Darkness Brings About Struggles

A young boy’s dream to become a sailor would soon allow him to witness the world, and its true nature. The boy would fascinate over maps in shop windows; always wanting to explore the uncharted areas of the world. As a young sailor Marlow once again spotted a map that would allow him to experience the “real” world. The world that he had never seen before and may not want to see, but his decision to become skipper of a steam boat that would travel the Congo forced him into the position. As Marlow first encounters the offices of “the Company” he is stricken with a sort of ominous and disturbed feeling, and knows that he may not ever come back from his journey on the Congo. Throughout the novella darkness seems to operate symbolically and existentially rather than purposely. The entire novella is centered around the theory that darkness blankets all the world, but this theory is not real rather its metaphorical meaning takes on a stronger course. The darkness that Marlow must face throughout the novella, starting with the company, symbolizes one man’s journey to find who

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His external way of interpreting Kurtz’s broad forehead or the forest that surrounds the station provides him with a more insightful source of information rather than an interpreted theory of the internal message. he really is and he finds this through darkness and an infatuation.

Marlow’s way of thinking consists of interpreting what is on the outside of a person rather than what is within. The first introduction to Africa gives Marlow an uneasy feeling when he observes a small battleship firing into the vast and dominant jungle. Marlow senses the jungle to have an awkward tranquility, however not of peaceful nature, but rather “it looked at you with a vengeful aspect. They too are people with feelings and thoughts of their own, but are conveyed as horrific creatures who taint the “civilized” world. ” This form of darkness allows Marlow to begin thinking of what may be on the interior of a person because the slaves who are trapped and tormented by the Englishmen who have come to take over the land do not wish to look and be interpreted as “black shapes” who have no human traits. ” But, for the time being he is in Africa and traveling the Congo, a place in his mind who he has not yet found. He finally begins to realize the interior traits of slaves (real human beings), and not the creatures he once saw them as.

The jungle, the main darkness of the novella has its deepest impact as the steam boat and its crew of Marlow, the Manager, three or four Pilgrims, and thirty cannibals are on their journey through the Congo. It is an outlet to his need to find who he really is, and by exploring the world he is exploring himself. These “black shapes” have a non human depiction because they appear to look like dark shadows and ghosts creeping around with “attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair. Along with the ominous jungle Marlow witnesses dark “creatures” lurking along the jungle.

The struggle to find himself is why he must explore the uncharted world. And from the beginning he sees the darkness he must overcome, the jungle.

Approximate Word count = 750
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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