the journey to the very deepest psychological interior, characterized by outposts which one after the other become increasingly more savage, wild, and irrational.

In both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now the protagonists make two scheduled stops before they reach Captain Kurtz’s inner station; Captain Marlow visits the first government controlled station and Captain Willard conducts a rendezvous the Air Calvary and must stop to refuel—in addition, both Marlow and Willard must make a series of unscheduled stops. Marlow describes a series of unscheduled stops which must be made: “Sometimes we came upon a station, close by the bank, clinging to the skirts of the unknown, and the white men rushing out of a tumbledown hovel […] seemed very strange” (Conrad, 67), while Willard is placed in a direct recreation of this moment as he experiences visiting the Isat Army outpost which is ‘clinging to the skirts of the unknown’. Willard witnesses a mass of bodies at the outpost swirling in a pool of water, desperately crying out to anyone, begging to be saved; Willard attempts but ultimately fails to locate a commanding officer in an attempt to report the strange sight. The journey continues on, becoming increasingly stranger and stranger, gradually initiating each of our protagonists into the darkened twisted world of Captain Kurtz.

The protagonists’ impending approach to Kurtz’s inner station, in both the novel and in the film, occurs in the midst of an incredibly thick fog; a threshold which the protagonists must cross. In the novel, the crew hears human cries coming from behind the fog, and Marlow describes that it is “as though the mist itself had screamed, so suddenly, and apparently from all sides at once, did this tumultuous and mournful uproar arise” (Conrad, 73). In Coppola’s film, we see Captain Willard make the same assessment: frightened, confused, hairs standing on end. The native inhabitants screams intend to scare both Marlow and Willard, as well as their respective crews, because they revere Captain Kurtz as a god and do not want him to be taken away or threatened. Following the native screams, a barrage of arrows fly out of the fog attacking Marlow’s and Willard’s vessel, which fires back at the shore. Eventually, Marlow does cross the threshold and meets with Kurtz, the godlike force being worshipped by the natives.

Confrontation with Kurtz: The Heart of Darkness

Both Marlow and Willard, upon confronting Kurtz, eventually come to the same realization: after our protagonists are given a look at the ‘great abomination’, both must ultimately confront the absolute moral terror characterized by the prospect of human nature being pushed far beyond any reasonable limits. Marlow and Willard are both profoundly changed by the experience of meeting Kurtz. Though Conrad’s Marlow is a character who has returned from his voyage with his moral perspective and sanity untarnished, Coppola’s Willard is by contrast initially immoral: and by an immoral protagonist for a moral one, Francis Ford Coppola has created a character who is incapable of recognizing the abomination; Willard is a man who is incapable of knowing or understanding evil when he experiences it—is surrounded by it. Willard does not undergo a mass discovery, Willard is simply a murderer who is confronting another murderer. Thus, while Heart of Darkness invites us to observe a character with a moral centre, Apocalypse Now is a journey told through the lens of a character lacking a moral centre; that being said, Conrad’s book does not technically maintain an inner moral centre, for Captain Marlow’s ultimate lesson and moral of his story is that human existence itself lacks moral heart—Marlow has not returned from the river expedition with his conception morality intact, it is altered. Willard, by the end of the film, is comparatively altered by his experience voyaging upstream into the darkness: Willard is made wiser by the experience; Willard himself has been changed, he has become humbled by his confrontation with both the darkness found inherent in Kurtz, found equally in both himself and in human existence.

Conclusion: Reflections on Human Nature and Morality

These two separate protagonists’ journeys, that of Captain Marlow and Captain Willard, who travel upriver into the unknown to encounter the most abominable form of human existence and cruelty, follow remarkably and understandably similar narrative patterns, while taking drastically different approaches to setting and character development, to arrive at a unified truth. Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is a thematic and structural film-stock analogue to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness—obviously, the former being an adaptation of the latter—exploring the descent of a character as he discovers what people are capable of doing when unrestrained from a moral code; by confronting Captain Kurtz, both Marlow and Willard must confront human nature at its most terrifying—lacking compassion and the recognition of human decency: a theme which can prevail in any time period, be it focused on imperialistic rule in the colonization of Africa or the use of excessive force on native inhabitants in the Vietnam War.

