post colonial view of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
>Most of Joseph Conrad's work was based with a sea background as he himself >was a seaman rising from the rank of an ordinary seaman to the position of a >Master Mariner.it was during this period that he undertook a voyage into the >Belgian Congo and the scenario of "HEART OF DARKNESS".In 1888 the world >newspapers were filed with dramatic reports fron the Congo and East >Africa.Arfica affected Conrad profoundly.On his Congo expedition he came up >against the real face of colonialism with its greed and corruption,and the >suffering it caused native populations. Conrad's greatest literary >achievements suggests hia own deep rooted scepticism,his belief that >illusion and reality,truth and self deception are inextricably intertwined.>"Heart Of Darkness" was written basically as a rebuke to the system of >colonising especially the selfish inefficiency while tackling the civilizing >of primitives in this case Africans.This process of civilizing people >actually potrays the evil within the heart of man.Basically the protagonist >in the book Marlow is used to convey these messages quite dramatically.At
Confronting the grim facts of >imperialist history, Marlow detects evidence of criminal association and >conspiracy everywhere. As i presume he comprehends of what he has >done. Even in conclusion Marlow is incapable of a sensible explanation of the >enigma of Kurtz. In the end Marlow hides the very fact from Kurtz's lady-love >which is symbolic in a way,as he is not only hiding the truth from her but >also from himself. In Conrad's world "The mind of man is capable of anything". The symbolism of both the river's is very >significant,one a pathway to light and the other a pathway to darkness hence >the phrase Africa "The Dark Continent". While society seems to try and restrain its savage >tendencies they seem to be always lurking around in the background. The >enigmatic Kurtz becomes an obsession with Marlow. Under the >influence of the brutality of the jungle he has sunk into a state of >depravity as primitive as that he had hoped originally to eradicate. >Conrad's views are strengthened by our scepticism of the so called morality >of imperial politics and progress,the bringing of the light into "the dark >places of the earth" by European Christianity. >The abyss is a constant and meaning presence,and that evil which lies within >man unacknowledged,even threatens to destroy his integrity. The character Kurtz proves that the >white man is not infallible and he scumbs to the influence of the so called >"Darkness",thus contradicting the very "Imperialism" that set out salvage >all other souls. But even >Kurtz's morality is woken up in his dying moments with his remorseful last >words "The horror,The horror".
Common topics in this essay:
Congo East,
Heart Darkness,
European Christianity,
MarlowKurtzan European,
KurtzIn Conrad's,
Dark ContinentMarlow's,
Joseph Conrad's,
Marlow Kurtz,
Eventually Heart,
Gateway Civilizationto,
heart darkness,
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Acceptance Essays
