Tajvinder Singh
Mrs. Lloyd Henry
ENG 3UO
June 11th, 2010
Heart of Darkness Essay
Darkness is something that most individuals image as evil, mysterious, or something the hides our fears. In the novel “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, it is illustrated that darkness is found in the novel with its many images. Conrad portrays this with his use of setting, characterization, and point of view.
The first way Conrad portrays the theme of darkness is through his use settings, the first example of this would be in the beginning of the novel where the setting on the Nellie is described by the narrator. “It had become so pitch dark that we listeners could hardly see each other; for a long time already he, sitting apart, had been no more to us than a voice”. (Joseph Conrad page 6) Also the second example would be later on in the story when the men aboard the steamer, which is completely covered by fog, hear a loud cry somewhere around them. All the men are scared because they feel that a threat is near in the darkness. The darkness in this example would symbolize the unknown, something that conceals things the men are too frightened to face. The final example of darkness found in the setting of the novel is the Congo itself and how savage acts would be hidden. An example would be Kurt’s barbaric placement of human heads on top of poles surrounding his station house. This would show that everything in the Congo is concealed much like darkness and that is the only way Kurt could pull such an act.
The second way the author illustrates darkness is through his characterization. The first example of darkness being portrayed through the characters is the superiority of whites over blacks in the novel. This is caused from the Europeans who wanted to take the Congo by brute force. “It was just robbery with violence, and aggravated murder in order to get power and wealth. The conquest of the earth, which mostly means away from those who have a different complexion of slight flatter nose than ourselves, is not a pretty thing you look into too much” (page 6). At one point the natives were called helpers but they are more like slaves of the European colonists. Also the other example of darkness being portrayed through the characters is the corruption and greed of the Europeans in the Congo, which Marlow stated when entering the Congo. “I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but all the starts! These were strong lusty, red-eyed devils that swayed and drove men-men, I tell you”(page 14). This shows another image of darkness evil and greed something most individuals possess.
The final way that is darkness is portrayed is from the point of view the story was being told from. In the novel Conrad chosen to change the point of view when Marlow shared his story to Marlow himself, this allows us clearly to know his attentions. An Example of this would be Marlow’s description of the “helpers” compared to his description of the Europeans. An example would be when Marlow described Kurt’s the manger, “I met a white man, in such an expected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took for a sort of vision. I saw high started collar, white cuffs, a light a jacket, snowy trousers’ a clean necktie, and varnished boots” (page 32). When it comes for Marlow to describe the helpers he only has one description of them which is black and no other detail just black shapes, black bones, and black neck. Also by having this novel being told in first person you get to see his view, and his darkness within. An example of this would be when he witnessed a bunch of natives dying and he basically didn’t care that they were in pain. “Black shapes crouches, lay, and sat between the tress leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out half effaced within the dim light, in all attitudes of pain, abandonment and despair.... And this was the place where some of the helpers had withdrawn to die.” (Page 21) Since this was in Marlow’s point of view we can see that he didn’t care to take any actions to help this allows the readers to see Marlow’s darkness, Final way that point of view in this novel portrays the darkness found in the novel is when Marlow realises that the ivory trade in the Congo is very dark, no one really knows how Kurt’s gets the amount of ivory he does.
In conclusion darkness has many images such as greed, evil, and fear. In the novel “The heart of darkness” Conrad illustrates with his setting, characterization and point of view that darkness could symbolize more than one thing and that it exists throughout the novel.
