Considered one of the greatest novelists in American literature and history, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is one of the most confusing yet most rendering novels. Conrad wrote this book with the inspiration after he sailed up the Congo River, a journey that provided much of the material for his most notable and highly regarded work Heart of Darkness. One of Conrad’s main focus is on the issues surrounding imperialism in the novel yet there is also a larger underlying issue of race and equality, within the overall story. The story revolves mainly around Marlow, the main character and his journey through the Congo River to meet Kurtz, seeming to be a man of great abilities. Imperialism, gaining indirect control over the political or economic
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It fills men with evil and allows them to act upon their own will. The main example of darkness is found within the station manager Kurtz, who performs such corruptive acts in the jungles that he eventually becomes ill and dies. The character of Kurtz could be considered as a catalyst for change, and the symbol for the Europeans' failure (his death) in the Congo. Unaware of his own evil, Kurtz is unable to fight the darkness within him which results in his death. The word dark in the title makes the reader wonder if there is any light in the novel, “There is a question of good and evil that is addressed within Heart of Darkness; the motifs of "light" and "dark" in which the darkness in Africa is separate from its "blackness", and the "whiteness" in Europe being far removed from the goodness of light. In a sense, light and dark are polarized” (Dalrymple). The author of the article explains that light represents the falsehoods and corruption in the world symbolized by white men, whereas dark is a symbol for truth, while the dark natives show the pureness and innocence of humanity. Though there is some ambiguity of whether the title "Heart of Darkness" refers directly to Kurtz' dark heart which caused his death, or to the darkness of the jungle, the answer is more likely, due to the extent of abusive and evil actions portrayed by all the white men, which only grows in intensity with their close proximity to the center of the jungle. The settings and symbols help portray the theme of universal darkness that Conrad alludes to. The setting’s relationship to the title is so ambiguous due to the numerous locations which propose the same idea that lead back to idea of darkness. “Conrad’s descriptive passages about the ‘interminable waterways’ of the Congo and the Thames River show the connection between humanity and darkness. Each river flows into each other, and lead into a heart of immense
It fills men with evil and allows them to act upon their own will. The main example of darkness is found within the station manager Kurtz, who performs such corruptive acts in the jungles that he eventually becomes ill and dies. The character of Kurtz could be considered as a catalyst for change, and the symbol for the Europeans' failure (his death) in the Congo. Unaware of his own evil, Kurtz is unable to fight the darkness within him which results in his death. The word dark in the title makes the reader wonder if there is any light in the novel, “There is a question of good and evil that is addressed within Heart of Darkness; the motifs of "light" and "dark" in which the darkness in Africa is separate from its "blackness", and the "whiteness" in Europe being far removed from the goodness of light. In a sense, light and dark are polarized” (Dalrymple). The author of the article explains that light represents the falsehoods and corruption in the world symbolized by white men, whereas dark is a symbol for truth, while the dark natives show the pureness and innocence of humanity. Though there is some ambiguity of whether the title "Heart of Darkness" refers directly to Kurtz' dark heart which caused his death, or to the darkness of the jungle, the answer is more likely, due to the extent of abusive and evil actions portrayed by all the white men, which only grows in intensity with their close proximity to the center of the jungle. The settings and symbols help portray the theme of universal darkness that Conrad alludes to. The setting’s relationship to the title is so ambiguous due to the numerous locations which propose the same idea that lead back to idea of darkness. “Conrad’s descriptive passages about the ‘interminable waterways’ of the Congo and the Thames River show the connection between humanity and darkness. Each river flows into each other, and lead into a heart of immense