Joseph Conrad, the author of the novel Heart of Darkness, used a lot of metaphors and symbolism to describe the conflict between black and white people. The novel is concentrated on the critique of the colonialism in Africa.
Joseph creates the leading character Marlow as a narrator. He tells us about his memories and explains the problem between Kurtz and him. The main idea of the novel is based on the determination of the roots of people evil, the impact of the surrounding environment on people attitude to the norms of ethics and moral as well as the understanding of the motives of people behavior under the difficult for survival circumstances.
Since the novel is saturated with the literature art techniques, it helps the audience to process information easily and to become engaged imaginatively and emotionally. In the passage from the reading the author uses such phrases as “filch a little money”, “devour infamous cookery”, “gulp unwholesome beer”, and “dream insignificant and silly dreams” to describe the life of people in the city. Those phrases create many spaces for the audience imagination.
While reading the paragraph, my personal imagination is giving me the feeling of darkness in the city as well as the images of the wretched people. The author describes their way of life, as though they are isolated from the developed world. The inhabitants live under the law of jungle. Indeed, it is the only way of survival for them. The author is trying to give us the feeling of “shuddering wonder”, while we are reading the description of the city, which is “the inconceivable world” with “no hope and no desire in it”.
The metaphors used in the novel are aimed at emotional enhancement of the work, the creation of not only vision of the city in our minds but also making us to feel the distress of this place, its anguish and the irritating environment at the same time.
The narrator describes local people as “intruders”, who irritate him with their primitive knowledge and desires. When reading the paragraph, we are deepening in thought of the emotional pressure, which this environment makes on the narrator. It is obvious that for a man from another part of the world, where the prevailing norms of ethics and moral contrasts to this primitive world, it is insufferably difficult to undergo the atmosphere in the city.
In general, the novel Heart of Darkness is full of figurative sense scenes. The author gives us the opportunity to comprehend the meaning of the particular situation or description by ourselves. He makes us thinking. Besides, Conrad uses special literature techniques, which are intended to enrich the scenes with preteritions, which make the details of the description almost invisible to our minds. In my view, these literature techniques also exist in the analyzed paragraph, because the author does not describe the exact view of the city streets or look of people but rather he gives us their presumptive images through metaphors and epithets.
In order to sum up all above mentioned, it should be said that the novel of Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness is the outstanding masterpiece of English literature of the XX century and a bright example of modernism in novels. The paragraph analyzed in the essay represents masterly used combination of literature techniques to give us the feeling of the described city atmosphere.
The themes in the two novels; Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’ and Joseph Conrad’s ‘The Heart of Darkness’ are influenced by some existentialist thoughts and beliefs. According to Kafka and Jarvis (9), existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the need for one to understand that destiny can only be chosen rather than predetermined.
Here, existentialism means that every individual should be able to decide for oneself on the basis of the greatest truths, which cannot be determined by others. Additionally, existentialism encourages self-sufficiency or independence and momentary existence among individuals by stating that the only moral thing is that which exists and becomes useful at the present moment (Kafka and Jarvis 12).
On the other hand, the philosophy of existentialism posits that a stark or self-determined individual may experience anxiety, and as a result, one may resort to isolation and despair (Kafka and Jarvis 14). Therefore, this essay reviews the theme of colonization or limitation of one’s existentialist ideas as depicted in ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘The Heart of Darkness’.
Here, the essay compares how the theme of colonization is captured in the novels, and goes ahead to explain the techniques employed by each author in conveying the theme. Furthermore, the essay addresses the use of imagery, language, structure, and characterization by each author. Overall, colonization is portrayed as a destructive force that alienates individuals from their existentialist ideas and beliefs.
Summary
Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’ depicts colonization as a form of estrangement that forces man to separate himself from other humans by working under dehumanizing circumstances. In his work, Kafka uses a character known as Gregor Samsa who at a relatively young age finds responsibility in supporting his family, and thus, he is unable to work his way out of the situation.
Furthermore, Gregor is forced out of a love life, which according to Kafka (9), would have given him the opportunity to experience intimacy by coming closer to a fellow human being or alleviate his loneliness by fathering children of his own.
As a result, Gregor resorts to selling textiles in order to meet the expectations of his family. His lifestyle is marked by loneliness since he has to move from one hotel room to another, and when he returns to his home, he spends much of his time locked up in his bedroom (Kafka 23).
According to the author, Gregor claims that he developed the lonely and isolated lifestyle from the numerous trips he made while selling textiles. However, it is obvious to readers that Gregor prefers isolation in order to avoid the wrath of his nagging family members. Furthermore, the author notes that Gregor’s bedroom has three doors, which are used by his family members who cannot stop urging him to wake up and get to work in order to provide for their lavish lifestyle.
On the other hand, Gregor works with a boss who likes to keep track of what he does all the time. Additionally, Gregor’s boss has hired a clerk who follows him to his home in case he fails to go to work. Considering these circumstances, Gregor resorts to transformation as the only solution to his problems.
As a result, Gregor metamorphoses into a gigantic bug to alienate himself from all the problems he faces (Kafka 35). However, little did Gregor know that his metamorphosis will push him away from his family who will come to shun him and wish that he was dead. Realizing that his family would prefer him dead, he decides to isolate himself permanently, and dies a lonely man (Kafka 80).
Subsequently, colonization or limitation of one’s self-determination and self-sufficiency is portrayed as a destructive force in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’. In this piece of work, the author uses an unknown narrator who is also an acquaintance of Charlie Marlow, the main character. The narrator talks of colonization in Congo whereby Europeans are in a mission to expand their business contacts and bring ‘light’ to the native Africans.
According to Kurtz, one of the most productive station managers in the interior of Congo, the initial approach of the Europeans was to ensure that each company station becomes the main source of better things and a center of trade while improving and humanizing the lifestyles of the natives (Conrad 4-10).
The same idea is also shared by the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs, an organization that believes in the civilization of the natives inhabiting Congo. Moreover, other characters such as Marlow’s aunt believe that Europeans including Marlow have the potential to liberate millions and millions of ignorant natives from their unpleasant ideas and beliefs.
However, some Europeans such as Marlow note that colonization is not a pretty thing to do if one had to look at it more deeply. Marlow takes note of the reality of colonization upon observing physically exhausted individuals working under dehumanizing conditions, co-workers who can get away with almost anything in order to please their bosses, earn additional profits and gain recognition, and colonized people who are literally shackled to generate more profit (Conrad 33).
On the other hand, despite Kurtz having a different approach toward the civilization of the natives, he resorts to practicing a different form of colonization in which he ensures that the natives literally worship him.
Kurtz’s approach enables him to bring in more ivory and thus gain the recognition of his superiors. Furthermore, Marlow observes the greatest form of savagery when he visits Kurtz’s office whereby heads of the rebels are placed atop poles to suppress future rebellion from the natives (Conrad 56).
Theme Analysis
From the foregoing discussions, it is certain that colonization may benefit the colonizers in different ways but it can bring hardships, deaths, and sufferings to the colonized people. The two novels describe both the mythical image and the apparent character of the colonized people and their colonizers.
In the two novels, the colonizer is depicted as someone who claims to have certain privileges upon the suppressed and colonized people. Furthermore, the colonizer feels that there is the need to justify his or her privileges by creating a myth that makes him more superior or in much need than the colonized.
Accordingly, Gregor’s family members and his boss on one hand and the Europeans on the other hand are depicted as virtuous and civilized individuals who assume higher capabilities and positions that make them worthy of their contemptible characters. By preferring to ignore the presence of the colonizer, the colonized people would certainly not forget that the colonizer holds his present position unfairly. Therefore, as the colonized rebel, the colonizer becomes increasingly zealous in holding on to his position.
On the other hand, the oppressive character of the colonizer ends the history and the future of the colonized people since they are made to follow the ways dictated by the colonizer. In Conrad’s work, ‘The Metamorphosis’, we note that Gregor’s family members including his boss impose certain constrictions in his life, and thus they force him to forego or ignore certain values of his life. The same also applies to the natives in the interior of Congo who are forced to forego their culture and let the Europeans determine their future.
