Heart of Darkness 11

A detailed Summary of Heart of Darkness 11

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is at its core the story of two men, Marlow and Kurtz, and their experiences with the evil that resides within mankind's soul. In many ways, Marlow and Kurtz are the light and dark selves of the same person. Marlow is what Kurtz might have been; Kurtz is what Marlow could have become. Both Marlow and Kurtz begin their stay in the Congo as idealists of some kind, Marlow in the adventure that he expects to find and Kurtz in his plans to "civilize" the natives. Both find themselves irrevocably changed by their journey into the jungle and the darkness that they find there. Kurtz embraces this evil and willingly sacrifices a part of himself in exchange for the power that it offers him; he becomes an agent of that evil and, in the end, is wholly consumed by it. Marlow on the other hand, is able to resist the temptations that doomed Kurtz; he leaves the Congo with a greater understanding of the mysterious and impenetrable darkness that dwells there yet is, frustratingly, unable to really quantify it in any specific or explicit manner. Marlow's inability to give more than a generalized description of this central subject parallels a corresponding incapacity in Conrad. The vast, abstract darkness that he

In a sense, it is trying to explain the unexplainable brings Marlow to the Congo in the first place. Like a knight searching for adventure, Marlow was drawn to the Congo, "the biggest, the most blank, so to speak" (p 71) place on the map. Once there, Marlow discovers firsthand the horrors of colonialism as well as an even greater pull in the figure of Kurtz, a mysterious and startlingly efficient agent living deep within the African jungle. Kurtz is first introduced quite casually to Marlow by the Accountant, who describes him as "remarkable" and "first-class" (p 84). At the Central Station, Marlow's vision of Kurtz is fleshed out to include such descriptors as "prodigy", and "an emissary of pity and science and progress" (p 92). When Marlow finally reaches Kurtz at the Inner Station, his first description of him is as "a voice ... grave, profound, vibrating." (p 136). In the end, Kurtz embodies for Marlow the same issues with meaning and understanding that are present in the rest of the book. He is a word, then a set of ideals, and finally a voice. Never does he truly become a flesh and blood person; he always remains an abstraction. He is given definition only by what others make him out to be; Marlow himself notes that, "All of Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz." His importance lies not so much in himself, but in the effect that he has upon Marlow. At first, this influence manifests itself as merely a slight curiosity for a man who appears to embody the same moral principles that Marlow himself has. He was, as he puts it, "curious to see if this man, who had come out here equipped with moral ideas of some sort, would climb to the top after all and what he would do when he got there." (p 99) As Marlow's journey takes him deeper into the Congo, however, Marlow latches on to Kurtz as a source of enlightenment and understanding, as someone beyond the hollow pilgrims, and managers, and Papier-Mache Mephistopheles that he had thus far encountered. So strong did Marlow belief in Kurtz's revelatory powers become, that when he thought that he would not have a chance to hear Kurtz speak after all, he felt as if he "had been robbed of a belief or had missed my destiny in life..." (p 120).

envisions is too complex and overwhelming to be reduced to a clear or explicit truth. Instead, the truths of the world that Conrad creates in Heart of Darkness are, like those of the real world, necessarily messy, suggestive, irrational, and general.

The very inability of Marlow and therefore Conrad to clearly portray the true nature of the darkness described within becomes a central theme. Nothing in Heart of Darkness is absolutely defined, no place names are used and, with the exception of Marlow and Kurtz, no names. Like Kurtz's final word, the lessons behind the book appear at first to hang tantalizingly out of reach. They may be understandable by people such as Marlow, who have experienced firsthand the what Kurtz was talking about, but for the reader, it remains as impenetrable as the darkest African jungle. After all, "the horror" is a rather general way to describe something. That very idea, however, is the key to understanding Conrad's purpose in his lack of specificity. Marlow admits during that course of his narration that his listeners are not likely to be able to understand his story because they are individual people who do not have the same background nor the experiences that he has had.

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Approximate Word count = 2305
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English