Heart of Darkness
centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo
River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow
takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized
to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa and then up the Congo, Marlow
encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company’s stations. The
native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company’s service,
and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the
Company’s agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts
sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man’s
settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness.
Theme & Motifs :-
#Theme
ü The Hypocrisy of Imperialism
Heart
of Darkness Explore the issues Surrounding imperialism Iin complicated ways. As
Marlow travels from the Outer station to the central station and finally up the
river to the inner station, he encounter scenes of torture, cruelty and
near-slavery. At the very least, the incidental scenery of the book offers a
harsh picture of colonial enterprise. The impetus behind Marlow’s adventures
too. Has to do with the hypocrisy inherent in the rhetoric used to justify
imperialism. The men who work for the company describe what they do as “trade”,
and their treatment of native African Is part of a benevolent project of
“civilization”. Kurtz on the other hand, is open about the fact that he does
not trade but rather takes ivory by force, and he describes his own treatment
of the natives with the words “suppression” and “extermination”. He does not
hide the fact that he rules through violence and intimidation. His perverse honesty
leads to his downfall, as his success threatens to expose the evil practices
behind European activity in Africa.
ü Madness as a Result of imperialism
Madness is
closely linked to imperialism in this book. Africa is responsible for mental
disintegration as well as physical illness. Madness has two primary function.
First it serves as an ironic device to engage the reader’s sympathies. Kurtz,
Marlow is told from the beginning id mad. However, as Marlow and the reader,
begin to form a more complete picture of
Kurtz, it becomes apparent that his madness is only relative, that in the
context of the company insanity is difficult to define. Thus, both Marlow and
the reader begin to sympathize with Kurtz and view the company with suspicion.
Madness also functions to establish the necessity of social fictions. Although
social mores and explanatory justification ae shown throughout Heart of
Darkness to be utterly false and even leading to evil, they are nevertheless
necessary for both group harmony and individual security.
ü The Absurdity of evil
This novella
is, above all an exploration of hypocrisy, ambiguity and moral confusion. It
explodes the idea of the proverbial choice between the lesser of two evils. As
the idealistic Marlow is forced to align himself with either the hypocritical
and malicious colonial bureaucracy or the openly malevolent, rule defying
Kurtz, it becomes increasingly clear that to try judge either alternatives is
an act of folly how can moral standards or social values be relevant in judging
evil? Is there such things as insanity
in a world that has already gone insane? The number of ridiculous situations
Marlow witnesses act as reflections of the larger issue: at one station, for
instance, he sees a man trying to carry water in a bucket with a large hole in
it.
#Motifs:-
ü Observation and Eavesdropping
Marlow gains
a great deal of information by watching the world around him and by overhearing
others’ conversations, as when he listens from the deck of the wrecked steamer
to the manager of the central station and his uncle discussing Kurtz and the
Russian trader. This phenomenon speaks to the impossibility of direct
communication between individuals information must come as the result of chance
observation and thus they must be taken in the context of their utterance. Another
good example of this is Marlow’s conversation with the brickmaker, during which
Marlow is able to figure out a good deal more than simply what the man has to
say.
ü Interiors and Exterior
Comparisons
between interior and exteriors pervade Heart of Darkness. As the narrator
states at the beginning of the text, Marlow is more interested in surfaces, in
the surrounding aura of a thing rather than in any hidden nugget of meaning
deep within the thing itself. This
inverts the usual hierarchy of meaning: normally one seeks the deep message or
hidden truth. The priority placed on observations demonstrates that penetrating
to the interior of an idea or a person is impossible in this world.
hierarchy of meaning: normally one seeks the
deep message or hidden truth. The priority placed on observations demonstrates
that penetrating to the interior of an idea or a person is impossible in this
world.
ü Darkness
Darkness is
important enough conceptually to be part of the book’s title. However, it is
difficult to discern exactly what it might mean, given that absolutely
everything in the book is clocked in darkness. Africa, England and Brussels are
all described as gloomy and somehow dark, even if the sun is shining brightly.
Darkness is the inability to see this may sound simple, but as a description of
the human condition it has profound implications failing to see another human
being means failing to understand that individual and failing to establish any
sort of simpathytic communication with him or her.