As a result, with their inability to change the present situation, the colonized retire to a frozen state, and allow their history and future to atrophy. Overall, by allowing the colonizers to determine their future, the colonized loose their freedom, self-determination, and self-sufficiency; the qualities much needed in order for an individual to see the truth and overcome the fear of the unknown.
Conclusion
The essay reviews the theme of colonization as depicted in the two novels, ‘The Metamorphosis’ and the ‘Heart of Darkness’ by comparing how the two authors support the theme in their respective pieces of work, and their use of language, structure, characterization, and imagery to convey the message.
From the discussions above, it is worth noting that the two authors present their characters under different circumstances but achieve to show that colonizers and the colonized appear in different cultures and circumstances. Further, the foregoing discussions show that the two cultures described in the two novels share certain attributes. Here, it is certain that the existentialist ideas hold in that readers can note that the universe is indifferent and very hostile to humankind.
Furthermore, no human being is able to explain his or her existence, and thus, life is approached from different angles relative to individual experience. On the other hand, we note that isolation, despair, and anxiety form an integral part of life. Finally, the truth is purely determined by one’s own conventions rather than external forces. However, the freedom of choice enjoyed by each individual predisposes one to the consequences of his or her actions.
Overall, reading diverse literature and getting to discover mankind’s commonalities enables one to uncover a wide range of premises upon which different literally works are written. Additionally, this experience allows one to take note of the fact that different literally works are based on real-life events and activities, which affect mankind in different ways and under different circumstances. However, these problems do also share common solutions.
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of darkness. New York: Plain Label Books, 1975. Print.
Kafka, Franz. The metamorphosis: literary touchstone. Clayton, Delaware: Prestwick House Inc, 2005. Print.
Kafka, Franz, and Jarvis, Martin. Metamorphosis. New York: Lulu.com, 2008. Print.
Stream of consciousness is a flow of ideas and images without any particular order. Sang discusses that stream of consciousness is “composed of the continual activity of the characters’ consciousness and shower of impressions” (173). Stream of consciousness is associated with direct and indirect interior monologue.
Direct interior monologue includes the characters unuttered thoughts presented in a way that they are unregulated by the author’s language. The indirect interior monologue consists of the character’s thoughts as presented by the omniscient narrator (Sang 173).
Stream of consciousness may be characterized by a continuous flow of words that violate grammatical order. The theme of words may shift from the motif that initialized the process.
Abram & Harpham discuss that a stream of consciousness may be used as an alternative to the omniscient perspective (274). When the story is not being narrated by an all-knowing figure, it gives “the readers the illusion of experiencing events evolving before their own eyes” (Abram & Harpham 274). In this case, the reader can realize the difference between thoughts and actual events.
The stories vary in that ‘The Dead’ is narrated from a third-person point of view while the ‘Heart of Darkness’ is narrated from a first-person point of view. In the Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s vivid descriptions about people and places are closely related to his personal view about them.
One of the characteristic of stream of consciousness is that it consists of “waves upon waves of words” (Cahir 53). In ‘The Dead’, the stream of consciousness is not a continuation of the narrator’s perception. It is Gabriel’s flow of ideas from the conscious mind.
The Dead
The Dead is narrated by an omniscient character. The narrator is able to present the thoughts of Gabriel in an indirect interior monologue. It differs from the Heart of Darkness direct interior monologue. The syntax is presented in correct grammar because it is an indirect interior monologue.
Gabriel stream of consciousness after the conversation with Miss Ivors states, “How cool it must be outside! How pleasant it would be to walk alone, first along the river and then through the park! The snow would be lying on the branches of trees and forming a bright cap on top of the Wellington Monument. How much more pleasant it would be there than at the supper table!” (Joyce 8).
In this part, the stream of consciousness is used to tap the emotions of the reader about the tour to the western part of Ireland. In reality, the tour is unlikely to take place. The reader is able to capture some images even though the real event did not take place. The stream of consciousness is presented as what would have happened if the real event took place.
The author uses exclamation marks to capture the wonder of visiting a new place. It may give the reader the suspense of wanting Gabriel to visit the place as the story progresses. Visiting the western part of Ireland is used in other conversations. It is the author’s means of capturing the reader’s attention on further discussions about the tour.
Joyce uses stream of consciousness on Gabriel after a conversation with her wife. The conversation resulted in the necessity to bring forth childhood memories. Gretta uses teenage memories of a skinny boy. The boy deserved sympathy.
Gabriel forms these images out of consciousness as stated by the narrator, “He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a penny-boy for his aunts, a nervous, well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealizing his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror” (Joyce 20).
The author is able to intensify the level of sympathy of readers through Gabriel. Chatman discusses that reader has a tendency to “rehearse and comment upon past events” (194). Joyce uses the stream to make the reader reflect upon the moment Gabriel was wondering what would make a woman listen attentively to distant music. The reader may concur with Gabriel that it was unusual.
The syntax for this part is formed from short statements that are separated with commas. It indicates their perpetual flow. The images are formed in Gabriel’s mind one after another.
“He (Gabriel) wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From what had it proceeded? From his aunt’s supper, from his own foolish speech, from the wine and dancing, the merry-making when saying good night in the hall, the pleasure of the walk along the river in the snow” (Joyce 22).
In this stream of consciousness, Gabriel is alone and he tries to link his wife’s behavior to a cause. On this part, the character stream of images strays from the motif. Chatman discusses that the style has no “externally motivated organization of the character’s thoughts nor can the narrator make a selection among them” (194).
He was linking events (possible causes) to the effect (Gretta’s behavior). When he reaches at the image of Aunt Julia, he shifts from causes to pitying Aunt Julia. It shows that the stream of consciousness is almost unconscious (Sang 176).
The stream of consciousness is presented as a fantasy. It captures past events that the reader was unaware of. The narrator captures the moment of their courtship that otherwise would not fit into the context.
Gabriel was taken into a reflection that “A heliotrope envelope was lying besides his breakfast-cup and he was caressing it with his hand. Birds twittering in the ivy and the sunny web of the curtain was shimmering along the floor: he could not eat for happiness. They were standing…” (Joyce 17 & 18).
From the statement “he could not eat for happiness”, it indicates the characteristic of an indirect interior monologue where the author tampers with the order of the flow of ideas. The author uses the moment to explain to the reader Gabriel’s behavior after the presentations in the hall.
There is a contrast of thoughts. His wife thinks about the skinny boy she had in childhood. On the other hand, Gabriel is thinking about the best moments they had together. The reader may pity either Gabriel or the dead boy.
Heart Of Darkness
In The Death, the utilization of stream-of consciousness technique serves primarily the function of emphasizing the plot’s plausibility. The application of the same technique in Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness appears to serve the function ensuring the structural validity of the narration.
The author uses stream of consciousness much the same as in The Dead. It is used to capture the wonder of the unknown.
Marlow brainstorms that “Imagine him here – the very end of the world, a sea the color of lead, a sky the color of smoke, a kind of ship about as rigid as a concertina – and going up this river with stores, or orders, or what you like. Sand-banks, marshes, forests, savages, – precious little to eat fit for a civilized man…” (Conrad 8).
Conrad’s stream of consciousness technique is used more often than in The Dead. They are short statements separated by commas to indicate a free flow of images. They are presented from the direct interior monologue. In that case, the author has little influence on the outcome and arrangement of words (Sang 173).
Readers have a hard time shifting from descriptions and explanations given by Marlow to his stream of consciousness. The thoughts are derived from his past experience which he uses to form his expectations of the new places he visits. The following quotation illustrates the statement’s legitimacy.
“The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands; you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert, and butted all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off for ever from everything you had known once -somewhere – far away – in another existence perhaps…” (Conrad 67).
