In Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, the entire point of the novel is about exploring one’s inner truth and facing the darkness that is inside every human. In this sense, Conrad has a more focused attention on the nature of man. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, Oryx and Crake, though the plot focuses on Snowman, and the events that led up to the near extinction of humanity, she uses the characters as symbols to represent the many different facets of man.
In Heart of Darkness, at the beginning of Marlow’s long yarn, Marlow mentions that humanity has a “fascination of the abomination” (Conrad 69) and that this has driven humanity to manage to create order out of chaos. This characteristic is what allowed the Romans to become civilized, and what allows the Europeans to commit atrocities in the …show more content…
The part of human nature is conveyed through the European’s constant battle with nature. For example, though the French warship that Marlow’s ship had passed was “incomprehensible, firing into a continent” (79), it did almost no damage to the jungle. “... a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech-- and nothing happened” (79). Even though the French viewed themselves as being superior and large, in comparison to the jungle, they were but a small nuisance. Marlow even comments on the Europeans inability to see their true insignificance as being a bit insane. Since the Europeans are so used to being powerful, they do not grasp that they can not defeat the wilderness. This is also conveyed when Marlow passes a boiler that is rusting and being overtaken by the vegetation around it. This is the ultimate symbol of this aspect of human nature. Even technology, mankind’s greatest achievement, is no match to the
In Heart of Darkness, at the beginning of Marlow’s long yarn, Marlow mentions that humanity has a “fascination of the abomination” (Conrad 69) and that this has driven humanity to manage to create order out of chaos. This characteristic is what allowed the Romans to become civilized, and what allows the Europeans to commit atrocities in the …show more content…
The part of human nature is conveyed through the European’s constant battle with nature. For example, though the French warship that Marlow’s ship had passed was “incomprehensible, firing into a continent” (79), it did almost no damage to the jungle. “... a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech-- and nothing happened” (79). Even though the French viewed themselves as being superior and large, in comparison to the jungle, they were but a small nuisance. Marlow even comments on the Europeans inability to see their true insignificance as being a bit insane. Since the Europeans are so used to being powerful, they do not grasp that they can not defeat the wilderness. This is also conveyed when Marlow passes a boiler that is rusting and being overtaken by the vegetation around it. This is the ultimate symbol of this aspect of human nature. Even technology, mankind’s greatest achievement, is no match to the