Heart of Darkness6
?gHeart of Darkness?h, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a wide range of references to problems of politics, morality and social order. It was written in a period when European exploitation of Africa was at a gruesome height. Conrad uses double oblique narration. A flame narrator reports the story as told by Marlow, assigned to the command of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an exploring expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an important trading post of ivory, located in the interior of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the reality through their work in Africa. Marlow felt great indignation with people in the sepulchral city after his journey to the Congo region because he discovered, through his work, the reality of the universe, such as the great virtue of efficiency, the darkness in society and individuals and the surface reality. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said ?gThe horror, The horror referring to his life in inner Africa, which caused him disintegration. Marlow emphasized the virtue of ?gefficiency?h throughout the story because he thought of it as the only way to survive in the wilderness. After seeing the dying natives in the forest of the oute
?htruth stripped of its cloak of time ?c -the man knows and can look on without a wink. But he must meet at least be as much as of a man as these on the shore. He must meet that truth with his own true stuff-with his own inborn strength?h(38). Moreover, the older woman at the offices was like a gatekeeper of ?gDarkness.?h These descriptions indicated that the real darkness was in greedy whites, who were without moral sense, thus dark-skinned natives were victims of darkness of whites. Through his work in the Congo, Marlow found only ?gsurface truths,?h which had been adulterated and concealed by European culture, not core truths. The reason why ?gthe meaning of episode [for him is] not inside like a kernel but outside?h(9) was that Marlow?fs viewpoint was trapped in these surface truths. He could not touch the inside of the kernel because he did not go deep enough. Furthermore, he just watched and judged things from the outside. Marlow expressed, The wilderness has power to turn Kurtz?fs heart black. Kertz made a pact with diabolic forces, which lurk within the jungle and then became depraved and deranged. Although he could not be totally evil, he massacred indigenous people and stole ivory from them without restraint. He alternated between being evil and struggling his former idealism. On his deathbed, Kurtz realized what he did to natives and himself and found himself as an incarnate of greed that lacked self-restraint. Hence, Kurtz cried ?gThe horror, The horror.?h On the other hand, Kurts went to natives and found the heart of darkness in him, which was the primal reality of a deeper region of his mind. Kurtz brought moral ideas to the
Some common words found in the essay are:
Congo Marlow, Africa Marlow, West Shoes, Joseph Conrad, Kurtz Due, Hence Kurtz, Marlow Kurts, Africa Moral, Africans Europeans, Heart Darkness, dying natives, congo marlow, heart darkness, darkness whites, indigenous people, real darkness, inside kernel, gsurface truthsh, natives found, congo region,
Approximate Word count = 1129
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
