Discuss the uses and effects of the journey motifs in Heart
The novella Heart of Darkness was written in 1899 by Joseph Conrad explores the idea of self-discovery and can be described as a story of initiation. Marlow, the protagonist of the novella, undertakes a boat ride up the Congo River in search of Kurtz, the chief of the Inner Station, however this journey, which can be seen as a journey into the self, one's 'inner spirit'. Throughout Marlow's journey, as he progresses up the river the reader is able to see 'the changes that take place inside'. Through the use of the physical journey in Heart of Darkness, the reader can see the inner journey that the characters in the novella undertake and the effects that their unconscious has on their thoughts and actions.Marlow is conscious of the fact that throughout his journey his moral being is subjected to trial, and makes an effort to comprehend the importance of his experience. Unlike the other people, for example the members of the El Dorado Expedition who have also been put into an unknown environment and cut off from original background, Marlow tries to understand what he is going through. At the start of Marlow's story he refers to his meeting with Kurtz as "the culminating point of my experience. It seemed somehow to throw a kind
This novella, suggests that those who are inept at controlling their unconscious, are in peril of becoming mad as is demonstrated by Marlow's trip up the river. For example, when he thinks he will have rivets, he momentarily loses his self-control (his hold over his unconscious) and behaves like a fool with the foreman. This juxtaposition of Kurtz with the heart of darkness sums up the ultimate purpose of Marlow's exploration. It is evident that Marlow is able to break away from the jungle as he has exercised restraint throughout his journey, however, Kurtz has been incapable of doing so, and has therefore fallen under its power. Africa is presented, when they are leaving, as an enigma, a place that may stand for an inner reality that is waiting to be explored "smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute, with an air of whispering, Come and find out" (pg 28). When individuals are faced with the depths of the inner self they become alert to forces which, in their usual state, they disregard or try to control. The journey into the self can bring about not just an examination of one's conscious thoughts and moral behaviour, but also a journey into the deeper recesses of the psyche, the unconscious (psychoanalysts like Freud and Jung considered this an important factor on people's behaviour). This emphasis on his journey as being an exploration oh the primitive and unexplained, once again showed by "rioting invasion of soundless life" and the muteness of the land, which is periodically broken by wild animal's noises and also the noises of the natives, but also by the sense of unreality and dream that Marlow experiences as he travels further up the river to the interior. Marlow's journey from Europe, to the Outer Station and then to the Central Station tests his ability to distinguish between good and evil since he witnesses such proceedings that draw out a moral judgement from him. However, unlike the pilgrims, Marlow has adequate consciousness to realise that he is being tempted to surrender to the wilderness outside and within himself. Marlow says that Kurtz has undergone "some devilish initiation" (pg 64) and the Harlequin tells Marlow that Kurtz "forgets himself" when among the natives.
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pg 51,
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