Ministry of Darkness

of the cultures that molded them for both good and bad. Set in the dense heart of the Congo Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness revolves around an essence of European imperialism masked by good intentions. Throughout the novel, Conrad presents the world through the eyes of a European who is able to see both sides, civilized and savage. The two main characters, Kurtz…

strives to covey that acceptance of one’s own darkness, their shadow is curtail. For Le Guin, “the man’s mistake is not following the shadow. It goes ahead of him, as he sits there at his window, and he cuts it off from himself” (Le Guin “Shadow”, 50). By not acknowledging their darkness and weaknesses, characters in The Hobbit allow their inner evil to take over their behaviour completely. However Ged is able to realise that every person has this darkness and the only way to stop the inner…

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad encapsulates imperialism in Congo, Africa. It chronicles the avarice, and absurdities of European colonialism and its physical and moral consequences. It gives a terse analysis of how “natives” on their own continent were viewed as less than human and treated brutally. Hearts of Darkness have the capability of shattering a conscious mind of its innocence, and as a cautionary measure to my audience; bracing oneself for centuries of heart-rending episodes of…

explain it. Two works of literature that fall into this category are: The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, which follows the author’s experiences in the Vietnam War, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a novella that tells the tale of a man named Marlow’s journey through the Congo during 19th century. Heart of Darkness tackles motifs of prejudice and hypocrisy with the work’s main purpose being to challenge pre-conceived notions about the world and those in it. The Things They Carried…

The jungle in Heart of Darkness represents the imperialistic nature of The Company, and Mr. Kurtz represents the native people of the Congo. The reason for imperialism is to enlighten those who needed enlightenment, or those who were deemed lesser in development by the outside world. The imperialists, in this case The Company, see themselves as stronger, and more dominate over the natives. On page 15, the description of the jungle in contrast to “a tin shed and a flag-pole lost in it [the…

The world is full of constant change, and in literature, change is used to progress storylines, develop characters and prove theme. The novels Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe carry out similar themes while their main characters analyze African and Western culture. Heart of Darkness is Marlow’s journey into the Belgian Congo, where his identity is forever changed while being away from his typical European lifestyle. Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart ultimately…

The events that occurred in Africa during the colonial period are unspeakably cruel and just flat out wrong in many ways. The British saw opportunity in Africa after Dr. Livingston went off on the first exploration of unknown parts. Dr. Livingston went MIA in Africa, so months later the British sent Henry Morton Stanley to find him. Stanley ended up finding Livingstone in a small village on the shore of lake tanganyika. Stanley was working directly for King leopold, from Brussels. These two…

The main character of Heart of Darkness is a man by the name of Kurtz. Kurtz is going to Africa for the adventure, and the thought of getting rich with all the natural recesses from Africa. Once getting to Africa he begins harvesting ivory to then sell. Ivory harvesting fulfills Kurtz’s dreams of getting rich, but the more ivory he harvested, the more greedy he became, and the more ivory he wanted. He had become popular because of his successful ivory harvesting, he became the god of his life.…

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad details the horrific and gruesome effects of colonialism in Africa. As an employee for a Belgian ivory trading company, Charlie Marlow experiences these grisly conditions of the Congo; they help to create the dark atmosphere of the novella. The story achieves this effect in part by its use of grotesque imagery throughout the story, which is aided by the first person point of view of Marlow’s story. This horrid imagery aids in creating the inescapable…

Kurtz began his expedition into the metaphorical heart of darkness with intentions befitting of a talented, well-liked, embodiment of European ideals. It is fitting that such a talented man makes his journey into the very depth and not deal with the trifles of an arduous journey, but not all things come easy for…