Theme Of Nature In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

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The Congo in The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the greatest obstacles that Marlow (protagonist) must face when he decides to journey to Kurtz’s station to meet the legendary ivory collector. On Marlow’s journey nature provides a constant and arduous threat that Conrad embodies as the jungle in the Congo. Nature itself in the book has a multitude of meanings and uses, such as an antagonist for Marlow, and a constant theme throughout the book. For Marlow, while on his journey he finds a great veneration for nature as he sees its raw power when left unchecked by humanity. Eventually, Marlow comes to believe that nature cannot be domesticated or controlled by man due to nature 's overwhelming power. In other words, Marlow believes …show more content…
When Marlow says “the earth struck me as something great and invincible” he is showing the audience that he believes nature is an extraordinarily potent force because of Marlow’s use of the word “invincible”. The word “invincible” is defined as unable to conquer and since Marlow uses it to describe the wilderness it shows the audience that he sees nature as unconquerable. When Marlow says nature is “waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion” he is describing humanity’s take over of nature as the “fantastic invasion” because he is fascinated that humanity has managed to control nature in such an advanced way back home. In the Congo however Marlow believes that nature is much more powerful and believes that it is “waiting patiently”. The phrase “waiting patiently” tells the audience that Marlow considers nature to be truly resilient and that it will not be fully taken over but will bide its time until it can come back after humanity thinks they have conquered nature. When Marlow uses the words “evil” and “truth” to describe nature he is implying that nature will always exist no matter what humanity does. Specifically, “evil” and “truth” are two words that have two very powerful connotations. The word “truth” is used to describe something that is factual and undeniable, While the word “evil” is used to describe something malevolent and usually tends to be very powerful. Both of the words “evil” and “truth” are seen as being powerful and somewhat eternal because of the belief that evil cannot exist without good and that the truth will always win whether it’s a physical and mundane truth or a more cosmic and eternal truth. When Marlow uses “evil” and “truth” he is comparing them to nature because he believes that nature is powerful and more

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