Conrad’s use of stream of consciousness is similar to its use in The Dead where Gabriel gives a description of the western part of Ireland. It generates suspense because the reader develops a longing for the character to visit these places.
Conrad uses the narrator’s stream of consciousness to allow readers to gain knowledge about his past and the kind of person he is. Self-reflecting individuals appear as those who are overwhelmed by their deep-seated irrational fears.
As a result of this, their expression of reality is distorted. Marlow expresses his uncertainty about reality by the statement, “The reality – the reality, I tell you – fades. The inner truth is hidden – luckily, luckily” (Conrad 11). From his massive self reflections, he doubts what he sees from what actually exists.
The reader learns about the character of Kurtz even before they are introduced to him. This is because they have been provided with bits of information about the character from Marlow’s stream of consciousness.
The use of the technique here is similar to its use in The Dead. It creates a longing for the reader to meet the character and the narrator to visit the places he describes. Readers become eager to see the narrator in the actual place.
Conrad uses the narrator’s stream of consciousness to tell the readers about his fondness with the sea. From the short stream, Marlow muses “there it is before you – smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, ‘Come and find out’ (Conrad 23).
By showing that Marlow interprets what the wind says, the reader can see the character of a seaman. It would be less effective if the author would allow the narrator to describe himself. People rarely see themselves as other people would. The reader can recognize his familiarity with the sea when he interprets the wind.
In the middle part of the novel, Marlow engages in a prolonged stream of consciousness that tends to justify his behavior of reflection and flow of images. The reflection is almost a page long. The Dead uses stream of consciousness technique of shorter lengths.
Marlow starts his flow with a conviction about truth that “the mind of man is capable of anything – because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future” (Conrad 73). From this perspective, the author assures the reader that Marlow is not completely irrational. He has reasoning and justification.
Marlow thinks that “… Principles won’t do. Acquisitions, clothes, pretty rags – rags that would fly off at the first good shake. No; you want a deliberate belief. An appeal to me in this fiendish row – is there? Very well; I hear; I admit, but I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced…” (Conrad 73).
Marlow seems to justify his reasons for someone within himself. Sang discusses the importance of the semicolon in ensuring the continuity of the stream in an ungrammatical order (175). The words are almost repetitive. For example, Marlow thinks “I hear; I admit, but I have a voice, too” (Conrad 73). ‘I hear, I admit’ are almost related. They are short statements that can be mistaken for childish talk.
The technique using short related statements is also used in the narrators thought about the slaves. Marlow sympathizes that “… They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now – nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation…” (Conrad 31).
From this illustration, ‘nothing’ is repeated almost immediately. Enemies and criminals are words that contrast. Following the two statements with “they were nothing earthly now” shows a shift from the motif of criminals or enemies. It is similar to Gabriel’s shift from Gretta’s cause of reflection to pitying Aunt Julia (Joyce 22).
Conclusion
Cahir discusses that the technique uses concepts, symbols and images which are the center of the character’s contemplation or meditation (53). It is evident in Marlow’s stream of consciousness about natural environment and Gabriel’s obsession with Miss Ivor’s tour suggestions. Conrad uses short phrases more commonly than Joyce. Joyce almost uses complete sentences to form the technique.
The technique is recognized through the flow of short phrases separated by commas or semi-colon. Cahir discusses that stream of consciousness “assembles words through an association of images, ideas, and emotions rather the continuity of a story” (53). In most cases, ideas are initialized by past images or future expectations.
Works Cited
Abram, Mabie & Geoffrey Harpham. A Glossary of Terms. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
Cahir, Linda. Literature into Film: Theory and Practical Approaches. Jefferson: McFarland, 2006. Print.
Chatman, Seymour. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. New York: Cornell University Press, 1978. Print.
The novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, a novel written in the late 20th century is a classic novel that addresses the issue of colonialism in Africa during this century. For most of the 20th century, the book has been considered not only as a literary classic, but also as a powerful indictment of the vices of colonization. The novel has been widely read all over the world and in the recent past, it has been declared racist and imperialist mostly by African critics.
Conrad, according to them clearly brings out the theme of colonialism in the novel. In the Congo, he is clearly not in favor of the Africans but as a portrayal of how Africans needed the whites to salvage them from the darkness they were living in. The Belgians, from the novel, have taken over Congo, and the native inhabitants are overworked in companies owned by the whites where they are overworked and brutalized. When describing the natives, Conrad presents them like they were trespassing in their land.
They are not supposed to walk freely in their land, and all their good land has been taken and taken over by the whites who have built magnificent bungalows. Africans are represented as ignorance as seen when the natives surrounded Marlow’s ship and started firing it with arrows he threatened them by a steamship whistle and they all run away foolishly. Conrad clearly contrasts white supremacy with the uncivilized way of life of the Africans, by describing Africans with negative adjectives.
European motivations and activities in Africa
The novel narrates a long and tiring journey that the protagonist who is European goes through as he finds his way to the African Congo to find Kurtz, another character in the novel. To some extent, the novel explains the white’s invasion in Africa as being well intended and bringing African to light for they had been living in the dark all through. When the whites went to Africa, they had the notion the Africans were backward people who were in dire need of civilization that entailed speaking of foreign language, wearing western clothes and conversion to Christianity.
This was not the major issue with the Africans. The main problem is that when the whites arrived in Africa their mission changed somehow and instead of ‘civilizing’ Africa, they started oppressing them by taking their land and forcing them to abandon their culture. Conrad tries to bring out this belief in the novel using the character of Marlow. Marlow represents the common European man with weird beliefs about Africans and colonialism as a whole. The story explores the historical period of colonialism in Africa to represent Marlow’s struggles. At the end of the novel Marlow seems to have changed his perspective about colonialism as he observes Kurtz dying agonizing on the things he had done in Africa.
Criticisms
The changing of Marlow’s perspective at the end of the novel makes Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness to be viewed as an attack upon colonization. This idea however does not auger well with some African critics like Chinua Achebe, who strongly believe that the novel is an imperialistic book in which Africans are represented as stupid and uncivilized. Africa itself is a place feared by the Europeans, ‘the dark heart’ and it is referred in the novel as the other world.
The title, according to these African critics, is a metaphor of Africa as a continent where whites who visit are risking their lives. Conrad’s supporters, on the other hand, defend him by putting out very strong argument. They argue that the main character in the beginning of novels talks about the Romans conquest over Britain and he compares this to what the whites were doing in Africa, robbery with violence. The statement, of course, does not support the act of colonialism. Given the fact that the novel is not written from a first person perspective, it does not present the voice of the author according to these critics.
The protagonist of the novel changes his mind drastically after seeing his friend suffer terribly due to the act of colonialism. According to these critics in favor of Conrad, it is clear that Conrad in the novel tried to bring out the hypocrisy of the white ‘civilizing” mission in Africa. The Europeans see the Africans as invaders in their land and are not ashamed to say so. From this discussion then it is not clear whether the novel is a colonial or a non-colonial text. The fact that the book is non-colonial however does not mean it is free of racism and colonialism. As a scholar one would ask himself several questions on this book but the line between the two sides discussed above is not clear cut.
There is yet another critic to Conrad’s writing by the name Peter Firchow. He counters the claim that the book is racist and imperialistic. He argues by saying that critics should consider the time the novel was written and this will make their criticism more objective. He starts his criticism by contrasting the definitions of racism and imperialism from Conrad’s time to today’s time.
It is quite clear that some of the vocabulary used by Conrad were common at that time therefore considered normal. The use of the word the word ‘nigger’ to refer to the Africans has a different connotation today from what it stood for about a hundred year ago. Firchow believes that what Conrad saw personally in Africa should not be confused with the Africa he describes in the novel.
According to this criticism, it is clear that Firchow is in support of Conrad’s novel and he believes that the African critics, such as Achebe, need to be more objective when criticizing a literary work. According to Firchow, it is not fair to judge a book written about a hundred years ago using today’s standards. From his criticism, as scholars then one can conclude that although Conrad’s book may be viewed as an imperialistic and racist book by some critics, they are other perspectives that can be taken whereby the other side may be considered.
