post colonial view of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

>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,

Approximate Word count = 901
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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