heart of darkness
The point of view from which a story is told positions the reader to perceive experiences in the novel from a certain perspective. This is particularly true for Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Conrad uses two first person narrators within the text, one within the other; the nameless frame narrator who describes the happenings on board the 'Nellie', and Marlow - an interior character who narrates his adventures in the Congo. These differentiating points of view help to convey the symbolic significance of the impact the exterior landscape has on the 'interior landscape', or the development of the inner self. Firstly, the use of the two point of views provides the reader with two versions of reality. At the beginning of the novel, the frame narrator views England's past as one of distinction presenting an idealistic view of imperialism and therefore endorsing the European ideology. While anchored in the Thames, he declares that the river carries with it "the dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths [and] the germs of empires." Marlow, on the other hand, challenges this affirmation, suggesting that England "has been one of the dark
" By personifying the jungle with the dark capacities of the human heart, and by forcing Marlow to react apprehensively to this landscape, Conrad implies that what is externally 'dark' may have its counterpart within the human self. " This cyclical nature provides a sense of closure to the novel. " Thus Conrad suggests that the reason for Kurtz's degradation was that "he lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts. As he ventures deeper and deeper into the jungle, Marlow "penetrate[s] deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. When Marlow witnesses the "black shadows of disease and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloom," he is horrified at the brutal exploitation of the natives. Marlow functions as the norm against which the reader can compare the actions of other characters in the novel. The others (representative of Victorians) on board remain unimpressed as they have been throughout the entire tale - their indifferent reaction indicating their collusion with European imperial praxis. But Kurtz, having being exposed to the wilderness, is incapable of controlling his unconscious, participating in murder, raids, cannibalism and above all, allowing himself to be worshipped as a God. "At the conclusion of the novel, it seems that the frame narrator is the only one of those on the ship who is affected by Marlow's tale; in the end the two points of view amalgamate to reinforce England as the "heart of an immense darkness. " Each experience he encounters tests his capacity to discriminate between what is morally right and wrong. " The only thing preventing him from doing so was restraints such as time and work. Marlow struggles to explain the reason for Kurtz's defection from civilisation but then he too begins to lose his identity as a civilised man when he "confounded the beat of the drum with the beating of [his] heart. The reader is therefore positioned by Conrad to realise what those on the ship and European society have failed to see.
Common topics in this essay:
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God Marlow,
Darkness Conrad,
,
frame narrator,
heart darkness,
novel frame narrator,
reason kurtz's,
novel frame,
deeper deeper,
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