Another critic on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is Hunt Hawkins who like Peter Firchow does not agree with most of the critics who criticize Conrad’s book without putting into considerations some important factors like time. He also criticizes some authors for criticizing the novel from one-sided point. Hawkins does not necessarily stand on either side of the critics, those who support and those who do not support Conrad. He says that some authors assumed the political aspects of the novel and pursued on the other perspective terming the book as non-imperialistic.
It means that if this particular group of people had pursued the book from a social perspective then they would have a different perception of Conrad’s idea. He tries to bring out both the negative and positive side of the book based on racism and he argues them out objectively. On the positive side, he explains his understanding of the change of the main character from the time we meet him at the beginning of the story to the end of the novel.
The character has changed his mind on colonialism and Africa as a whole. The other character Kurtz dies feeling so pained by the atrocities he had committed back in Africa. All these portray a picture that the author was anti-imperialistic. The fact that Marlow, the main characters compares the European power in Africa to that of the ancient Romans in Britain is another supporting factor. He compares Europe with the ancient Roman who robbed with violence.
Chinua Achebe’s perspective
From Chinua Achebe’s perspective, it is clear that Conrad is a racist and a very bad one for that matter who has no respect for Africans. He has explained his ideas about the novel in his essay An Image of Africa. This African critic criticizes Conrad as a thoroughgoing racist, and he backs up his opinion using the diction used by Conrad in his novel when referring to the Africans.
According to Achebe, Conrad uses the word black more than one time when referring to Africans, and this does not have a positive connotation. He also uses negative and dehumanizing terms like horrid and brutal when referring to the Africans. Achebe does not leave out the setting of the novel that is in Africa and yet Africans are not considered in the novel as ‘human’ characters.
He continues to argue that Conrad’s experience in the Congo was for a very short time, six months, and he was therefore not qualified to write a book about it. According to Achebe Conrad understood very little about Africans and to write about them was a bias. Achebe digresses from this accusation and says that the fact that Conrad visited the Latin America for a short period and wrote a book about them, which had no issues, mean that he deliberately chose to ignore the African culture.
According to Achebe the two rivers at the beginning of the novel are contrasted having the river Thames as resting peaceful, and the river Congo being rendered of no importance. It is quite clear according to Achebe that according to the writer, the Europeans were more important than the blacks were and, therefore, the Europeans had to come to Africa to give the Africans a sense of importance.
A racist or not
From the discussion above, one cannot clearly put label Conrad as a racist or not, it depends on the position one is standing for that matter. From the African point of view as represented by Achebe there is no doubt that the book is imperialistic. Conrad was not trying to portray the Africans as being inferior to the Europeans but to some extent, I agree with Achebe despite his weakness in considering the time factor. The reason behind this is despite the fact that it was a long time ago the title, the portrayal of Africa and the Africans is not positive.
Bibliography
Achebe, Chinua. “An image of Africa.” The Massachusetts Review 23, no. 5 (1977): 782-794.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of darkness. London, United Kingdom: Macmillan, 2010.
Hawkins, Hunt. “Conrad’s critique of Imperialism in Heart of Darkness.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 13, no. 12 (1979): 286-299.
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad The Norton Critical Edition, 4th Edition. Edited by Paul B. Armstrong.
Introduction
Colonialism can be viewed in three ways: from the colonizers’, from the colonized, and those who could be outside of both. Colonizers during the western exploration of the lands beyond Gibraltar pointed out noble reasons such as the spread of civilization and an advance culture for their seemingly insatiable conquests. Colonizers were viewed as having benefited from systems and government forms, as well as other scientific and knowledge advancements brought forth by the civilized colonizers.
And in the view of those who remain to be outside these two platforms, lies varying degrees of objective narration and untold pain and suffering of peoples, a minority that has been “victim” of revenge of ungrateful natives, and a majority that either disappeared en masse, suffered en masse, and of ignoramuses that deserved their lessons.
Conrad used a frame narrative where one character who sailed with the lead characters followed Charlie Marlow, a wandering seaman, narrating the story of Kurtz, the captain and Director of Companies in his adventures in Congo. All in all, there seem to be three personas for the narrator, all the more adding a blur on exactly pinpointing out whom of which the heart of the story pertains to. Nevertheless, this essay shall place the role of colonialism in this novella as an intended message of exploration on the evils of humanity and his so-called spread of civilization guised in colorful, albeit elegant wardrobe.
Discussion
A lot of coined description had been made out of the character of Kurtz the captain of the ship, Director of the Companies that sailed and explored a part of Africa for ivories in the 18th century. Nevertheless, one is to be noted, that of which Tzvetan Todorov (1975) aptly placing Kurtz as the center of the story that symbolizes the “act of fiction, a construct based on a hollow center”. And yet, Katkin and Katkin (2004), examined the novella as one “problem of evil in an dominated by crimes against humanity: the Congo during the reign of the Belgian King Leopold. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, published in 1899, is based in part on the author’s experiences aboard the steamship Roi des Belges on the Congo River in 1890. The narrative contains three representations of evil: the base, primitive, perverse allure of lust and greed in the deepest recesses of the human psyche; evil at the heart of civilization and modernity; and the banal complicity of ordinary people whose silence and denial allows evil to prosper”.
The narrative described London, either as the greatest town on earth, as “been one of the dark places of the earth,” or monstrous, amidst the bounty of nature where heaven and water meets earth and the less domesticated nature as the yawl Nellie sailed by Thames. Marlow was with four friends Kurtz, an accountant, a lawyer and other who remained un-identified but was the main narrator, men who lived on or near the sea, honorable and accomplished gentlemen of the British Empire at its Victorian zenith. As observed by Kaitkin and Kaitkin (2004), it was the narrator, and not Marlow who was obviously compelled to propagate the story beyond the intimate circle of the ship to readers who may be aroused to some new course of critical moral thinking or action.
At one point, Marlow pictured an adventurous man who, since childhood had dreams of getting to places still then unknown, thus, “…when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in the glories of exploration. At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, ‘When I grow up I will go there”.
Exactly as what ordinary men would, Marlow was an explorer, and adventurer who would not be intimated about the unknown, mysterious lands of far, far away. In fact, the lure was in the discovery of what lays ahead, as could be said about the early navigation competition of fleets from Portugal and Spain. Or even of the earlier famed Marco Polo.
The earlier presentation of a colonizer’s finer qualities in the novella started with the story of Dane Fresleven, known to Marlow as a captain of the Company who had a quarrel that arose from misunderstanding about two black hens where Fresleven suspected to be had in a bargain. Fresleven, as Marlow recounted, went ashore and hammer the chief of the village with a stick, and at the same time describe Fresleven to be “the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs…he had been a couple of years already out there engaged in the noble cause…and probably felt the need at last of asserting his self-respect in some way…”
In this manner, there obviously seem to be an injustice already done on Fresleven, and all the more graven when the captain, whom Marlow had to replace, died.
In a closer look, nevertheless, the death of Fresleven had the whole village “deserted, the huts gaped black, rotting, all askew within the fallen enclosures. A calamity had come to it, sure enough…” Of which earlier it also has to be noted that “The supernatural being had not been touched after he fell,” referring to Fresleven. There is the direct connotation between the white race, or agent of the colonizer, as the supernatural, and thus, congruently, the calamity had been caused, definitely by the supernatural: the whole village burned to the ground for the death of Fresleven.
As observed by Jean-Aubrey (1927), Marlow was filled with anger and indignation, fighting with an old native over two chickens. So much like the author Conrad himself, Marlow was changed by the experience of Africa and has become cynical as he returned to Europe, somber with knowledge of the world beyond of which it has become impossible to remain comfortable in what used to be known to him.
