Throughout Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the main character Charlie Marlow is surrounded by dozens of nameless people and places, from the various African natives and Europeans he meets to the “Company” that he works for. Even the narrator who frames Marlow’s story remains anonymous. In doing so, Conrad allows readers to control their own perspectives of the novel. By providing a specific name or location for something or someone in the story, Conrad limits readers on their ability to interpret the novel; through anonymity, Conrad is able to create a work that transcends time, a work that not only describes life in the late 1800s and early 1900s but one that can also be applied to many other events that have already occurred or have yet
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As Marlow descends further into darkness, he focuses all hope for regaining the “straightforwardness” he has lost by seeking Kurtz, a man who Marlow believes will finally connect the disparate poles of name and identity. However, Marlow is crushed when Kurtz is not the man he has expected; he is an “atrocious phantom” (73). But when Kurtz murmurs “The horror! The horror!” (69), Marlow’s faith is renewed in Kurtz. Kurtz has finally given a label with substance. While this label is extremely vague, it is the most accurate label given in the novella; it does not attempt to pinpoint a specific name or identity for the experience of Kurtz, but rather describe the “haze” surrounding it. Marlow, and by consequence the listeners of his story, are left to interpret the center or essence of his statement. Marlow does not admire Kurtz for his character or his “gift of expression” (47). He admires Kurtz for being able to do what Marlow cannot: name something with “belief…candour…conviction” (70). Joseph Conrad divulges in Heart of Darkness his frustration with the inability of language to capture the presence or contextual fullness of what it is meant to describe. Conrad reveals that a name cannot and should not try to reveal the essence of truth; at most, it can only hint at it. However, by attempting to allude to the “haze” rather than identify the essence, it may be possible to establish a connection between a name and its
As Marlow descends further into darkness, he focuses all hope for regaining the “straightforwardness” he has lost by seeking Kurtz, a man who Marlow believes will finally connect the disparate poles of name and identity. However, Marlow is crushed when Kurtz is not the man he has expected; he is an “atrocious phantom” (73). But when Kurtz murmurs “The horror! The horror!” (69), Marlow’s faith is renewed in Kurtz. Kurtz has finally given a label with substance. While this label is extremely vague, it is the most accurate label given in the novella; it does not attempt to pinpoint a specific name or identity for the experience of Kurtz, but rather describe the “haze” surrounding it. Marlow, and by consequence the listeners of his story, are left to interpret the center or essence of his statement. Marlow does not admire Kurtz for his character or his “gift of expression” (47). He admires Kurtz for being able to do what Marlow cannot: name something with “belief…candour…conviction” (70). Joseph Conrad divulges in Heart of Darkness his frustration with the inability of language to capture the presence or contextual fullness of what it is meant to describe. Conrad reveals that a name cannot and should not try to reveal the essence of truth; at most, it can only hint at it. However, by attempting to allude to the “haze” rather than identify the essence, it may be possible to establish a connection between a name and its