Truth dictates reality. With each new discovering, knowledge is gained and cannot be lost, forcing people to live a new reality. Often, this new truth, this new reality is so harsh that people would rather favor ignorance. Humans protect their hopes and dreams of tomorrow with lies and ignorance to make life easier to live. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, these lies contribute to two important themes, the disillusionment of civilization and society and the evil side of human nature.

First, there is the lie of who Kurtz actually is. Before Marlow meets Kurtz, he is influenced by many rumours that surround him, that Kurtz is a genius, that he supplies more ivory to the company than all other stations combined, and that Kurtz is a powerful within the company which leads to others’ envy and hate. All of these preconceived notions forge a view of Kurtz that Marlow worships and is eager to meet. However, when first meeting Kurtz, he is not what Marlow was lead to believe. He is a sick man. Marlow witnesses Kurtz being carried out on a stretcher, his ribs protruding from his body and looking like the personification of death. Not only is Kurtz sick physically, the darkness of the jungles has also pervaded his mind affecting his actions. Kurtz creates himself into a god figure for the natives to obey, ruling over them with “thunder” and “lightning” (his modern guns that natives have never seen). Additionally, Kurtz mounts the heads of his enemies on posts around his hut and wrote a pampethe where he accredits his success to “Exterminate all the brutes!”. At this point, Kurtz has delved so far into the darkness that it is impossible to return. Kurtz, once an upstanding citizen in society, now a savage beast. Without the constructs and influence of society to restrict him, Kurtz thrives by operating on the most basic human instinct. This savageness fascinates Marlow and begins to realize the beauty and the truth that the jungle contains. This reflects the disillusionment of society because society has lead people to believe that with its rules and laws life would be better; however it is just deprived humans of our most basic instinct, forcing people to forget their true nature. The jungle represents a world without the rules and regulations of society. It is a place where anything can happen and men will lose themselves exposing their true nature.

Finally, Marlow lies to the Intended. This lie contributes to the idea of the evilness of human nature and how the lie was necessary. Marlow observes the dark side of human nature through his meeting of Kurtz. He realizes that this wild savageness is a potential outcome for all homosapiens alike. This novel shows that Marlow’s journey into the jungle to find Kurtz is also a journey to find himself. Marlow and Kurtz are alike, both entering the jungle with good intentions, to civilize the natives and spread their new, modern ideas to the less fortunate. However while actually in the jungle experiencing it, Kurtz and Marlow respond to it differently. This is symbolic of the choice that people have within themselves, to either cleave to society and the ruling class and to be civilized, or to allow the savagery within run wild. This conflict shows the readers that Kurtz used to be Marlow and now represents what he could possibly become. Joseph Conrad is showing to his readers that each person has both Marlow, sanity and order, and Kurtz, barbaric and savagery, inside themselves. This is what causes Marlow to lie to the Intended. The Intended is depicted as a frail and delicate woman, living in her own world. If Marlow did not lie to her, the truth of what Kurtz was and this potential insanity would shatter her world. This is representative of civilization and the society that people have created. Society and civilization is fragile just like the Intended and the truth of the barbarism of humans would destroy all the ideas and rules that they impose, allowing anarchy to run rampant.

In in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, there are two major lies, the one of Kurtz’s true personality and who he is and the one where Marlow lies to the Intended about what became of Kurtz in the end. These lies add to some of the vital overarching themes of the novel, disillusionment of civilization and society and the the evil that lies within the human psyche causing people to operate on savage instinct. These lies are reflective of the lies within the society and civilization that people have created today and the cruel truths that are closer than people think.

Works Cited

1. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York, Signet Classic, 1997