As generally understood, the group was of accomplished British gentlemen, so that when Kurtz himself, known to be universally charismatic man about whom his Intended (the unidentified woman who remained in England betrothed to Kurtz) says with unintended irony: “Men looked up to him—his goodness shone in every act. His example…” encounter with the primitive, Marlow asserts that Kurtz became savage in the “region of the first ages,” which is disconnected from the restraining impulses of civilization, untrammeled, without sidewalks, policemen or the restraining voices of neighbors and public opinion, containing only solitude and silence without the “holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums” putting contrast between savagery and civilization, representing the colonizer and the colonized.
Nevertheless, Marlow recounts that Kurtz himself had presided at “midnight dances ending with unspeakable rites, which—as far as I reluctantly gathered from what I heard at various times—were offered up to him—do you understand—to Mr. Kurtz himself” indicating the subjugation Kurtz was able to accomplish on the natives of Congo. Kaitkin and Kaitkin (2004) commented, “This is a manifestation of evil more radical than the Faustian bargain with the devil; Kurtz falls into evil as some men into love” which is a direct opinion that the people and the culture of Africa were themselves evil, and that the agent of the colonizer has been induced or seduced to some effect to turn him into a new being from he was before.
It has to be noted, though, that Conrad’s Congo diaries indicate that he met brutal men such as Edmund Barttelot who bit, whipped, and murdered people, and Arthur Hodister who was famed for his harem of African women (Najder, 1978), Leon Rom described in the 17 December 1898 issue of The Saturday Review, as having had a collection of African heads on display “as a decoration round a flower-bed in front of his house!” (Hochschild, 1998, p 145).
Kaitkin and Kaitkin (2004), suggested that “The eccentricities and extreme behavior of these agents of European imperialism may well have left a powerful impression on Conrad’s memory and imagination. Furthermore, the trope, with its trip up the Congo to rescue Kurtz, arouses expectations of hidden horrors in the jungle darkness,” (p 590). This further suggests a separation of the former Kurtz from the new Kurtz, which, could be far from truth. While the environment generally affects an individual, a strong character remains as is, in the context of this novella, which Marlow failed to present.
It was further suggested that association of Kurtz’s radical evil with primitive subconscious elements of the psyche and exposure to the primitive conditions of Africa made it possible for Marlow (representing Conrad), to suggest that the greatest evil is not the cutting off of heads or hands or collecting these heads and hands as the European authorities did these systematically and on a grand scale (Hochschild, 1998) but on doing it in uncivilized rituals of lust and self-aggrandizement.
Kaitkin and Kaitkin (2004) rationalized that “the beginning of the twenty-first century, moral distinctions between the atrocities of savages and the atrocities of civilizations are impossible to justify. Heart of Darkness was written before the First World War, at a time when science, technology, and social institutions led not only to the ascendancy of the West, but also to belief in millennial progress. Only a few years later it became apparent that the blessings of the Enlightenment could be turned to aerial, mechanical, and chemical warfare. Before the twentieth century ended, modernity produced Auschwitz, atomic and hydrogen bombs, napalm, ethnic cleansing, and ecological disasters. We need not accept Marlow’s geography of hell that places Kurtz alone at the epicenter. For Adam Hochschild (1998) writing a century after Conrad, the central villain in the story of the Congo is the Belgian King Leopold—distant, patient, Christian, manipulating, technologically sophisticated—a thoroughly civilized and modern architect of power and wealth. Without impugning the quality of Heart of Darkness as it is, we may nevertheless observe that had Conrad fought the line of least resistance, the indictment of crimes against humanity committed in the name of the high civilization of Europe might have stood out in sharper relief to readers of his own and subsequent generations”.
Conclusion
Conrad presented the two faces of colonialism in the heart of darkness in the most objective way he could muster. In consideration of his being at that time, the presentation had been fair and innocent: agents of colonizers were human, that although previously been cultured in an advanced society, was still capable of change and influence of another. On the other hand, in the presumptive point of view as being the “superior” being or nature (due to knowledge advancements), the colonizer agents failed to consider the equality between human beings irrespective of race, color and culture.
Achebe (1994) neutralized Conrad’s one-sided innocence, but nevertheless, suggested another European generalization that Western culture and practice is way above “others” which is Africa in this context.
Colonialism seems to root from the very nature of man to conquer and subjugate. And from this emerges rationale that could be thwarted by the need to fulfill these manly desires spelled succinctly as “p-o-w-e-r” to this day. Colonialism, in Conrad’s novella is just one of the few threads that are interloped and remained un-raveled in the effort to define man and his desires. Although it remains as the most evil in all of the threads of the novella, Conrad seem to have failed to emphasize it.
References
Achebe, Chinua (1994). Things Fall Apart. Anchor Hochschild, Adam (1998). KING LEOPOLD’S GHOST. The Saturday Review.
Jean-Aubrey, G. (1927). JOSEPH CONRAD, LIFE AND LETTERS 141-43.
Maier-Katkin, Birgit, Maier-Katkin, Daniel (2004). “At the Heart of Darkness: Crimes Against Humanity and the Banality of Evil”. Human Rights Quarterly – Volume 26, Number 3, pp. 584-604
Najder, Zdzislaw (1978). JOSEPH CONRAD, CONGO DIARY AND OTHER UNCOLLECTED PIECES.
Okafor Clement Abiazem (1988). “Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe: Two Antipodal Portraits of Africa.” Journal of Black Studies 19 (1) 17-28.
Todorov, Tzvetan. (1975) “Knowledge in the Void” (trans. By Putnam, Walter III.) Conradiana 21 (1989).
Joseph Conrad used a combination of metaphors and symbols in his best short novel, “The Heart of Darkness”, to engross and intrigue his readers from its beginning till its conclusion (1995). As the title implies, Conrad used ‘darkness’ to portray the people involved, the nature around them, their ulterior motives, and the symbolic darkness takes different connotations that are not easily understood until the story progresses. The story, written in 1899, is about the struggle of two civilized Europeans, Marlow, and Kurtz after they ventured into the ‘darkness’ of uncivilized Africa. Conrad’s poetic language paints images in the reader’s mind, and the metaphors are deployed to animate these images and breathe life into them. The clever use of language and imagery are clear reflections of his linguistic acumen. “Heart of Darkness” is one of the excellent examples of Conrad’s ability to manipulate abstract language and vivid imagery to attain his goal to enthrall his readers.
The main ideas
The main ideas in the story are interspersed with myth, imagery, complex irony, and symbols to intrigue his readers. Heart of Darkness contemplates darkness, predominant in men’s hearts, and what they become after they leave civilization, through the characterization of Kurtz, an unscrupulous ivory trader in the dark African Congo. The cruelty of the human mind, which is capable of “anything,” is cleverly established with the statement “because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future” (Conrad 1995. p.63). The artistic triads of poetry, painting, and music inherent in Conrad come to the fore from the narration of Kurtz’s painting “representing a woman draped and blindfolded carrying a lighted torch. The background was somber—almost black. The movement of the woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight on the face was sinister.” (ibid p.79). Conrad uses the conceptual symbol of darkness as evil, debauchery, despondency, and ignorance and also use it for differentiating it with light, the source of strength, radiance, and wisdom.
Symbolism in the novel
The ‘Heart of Darkness’ is replete with symbolism, from the beginning till the end, and Conrad uses nature to symbolize every situation in the story. The narrator Marlow, through whom the story is delivered, is symbolized as an ‘idol’, a preaching Buddha (p.16) and his companion felt meditative and fit for ‘nothing but placid staring. For them the evening sky “without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light” and “in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low” (ibid p.16). To Marlow “light came out of this rive (river Thames) since—you say, Knights? Yes; but it is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. … But darkness was here yesterday.”(ibid p.19) This symbolic reference to Roman aggression to England is comparable with the colonizer’s present effort to plunder Africa. Comprehensive use of myth to forewarn Marlow is expressed through the symbols of two women, knitting black wool on his first entering the Company’s office, in the ‘white sepulchered city’, to take up his new assignment. The phrase “whited sepulcher” derived from the Bible implies something beautiful outside but horror within. This whited sepulcher symbol with the Company’s Brussels office hints at cruelty, dehumanization, and even death unleashed on the natives of dark Africa from a White company intended to civilize them. For Marlow, the women evoked the image of “two guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continually to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cheery and fooling faces with unconcerned old eyes”(p.26). This prompts the readers to reminisce Greek mythology of three Goddesses Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos- known as The Fates, believed to represent the cyclic nature of human destiny: past, present, and future. The notion that human fate is spun around a person at birth by divine spinners, and each goddess took her turn in manipulating this thread, symbolizes three stages of life or experience that shall not be manipulated by an individual and Conrad emphasizes that neither Marlow nor Kurtz is excluded from this universal truth.
