Subjects:
At the beginning of Heart of Darkness lies the first sign that Marlow has compassion for the natives. In describing his journey into the African Congo to some fellow crew members on the Nelle, Marlow says, ?The conquest of the earth, which
mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves
. . .
on to say, ?While I stood horror-struck, one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees and went off on all fours to the river to drink? (1969). In Marlow?s detailed description, it is obvious that he feels sorry for these men.
2
Obviously, his personal description lacks the racial slurs of Conrad?s time. The colonists pushed them to the point where their lives were meaningless, like savages living for nothing. The question he poses shows that he doesn?t completely understand the African people. Conrad writes, ?They walked erect and slow?I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had a collar on his neck and all were connected together with a chain?they passed me with that deathlike indifference of unhappy savages? (1968). He goes on to describe them shouting, singing and sweating. By expressing his feeling through Marlow, Conrad is voicing his disapproval of racial degradation. He calls them ?chaps,? as he did to his friends and co-workers that he referred to as chaps earlier. He writes, ?They had faces like grotesque masks- these chaps; but they had bone, muscle, a wild vanity, an intense energy of movement that was as natural and true as the surf along the coast?They were a great comfort to look at? (1966).
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.