Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness follows a young man named Marlow during his travels through the Belgium Congo. Throughout the novel there are countless mentions of the native Congo people being inferior to the white man along with many mentions of the white man’s abuse of the natives. The seemingly constant symbols of light and dark can be interpreted to represent the complicated relationship between the two races, however there is a lot of ambiguity in the specific scenes. Contrary to this ambiguity however, the painting by Mr. Kurtz in the manager’s office and the native warrior woman create clear boundaries as to the mentality of the two groups of people. The warrior woman appears to be the native people’s response to the white man’s
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The woman appears out of the forest and walks along the shores near Mr. Kurtz’s hut. She has many attributes that are foreign to all the Europeans present for her appearance. One of the most obvious of these foreign attributes was the presence of “barbarous ornaments” (75). Not only do the accessories “jingle and flash,” but they represent her pride in her nation (75). This display of dissent from the European culture also acts to show the defiant nature of the natives against the Europeans. The woman also “treaded the earth proudly” to show her connection to the land the white people were invading (75). She is more loyal to her native land than to the rule of a European nation. Therefore, by “treading proudly” she is proclaiming her right to be there. Another reason as to why the native woman represents the resistance to Europeans and the pride of the natives is because she wears “brass wire gauntlets” and “brass leggings” in addition to having her “hair done in the shape of a helmet” showing her willingness to fight against the white man’s power (75). This attire also creates an irony in that the woman is using the skills and devices that the Europeans brought over, though not in the way they intended them to be used. She is embracing the European way of fighting and their dedication to …show more content…
The native woman is described as being and “apparition” and the woman in the painting is a one dimensional drawing. There is a change however when Marlow suddenly feels his senses being overloaded by the native woman. Her stare seems to bore into him showing her real purpose in standing against the white man. The painting however does not undergo the same meaningful transition. She is always just this image with no depth, and therefore no real meaning, acting as a rubber stamp to the white man’s true mission.
Together the two images of woman in Heart of Darkness contrast each other in dramatic ways. One is meant to represent the conquest of land that the Europeans saw as their rightful possessions, whereas the other is meant to show the true ownership of the land and the protection on the autonomy the native people desire. Through these symbols Conrad is critiquing the way in which Europeans at the time saw themselves as the superior race, and how the native people of Africa had more right to the land than white pilgrims ever
The woman appears out of the forest and walks along the shores near Mr. Kurtz’s hut. She has many attributes that are foreign to all the Europeans present for her appearance. One of the most obvious of these foreign attributes was the presence of “barbarous ornaments” (75). Not only do the accessories “jingle and flash,” but they represent her pride in her nation (75). This display of dissent from the European culture also acts to show the defiant nature of the natives against the Europeans. The woman also “treaded the earth proudly” to show her connection to the land the white people were invading (75). She is more loyal to her native land than to the rule of a European nation. Therefore, by “treading proudly” she is proclaiming her right to be there. Another reason as to why the native woman represents the resistance to Europeans and the pride of the natives is because she wears “brass wire gauntlets” and “brass leggings” in addition to having her “hair done in the shape of a helmet” showing her willingness to fight against the white man’s power (75). This attire also creates an irony in that the woman is using the skills and devices that the Europeans brought over, though not in the way they intended them to be used. She is embracing the European way of fighting and their dedication to …show more content…
The native woman is described as being and “apparition” and the woman in the painting is a one dimensional drawing. There is a change however when Marlow suddenly feels his senses being overloaded by the native woman. Her stare seems to bore into him showing her real purpose in standing against the white man. The painting however does not undergo the same meaningful transition. She is always just this image with no depth, and therefore no real meaning, acting as a rubber stamp to the white man’s true mission.
Together the two images of woman in Heart of Darkness contrast each other in dramatic ways. One is meant to represent the conquest of land that the Europeans saw as their rightful possessions, whereas the other is meant to show the true ownership of the land and the protection on the autonomy the native people desire. Through these symbols Conrad is critiquing the way in which Europeans at the time saw themselves as the superior race, and how the native people of Africa had more right to the land than white pilgrims ever