The comparison of burning up of a grass shed with “the earth had opened to let an avenging fire consume all that trash” and disappearance of the nigger accused of this incidence with “the wilderness without a sound took him into its bosom again” are unique examples of Conradian symbolism with nature and human inconsistency ( ibid p.44-45). The river Congo is compared with “resembling an immense snake uncoiled,” and this serpentine imagery, with its head placed in the sea and tale winding up, recedes into the dark forest. It swallows and crushes all the steamers entering into it and this squeezing and crushing have been experienced by Marlow and his team, “going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginning of the world when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings” (ibid p. 59). Here, Conrad symbolizes big trees as kings in the primitive world where no humans ruled the land. The journey upstream of river Congo, through “trees, trees, millions of trees, massive, immense, running up high, and at their foot, hugging the bank against the stream” by the steamer like sluggish beetle depicts the supremacy of nature and inability of humans to surmount it (ibid p.61). They were “wanderers on a prehistoric earth” the earth seemed ‘unearthly’ where the inhabitants were not inhuman, but “remote kin” (p. 62-63). Marlow’s words that “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 brutal instincts by the memory of gratified and monstrous passions,” when he encountered Kurtz in the dark island are another allegorical situation with wild nature and downfall of an idolized civilized man, Kurtz (ibid p. 106-107). Ultimately Conrad pays his obituary to Kurtz with his typical irony that the “shade of the original Kurtz” who was an “impenetrable darkness” “whose fate it was to be buried presently in the mold of primeval earth” (ibid p.110-111). As a classic writer, Conrad successfully stimulates and excites the mind of his readers, through the clever use of symbols of nature to convey the sense of realism, in his novella “Heart of Darkness.”
References
Conrad, Joseph. 1995. Heart of Darkness with the Congo Diary. Hampson, Robert. (Ed.) London: Penguin.
The focal point of the paper is to prepare a compare and contrast scenario between the movie Heart of Darkness by director Nicolas Roeg, starring Tim Roth and John Malkovich, released in 1994 by Turner Home Ent, and the novel ‘Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe published in 1999. These two works are a mirror image of each other in the context of the portrayal of Africa from two opposite perspectives.
Discussion
Heart of Darkness is the story of Marlow who works for a British trading company engaged in colonial Africa and the chief merchandise is ivory that he barters with the natives. Here he meets Kurtz who is the alter-protagonist of the story. The movie is seen from Marlow’s perspective but the fundamentals of thought process are predominantly the racial insanity of Kurtz. He hates the jungle, the country, its people, and every associated with Africa. This is a thorough depiction of racial injustice, insanity, and greed.
In sharp contrast, Achebe’s novel is on the other side of the story. ‘Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe narrates the story of the moving and tragic character of Okonkwo. He is one of the most respected elderlies in his village and holds enough power to influence his population. However, Okonkwo is helpless once he finds British colonization creeping in and destroying the traditional parameters of the village and their culture as a whole along with the ramification of their religion with the invasion of Christian missionaries.
We find that the British administration, being more civilized, imposing their culture on the African communities and incorporating laws that they find hard to understand and digest. The book narrates the hard nature of these foreign invaders. It tells us from the point of view of the oppressed and colonized how they considered the native population to be sub-human and eradicates all cultural and social aspects that are considered traditional. The book makes one aware of the dark side of imperialism that in common perception was viewed as a noble helpful norm and a ‘white man’s burden to civilize the natives.
This was a huge blow for a community that was a complex culture, rich with history and tradition. We found earlier that this society was bonded with various ancient traditional rules, which were even operational even in art. The author mentions, “Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.” (Achebe, 5) Thus, it is evident that when the colonial forces invaded their life things began to fall apart for Okonkwo and his community.
Kurtz, himself, is the face of this colonial force. He kills a monkey by breaking its neck in a joking gesture and wraps it around Marlow’s neck as if the elements related to Africa are disposable and he is the owner of this land. This was the basic psyche of the colonials in Africa. It was as if these invaders were doing a favor to the natives and any injuries to the continent, its population, or nature caused by them were depicted as collateral damage. (Roeg, 1) People like Kurtz had no other intention but to use the local resource and satisfy his greed, which was fundamentally never to diminish, at the cost of the local population for which, people as Okonkwo paid the price.
Okonkwo and his community quickly found out that they were no longer the master of their lands and missionaries with Christian motifs were systematically eradicating their beliefs. In return, Okonkwo gathered other leaders to upraise and destroyed the local church. This made the matter worse. The leaders were captured by the administrators and were humiliated and insulted.
Okonkwo tried to become more aggressive and planned to organize an attack on the white invaders. Okonkwo soon found out that even this attempt was a failure as the message was delivered to the administrators about the planning and thus the element of surprise was lost. This was the ultimate blow for Okonkwo and he decided to commit suicide, as there was no hope left even as the Ibo believed that committing suicide was an act of sacrilege. This was the height of things falling apart in Okonkwo’s world. He lost his position among his people, his land to foreigners, his religion to Christianity, and lastly his life and honor to himself.
If we look closely enough, we would find that during the 19th and the early part of the 20th century it was the time of building, developing, and sustaining a huge empire, later known as colonies, by the major players of European politics. It should also be noted that this period, the 19th and the early part of the 20th century, was also the fallout period of the essence of the industrial revolution.
The industrial revolution freed the entrepreneurs from the usual bondage of the traditional economy and for the general, it was the time for new social bondage free from the earlier pseudo- feudal economic system. In this context and social structure, it would have been very hard to digest the ideals of imperial expansions through the method of brutal strength but the authorities made the western world believe that whatever action was taken in the colonies was an good measure for the natives.
Conclusion
It is logical to feel sympathetic to Okonkwo just as it is logical to be dismayed and angry at the deeds of Kurtz.. his community was indeed uncivilized, in a western context, but it was his own culture, his religion. No matter how much superstition was present in Okonkwo’s society, it was his society and the imperialists had no right to impose their laws and rules on the natives. Both the works narrates this incident but from two opposing directions. One is the point of view of the oppressed and the other is that of the oppressor. This makes the paper a very interesting text as it presents a formulation of, in a way, cause and effect narratives.
References
Roeg, Nicolas; Heart of Darkness; Turner Home Ent; 1994
Achebe, C; Things Fall Apart; Wellington: Allied Publications; 1999
There can be no doubt as to the fact that Joseph Conrad’s novel “Heart of Darkness” and Francis Coppola’s movie “Apocalypse Now” significantly differ from each other, in terms of plot’s composition, geographical settings, and the most important – in how Conrad and Coppola exploit the theme of “white man’s burden” in their works. This can be explained by the simple fact that, by the time Conrad was working on his novel, White people throughout the world were not being infused with the psychological complex of “historical guilt”, as it became a commonplace occurrence since comparatively recent times. It is namely during the course of the sixties, when the obscure ideology of neo-Liberalism started to gain popularity among citizens in Western countries, which was one of the reasons why it became a gesture of good taste, on the part of “lefties”, to badmouth American soldiers, while they were executing their professional duties in Vietnam. What Coppola did, was taking Conrad’s idea that it is impossible to “civilize” non-White savages, and transforming it into the idea that the very concept of Western civilization, as we know it, is metaphysically evil. This is the most important difference between the book and the movie. In this paper, we are going to explore this thesis in detail.
