The Implications In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

In the novel, as Marlow penetrates deeper inland in Africa, he learns more about himself and his similarities to the indigenous Africans, contrasting the darkness in the hearts of the imperialist Europeans. Late in the story, Marlow remarks in contemplation of meaning, ‘“droll thing life is–that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself–that comes too late–a crop of unextinguishable regrets”’ (Conrad 106). This is in reaction to the death of Kurtz, a philosophical conclusion that is what Marlow learns from the culmination of his endeavors in Africa. Marlow fathoms that life has no point and that everyone is clueless of that with their petty aspirations, especially …show more content…
It can be assumed that Kurtz’s dire situation was in fact inescapable since the discovery of Hawking radiation did not occur until about a century subsequent to Conrad’s publication of the novel. Marlow states that he reached the “event horizon” of the heart of darkness enough to see the reality of imperialism. Yet, Marlow describes the situation as not seeing, but learning about the inside of the heart of darkness. This matches the fact that darkness cannot be seen, but data can be gathered from it. Marlow manages to suppress the pull of the darkness within him and escape it while still knowing about it, which is why he gathers that he has survived and Kurtz, too susceptible to the powers of the shadows, perished. Marlow understands the corruption of the Europeans at the expense of the oppressed natives, and discerns how that inhumanity exists in himself and his kind, ultimately leading him to discover that he empathizes more with the inhabitants of Africa than with the culture he grew up a part