Apocalypse Now

Modernism gave rise in the nineteenth century and went through the twentieth century. Modernism is classified as a philosophical movement to modify the old traditional beliefs with modern society. Modern literary writers often represent the world as a fragmented and chaotic place that has lost the faith the previous generations once had. Two such modern authors are Leo Tolstoy who wrote The Death of Ivan Ilych and Joseph Conrad who wrote Heart of Darkness. It may seem that these two novels have…

Joseph Concrad’s Hard of Darkness Heart of Darkness follows one man's nightmarish journey into the interior of Africa Aboard a British ship called the Nellie, three men listen to a dude named Marlow recount his journey into Africa as an agent for the Company, a Belgian ivory trading firm. Along the way, he witnesses brutality and hate between colonizers and the native African people, becomes entangled in a power struggle within the Company, and finally learns the truth about the mysterious Kurtz…

Some critics argue that Conrad is exposing colonialism in his novel, one of those critics is H. S. Zins who claims that:" when Conrad was writing his anti–colonial and anti–imperial Heart of Darkness. In that African novella he described imperialism as robbery with violence" (1). This is true when he describes the Belgian colonization of Africa, but when he describes the British colonization he praises it and celebrating imperialism. Said in his book Culture and Imperialism states that: "Yet…

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is one of the most known novels in English literature. The story begins when Marlow, who works for a Belgian company, went on a journey to the heart of Africa as a steamship captain. Through his journey, he heard the name of Kurtz for the first time. Then the name repeated many times which made Marlow, who is our narrator in addition to another unknown narrator, interested to know about Kurtz. Kurtz works for the company as an ivory trader in the Congo which was…

The novella Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad in 1899, which is set in the Congo, Africa in 1890. It is based on the narrator Charles Marlow travels to the Congo, in the heart of Africa to relieve a brilliant ivory trader named Krutz, who is working for the Belgium Government. Rudyard Kipling described Imperialism as the “White man’s burden” as in his writings he shows that European countries were travelling to help stabilize and grow the economy in countries that needed it. However,…

How “Civilized” is defined in Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness. Introduction Heart of darkness is an English novella written by Polish writer, Joseph Conrad, and was first published in 1902. The novella tells Charles Marlow’s journey through Africa where he worked as a riverboat pilot in the Congo. His longing dream was to go on an adventure, exploring the mysterious land of Africa. But during that time, Africa was in a state of conflict due to slavery that led to many violence and…

Boesman and Lena The stage play ‘Boesman and Lena’ is a play set in 1983 written by playwright Athol Fugard. Athol Fugard centres the play on three characters from the Eastern Cape, Boesman, Lena and Outa. The play depicts the aftermath of the forced removals during the Apartheid Era and the results for many in real life at the time. This play also channels many concepts, including that of absurdity. Other themes of identity, displacement and alienation can be seen in the play too. This essay…

How the theme Colonization is shown in the novel the “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad? The novel “Heart of Darkness” is a story about Africa mainly Congo which was colonized by European. The story is narrated by a man called Marlow who goes to Congo as a Stream boat caption. Here Conrad describes the Europeans secret evil of colonialism and their approach to exploit natives. Colonization can be seen through Marlow’s eyes the way European are treating the Natives and the treatment of natives…

Human beings go across a number of flaws in their lives, and in these moments the raw instincts in their minds can overcome their senses making them commit some evil deeds. According to Conrad’s short novel about the imperialism of African during the ivory trade, the pressure of the hostile environment was a weakness to the protagonist and he had to overcome it so that he could preserve his identity that had a threat of being corrupted. The implication of the title “Heart of Darkness” has been…

Often people are blinded by their lust for power and wealth. Joseph Conrad, in the novella “Heart of Darkness”, explores greed through character, imperialism and symbolism to show the corrupting power of greed. The novella follows Marlow’s character as he embarks on his journey within the Congo. Marlow encounters Kurtz’s public persona, which Marlow is intrigued by. This persona for the reader, and Marlow, is tarnished by the obvious craving for wealth and power. It is emphasised by Kurtz’s…