Nowadays, Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” is often being referred to as such that criticizes the very concept of European colonialism. We can agree with such point of view to a certain degree, but it is not because the novel’s main character Marlow views the process of European colonists bringing the light of civilization to primeval savages as “immoral”, “intolerant” or “racist”, but because Marlow comes to a conclusion that it is something utterly unnatural for a White person to have any dealings with African cannibals, in the first place. As a true European intellectual of the 19th century, Marlow does not even consider Blacks as people, in the full sense of this word: “We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil… The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us – who could tell? They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces, but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity – like yours – the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly” (Conrad, Ch. 2). What shocks Marlow the most, is the fact that, by remaining in Africa for a prolonged period, White people are being deprived of a significant part of their humanity. He subconsciously senses that close socialization with Blacks, on the part of White colonists, represents a transgression against the laws of nature, and therefore, would have negative consequences in the future. Thus, we can say that “Heart of Darkness” is actually a prophetic book, because it is only today that we slowly begin to pay the price for the greediness of our ancestors – the countries that pursued the policy of colonial conquests with utmost vigor (Britain, France, Belgium), are now being colonized by hordes of non-White illegals themselves, with the status of White natives of these countries being gradually reduced to “second class citizens”. In his novel, Conrad does not criticize the adventurous spirit, which prompted European explorers to set foot on the African continent in the first place, but White men’s tendency to forget their true calling as promoters of cultural and scientific progress, in time when they begin to think of material enrichment as the only purpose of their existence. This is how Marlow describes the White men that traveled on a steamboat with him, up the Congo river: “Their talk was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage; there was not an atom of foresight or of serious intention in the whole batch of them” (Conrad, Ch. 1). There is no doubt in Marlow’s mind as to the fact that Blacks around him are dangerous and bloodthirsty sub-humans, who should be treated with utter caution; however, it is not them who terrifies him the most, but his own people, as their sheer greed turns Marlow’s companions into the beings that are even worse than African cannibals. We can compare Marlow to the character of Ripley, in the movie “Aliens” – at one point in this movie, Ripley realizes the Carter Burke (corporate lawyer for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation), is even more vicious and evil than the embodiment of evilness themselves – aliens, as he is willing to cause harm to his own kind, simply because of his greed for money.
In Coppola’s movie, the theme of “White evilness” acquires entirely different subtleties – whereas Conrad perceives such evilness as deriving out of White people’s willingness to descend to the level of savages, Coppola portrays it as the result of Westerners’ (American soldiers) inability to perceive Vietnamese and Cambodian peasants as humans, in the full sense of this word: “They train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!” (Corky.Net. 2002). Coppola’s Kurtz is an individual suffering from a nervous breakdown, which came as a result of Kurtz’ personality being split in half – on one hand, he originally believed that American soldiers were being sent to Vietnam to protect the democracy, on the other, he eventually came to the realization of a simple fact that there can be no democracy among people whose vocabulary consists of 100 -150 words. Whereas Conrad’s Kurtz mental inadequacy is being presented to us as such that originate in the fact that he did not maintain any contacts with Western civilization for a long time, Coppola’s Kurtz insanity appears to have been triggered by the colonel’s inability to perceive the notion of “people’s equality” as nothing but a myth. Conrad’s Kurtz holds absolutely no illusions as to the fact that African savages can never be civilized, whereas Coppola’s Kurtz’ hypertrophied sense of idealism causes him to turn against his own people, as “inhuman”, simply because he proved himself as being incapable to put the notions of Western morality aside while trying to survive in a socially hostile environment. Conrad’s Kurtz was able to do that – he did realize that it is no longer possible for a White man to act like a White man while being surrounded by savages. Yet, he failed at embracing the “spirit of darkness”, no matter how hard he tried; because, just like any White person, Kurtz was born to represent light. This is the reason why Marlow suggests that “existential emptiness” was Kurtz’s main psychological trait: “The wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude – and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core” (Conrad, Ch. 3). On the other hand, Coppola’s Kurtz is full of ideas, yet these ideas appear as being essentially counter-productive, because they are nothing but a result of Kurtz’ inability to adjust psychologically to the realities of the Vietnam war, as not just a war between ideologies, but the war between races. While trying to pose as a man “beyond morality”, Coppola’s Kurtz is nevertheless is being revealed to us as someone deeply affiliated with Judeo-Christian mentality, which he subconsciously strives to impose on others, while lacking the intellectual honesty to admit it even to himself: “We went into a camp to inoculate the children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for Polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn’t see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm… I cried… I wept like some grandmother” (Corky.Net. 2002). This part of Kurtz’ monologue provides us with insight into his existential mode as representative of the post-WW2 generation because it was only after the end of WW2 that White people, throughout the world, began to willingly yield their status of undisputed masters of the world, as the result of being subjected to neo-Liberal and Christian indoctrination. This is the reason why, apart from being insane, Coppola’s Kurtz also appears as being an utterly sentimental individual. He wonders how is it possible to remain a moral and civilized person and to still be able to slaughter non-Whites as wild animals: “You have to have men who are moral…and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling…without passion… without judgment… Because it’s a judgment that defeats us” (Corky.Net. 2002). Such thoughts would never occur to Conrad’s Kurtz, simply because he never had even the slightest doubt that it is absolutely permissible to treat non-White savages in the way we treat animals and insects and that the considerations of conventional morality simply have no place in the process. Do we like chicken? Then we build chicken farms so that we can have an unlimited supply of chickens. Do we find cats and dogs useful? Then we create even more of these pets’ pedigrees, by subjecting them to crossbreeding. Rodents destroy our crops? Then we simply exterminate rodents in a wholesale manner. African Blacks can help us in building schools, factories, and railroads? Then we hire them as physical laborers. Do they begin to shoot at us? Then we mowed them down with machine guns or distribute typhus’ infected blankets among them. It is not the utter uselessness of dogmas of Western morality when applied to African realities, which bother Conrad’s Kurtz the most, but the fact that he had lost his faith in these dogmas as an objective category. In its turn, this came about as the result of Conrad’s Kurtz beginning to realize that there was much more in common between himself and the African “sub-humans” than he would be willing to admit, simply because both: Whites and Blacks are the subjects of Darwinian evolution. Therefore, whereas Coppola’s Kurtz experiences a psychological discomfort from realizing that Vietnamese savages are just as human-like himself, Conrad’s Kurtz is being psychologically troubled by the realization of the fact that essentially, he is a beast, just like African cannibals. This is why Conrad’s Kurtz strives to deny the humanity in Africans – he does it to simply relieve his own psychological anxieties: “When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages – hate them to the death” (Conrad, Ch. 3). Coppola’s Kurtz, on the other hand, strives to deny humanity within itself, for exactly the same reason – he simply wants the surrounding reality to begin making more sense in his eyes: “There is nothing I detest more than the stench of old lies” (Corky.Net. 2002). Apparently, both characters can be described as living “beyond good and evil”, yet they utilize different psychological tools to achieve the state of “existential transcendence”. This is the most fundamental difference between Conrad and Coppola’s visions of Kurtz.
