Heart of Darkness
Joseph Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzenowski was born in the Ukraine, Russian Poland, in 1857 and died in 1924. His father translated Shakespeare and Dickens. Joseph learned to read English, but he could not speak it. When he was four years old, his parents were charged with conspiracy, and were banished from Russia. Both of his parents died when he was twelve years old; therefore, he was raised by a maternal uncle. He left home and joined the French Marines when he was seventeen, and made numerous voyages to the West Indies. While he was in the French Marines, he got involved in gun smuggling and joined the English Merchant Marines when he was twenty-two. He changed his name to Conrad and became an English citizen. In eight years he earned his Master Mariner's Certificate in 1886 and became a naturalized British citizen. In 1896 he got married and retired from the marines to become one of England's greatest novelist as well as one of the greatest prose stylist. As one critic notes, "Conflict and convergence of emotional and physical landscapes, morality, fidelity, solidarity, betrayal, and self deception and organizing concepts" are all images that are projected through Conrad's fiction (Beerbohm 195). Mr. Conrad has not written any f
The themes are political, personal, and metaphysical. Marlow goes to Africa with an abstract notion of adventure. He arrives to find devastation and brutality. Marlow accepts the inhumanity in Africa of the Europeans by doing nothing to stop it. Marlow realizes there is nothing morally substantial behind his journey. This portrays a metaphysical theme, in that he is on a journey within himself. This journey takes him "deep into himself and the horror, the horror as well as the jungle that has absorbed and changed Kurtz" (Kroll 86-87). As one critic states, "Conflict and convergence of emotional and physical landscapes, morality, fidelity, solidarity, betrayal, self deception and organizing are concepts in Conrad's fiction" (Beerbohm 195-196). Marlow is an English seaman, aboard a ship called the Nellie. The Nellie is anchored on the Thames River outside London, when the narrator, Marlow begins to tell his story. The story is based upon his trip to the African Trading Company in the Congo. The trading company is believed to be full of idealists; nevertheless, the idealists are on a mission to bring enlightenment to the natives in Africa. While the mission takes place, it causes mass destruction, because the Europeans begin to take the natural resources of Africa for money. Greed replaces humanitarianism. The Europeans set up different stations for work. The Chief Accountant manages the Outer Station. Kurtz manages the Inner Station. The Inner Station sends more ivory than all the other trading companies. This represented the worst of European imperialism, because the men had no values. They were greedy, competitive, and they lacked parts to fix a steamer. Kurtz is known as a genius. Many of the people begin to idealize him. Marlow becomes afraid of vast nature and begins to feel small and powe
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Approximate Word count = 1218
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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