Thus, we can say that even though, both: “Heart of Darkness” and “Apocalypse Now” deal with essentially the same concept of “white man’s burden”, the book and the movie provide us with metaphysically different outlooks on the issue. “Heart of Darkness” is the attempt to explore the process of a White man’s mentality undergoing a psychological transformation, as the result of such a man being forced to socialize with non-Whites for a lengthy period of time. It is being written by a White writer for White readers, which is why it is now being often referred to as a “racist piece of garbage” by self-appointed spokesmen for tolerance, such as Chinua Achebe, for example, who in his article “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” had suggested that “Heart of Darkness” should be banned from public libraries, simply because Conrad’s novel does not contain panegyrics to the concept of “racial equality”: “Marlow/Conrad touched all the best minds of the age in England, Europe and America. It took different forms in the minds of different people but almost always managed to sidestep the ultimate question of equality between White people and Black people” (Achebe, 2002). “Apocalypse Now”, on the other hand, is one among many Hollywood movies, which were intended to discredit America’s anti-Communist stance, during the course of the Vietnam War, simply because the propaganda of anti-Communism in America, at the time, was threatening to expose many American Liberal politicians and Hollywood producers as agents of foreign influence. This is the reason why the original pro-White spirit of Conrad’s book is totally missing in “Apocalypse Now”. The movie strives to portray the social interaction between Whites and non-White natives as such that always results in causing a great deal of suffering, on the part of non-Whites, whereas Conrad’s novel portrays such interaction as being counter-productive namely for Whites, and then for everybody else. There are no powerful political undertones can be found in “Heart of Darkness”, while Coppola movie’s political message can even be recognized by small children – White people are innately wicked, they only kill and destroy, under the pretense of “spreading the light of civilization”; therefore, they will need to be instilled with a psychological complex of “historical guilt”, so that they would be more willing to open up their wallets while being approached by hook-nosed spokesmen for “interracial harmony”. Thus, Conrad’s novel and Coppola’s movie can only be formally related to each other (they utilize similar story-line); however, it would be a mistake to suggest that they contain essentially the same motifs, as it is being commonly assumed nowadays.
Bibliography
Achebe, Chinua “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”. 2000. The Modern World.
Conrad, Joseph “Heart of Darkness”. 2006. The Project Gutenberg EBook.
Coppola, Francis and Millius, John “Apocalypse Now – Transcript”. 2002. Corky.Net Feeds.
The role of a person in any business is significant because a person has extreme powers to control the situation and predict possible outcomes. However, the predictions can often be false and consequences can be unexpected. The qualities of a leader and the prolonged financial success cannot guarantee the further progress tomorrow.
The arguments to support this statement cannot be found with references to Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness and to the analysis of the financial crisis presented in The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report. In spite of the fact the situations are rather different, it is necessary to discuss the possibilities of the other outcomes and results.
Mr. Kurtz is one of the main characters of The Heart of Darkness. He is described by the other characters as the wise and successful monopolist who has the great knowledge and understands the aspects of life. His leadership abilities are prominent as well as his inner power (McCuaig). Thus, “Mr. Kurtz is a remarkable man” (Conrad 57). Mr. Kurtz is characterized by charisma and effective organization skills, but in reality, he reflects the behaviour of a tyrant which leads him to the rather inglorious end (Goonetilleke).
Nevertheless, paying more attention to the interests of the other people and being focused not only on material success but also on the progress, Mr. Kurtz could achieve higher results and more respect. Mr. Kurtz chose only one perspective from which it was possible to assess the advantages of having financial benefits. The other important aspects were not considered as key ones. That is why, the end of the story could be the other for the Africans and ‘civilized’ persons dependent on Mr. Kurtz in the case of choosing the other ways to realize the leadership abilities.
The participants of the financial crisis could also prevent its development while changing the perspective of their daily business progress. It is stated in The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report that “dramatic failures of corporate governance and risk management at many systemically important financial institutions were a key cause of this crisis” (“The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report” xviii).
Moreover, “the crisis was a result of human mistakes, misjudgments, and misdeeds that resulted in systemic failures for which our nation has paid dearly” (“The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report” xxiii). A lot of officials did not focus on the risks involved in the venture. That is why, they failed to find the appropriate ways with the help of which all the possible risks could be controlled or coped with. The report states that a lot of the monetary firms acted carelessly, and the companies’ leaders took a great risk while trying to work with very small starting capitals and while relying on the temporary funding (“The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report”).
Thus, having analyzed the situations depicted in the book and the crisis, it is possible to note that the whole nations became victims of the leaders who concentrated only on their welfare and prominence and could not predict the dramatic consequences of their actions. Taking into consideration the various risks associated with the business processes, the companies’ leaders could develop the effective decision to prevent or reduce the catastrophic effects of their activities. Thus, the responsible actions of the business leaders could prevent the development of the financial crisis in the country.
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. London: Penguin Books, 2012. Print.
Goonetilleke, Den. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Oxford: Routledge, 2007. Print.
McCuaig, Catriona. Heart of Darkness. Leicester: Linford, 2010. Print.
Georges Antoine Kurtz is an important character in the novel Heart of Darkness. Marlow is the narrator in the novel and he sets the stage for the story by saying that, “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, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” (Conrad, 2003, p. 7). This implies that the author is much inclined in portraying the world as a place where victory does not matter much as compared to the joy attained in developing human relations. The author does not give much value to the character of Kurtz. He is portrayed as a dealer in ivory who is sent to Congo Free State by a shady company from Belgium.
Kurtz is indeed a charismatic character who, by using advanced technologies turns himself into a literal demigod for the tribal people that lived around his station. In this manner, he was able to collect large quantities of ivory from the local people and soon becomes very popular in the entire region. The Belgian company’s general manager who is stationed along with Kurtz becomes jealous of him and plans to stage a conspiracy to get him out of his way. It is evident after reading the entire book that Kurtz is a man with several talents. He is a painter, writer, and politician in the making.
Many of the major themes in the novel are related to the character of Kurtz and his actions. He is a true example of a person with a heart filled with darkness. His actions reveal to Marlow as also to the reader the decadence to which humans can fall. Kurtz is in full authority at the Inner Station which is the company depot in the deeper interiors of the Congo Free State. Kurtz establishes his expertise in extracting maximum supplies of ivory from the natives which are more than what is collected by all the other managers. He is also dreaded because of his contacts with the higher authorities in the company as also because of the unethical practices he adopts while operating in Congo. Marlow meets Kurtz at a time when he is already in bad health and passes away before he can be taken back to Europe. Although at first Kurtz has a gracious objective in believing that he could assist the natives in improving their culture, but his experience in the interiors transforms him and his philosophies entirely.
A painting by Kurtz has been included in the book that depicts a blindfolded woman holding a torch against an almost dark backdrop, which symbolizes his past views. Kurtz is also a writer who writes pamphlets about native civilizations. He is aptly described in Marlow’s words as “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.” (Conrad, 2003, p. 66). The quote is indicative of the loneliness that Kurtz experiences and depicts the intensity of his emotions in being away from his homeland.
However, while Kurtz is in Africa he starts adopting corrupt practices, which is evident from the way in which he scribbles on his pamphlet to exterminate the natives by calling them brutes. He induced the natives to pay reverence to him and set up rites and rituals that indicated his nature as a tyrant. When the narrator in the novel, Marlow, sees Kurtz, he becomes sick with jungle fever and is on the verge of dying. Marlow gets hold of Kurtz and attempts to take him to his steamboat along the river. Kurtz passes away while in the boat by uttering the words, “‘The horror! The horror,” (Conrad, 2003, p. 69). This clearly indicates the horror situations that Kurtz experiences.
The character of Kurtz conveys symbolism that is important in understanding his complex qualities as a human being. The background of Kurtz is aptly described by the author, “all Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz, and by and by I learned that most appropriately the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs had entrusted him with the making of a report for its future guidance,” (Conrad, 2003, p.49). it is true that Kurtz had gradually transformed himself into a savage who had no sentiments and emotions for fellow humans.
The painting by Kurtz represents taming the impulse by way of compassionate imperialism. The constant connection that Kurtz has with darkness depicts the reversal of his plans, with his life being surrounded by darkness. This was aptly implied when Marlow stated that the wilderness ran through Kurtz’s veins. Kurtz is depicted as being constantly related to shadows, which reveals that he epitomizes the archetype shadow of Marlow. The half-dead state of Kurtz has been explained in different ways. He is portrayed as being unable to walk properly in being as light as a child despite his great eminence. As acknowledged by Marlow, Kurtz is primarily thought of in terms of his voice only.
References
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction. Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003. Print.