Looking Deep Into The Heart Of Darkess

Literary Analysis

Heart of Darkness (Description of the Journey down The River)

                         Heart of Darkness is a philosophical novella written by Joseph Conrad in the year 1899. He had applied the Frame Narrative technique to reveal the experiences of Charles Marlow as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa. The story is a complex exploration of the beliefs people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society. Conrad also brings out the stance on colonialism and racism that was part and parcel of European imperialism.

The novel is analyzed with respect to its Theme, Characterization, Language, Narrative Technique, Point of View, Atmosphere and Setting.

THEME

Ø  Race

Conrad does seem to have some unconventional ideas about race at least, unconventional for the late nineteenth century. In Heart of Darkness, he seems to be suggesting that there really isn't so much difference between black and white except that this vision of racial harmony becomes more complicated when you consider that he seems to be suggesting that black people are just less evolved versions of white people. The race aspect is mostly ignored by early critics. A historical background of how race and racism was looked upon in 1902 explains why this might be the case. In his “An Image of Africa”, Achebe assumes that everyone reading his critique will understand what he means when he refers to racism. He claims that Conrad was a racist and that a novella which so depersonalize a potion of the human race should not be considered a great work of art (Achebe 176).  But the meaning of the word is by no means self-evident, as the concept of racism has changed over time. It is important to understand that the word racism did not exist when Conrad wrote his novella.

Ø  Civilization vs. Savagery

The novella implies that civilizations are created by the setting of laws and codes that encourage men to achieve higher standards. It acts as a buffer to prevent men from reverting back to their darker tendencies. Civilization however must be learned. London itself, in the book a symbol of enlightenment, was once “one of the darker places of the earth” before the Romans forced civilization upon them. The underlying theme of Heart of Darkness is that civilization is superficial.

Ø  Imperialism/Colonization

Unlike most novels that focus on the evils of colonialism, Heart of Darkness pays more attention to the damage that colonization does to the souls of white colonizers than it does to the physical death and devastation unleashed on the black natives. Madness is closely linked to imperialism in this book. Africa is responsible for mental disintegration as well as physical illness

CHARACTERIZATION

Ø  Marlow

Marlow, the protagonist of the novella is a British seaman whose obsession with Africa brings him into the interior on the Company's steamboat. For the most part, Marlow comes across as a nice guy, if not a particularly ethical one. He's no saint, or he's a helpless one, as he does nothing about the horrible scenarios of black slavery he encounters. But he does do little things that show compassion. He attempts to give a biscuit to a starving slave. He treats his own cannibals decently. When the helmsman dies, he makes sure he won't be ignobly eaten by the native Africans on board. So, on the surface level, Marlow is a decent guy who, as a product of his times, isn't about to start a civil rights movement in the late nineteenth century.

Ø  The Manager and the Brick maker

These two characters play the roles of two strong antagonists. Static in their greed, they represent cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the White man’s settlement.

The manager wants to oust Kurtz, because he's driven by greed and ambition to move up         in the Company. Plus, he's annoying and just might have something to do with the "accident" that his steamboat suffered. Like the manager, the brick maker wants only to climb up the corporate ladder. However, he's even shadier: his rank is lower, and he's willing to resort to even lower tactics to get what he wants. It's implied that he uses his silver tongue to weasel his way into the trust of his victims—Company members with powerful connections. Plus, there's all that devilish imagery—the "forked little beard" and "hooked nose” that make us feel, um, a little uncomfortable and antagonized.

LANGUAGE 

In the critical text “The Great Tradition” by F.R.Leavis, he shows interest in Conrad’s use of English language in Heart of Darkness as in the light of it being his third, possibly fourth language after Polish, French and Russian. While reading Heart of Darkness it soon becomes evident that there is another aspect of the English language that fascinates Conrad, which is quiet opposite to the ‘concreteness and action’. This is the capacity of for ambiguity. Indeed, one strong theme of Heart of Darkness is how language can deceive and how inadequate it can be for expressing ‘the significantly unfamiliar’. Levis’ criticism of Heart of Darkness is consistent with his earlier characterization of English as a language of action.

We must also be aware of Conrad’s use of repetition. Whenever the language in Heart of Darkness becomes at once more sophisticated and ambiguous, the phrases he uses resound and act as a kind of motif throughout the text. This is a genuinely poetic use of language, not in the sense of poetic evocation, but in the sense that language is made to draw attention itself.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE

Conrad had consciously incorporated the frame narrative technique which sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story. Hereby an introductory or main narrative is presented, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. Conrad demonstrates a narrator telling a story; while the protagonist Marlow is quoted so as to give the framed appearances that he is telling the story. The narrator provides the transition to the one speaking the story. Applying the Reader Response Criticism, Heart of Darkness is obviously trying to do something to the reader, to change him or his mind in some way. For one thing, as almost every critic has recognized, the work is obviously critiquing late nineteenth century imperialism. But Heart of Darkness, even as it mounts this explicit critique, also explicitly practices the dogma of disinterestedness, a paradoxical feat accomplished primarily by making Marlow’s act of tale telling.

POINT OF VIEW

A number of theorists have studied the novel through the perspective of POST COLONIAL theory and have contended, often in response to or in conversation with other post colonial theorists, that it critiques, celebrates, and even reconciles Europe’s colonization activities throughout Africa in the 19^th century. A MARXIST reading of the novel might point to the ways in which the story depicts the violence and cultural repression which surrounds capitalistic enterprises. A PSYCHOANALYTIC reading of the novel might focus on the complicated psyches of Mr. Kurtz or Marlow and explore their unique psychological motivations and the ways in which their encounters with and within the Congo shift their psychological perspectives. A FEMINIST theorist would explore the three female characters in the story: Marlow’s aunt, Kurtz’s native lover and Kurtz’s fiancée back in Europe. Such a feminist reading would point to the lack of power and authority given to women in the text, which reflects the position of women in 19^th century European society and their lack of involvement in the decidedly patriarchal action of colonizations.

ATMOSPHERE

The mood or atmosphere created by Conrad in this novella is completely Foreboding, Danger, Adventure and moving into darkness. Although Marlow is an experienced sea man, the African Congo is a very alien world to him. Conrad describes the scene rather than tells as if he is entering some strange planet. He paints a picture of definite sense of “otherness” which is maintained through much of the novella. This is of course, quiet disturbing to a reader. Human rights were non-existent and the suffering and indignities the natives felt is overwhelming.

SETTING

Marlow tells the story of his travels up the Congo River. That makes the setting, the Congo. And more generally, Africa.  In the first four pages of the novella, the words “gloom” and “brooding” appear six or seven times each in reference to the landscape. As the story advances the same words and variants appear again and again in reference to the natural environment. The setting of African landscape is one of the main characters of the novella. It is a character with an arc of its own, one that reflects Marlow’s evolving state of mind and eventually comes alive to play an active role in the story. Nevertheless, Heart of Darkness is notable for its clear and powerful use of setting; to build tension, to reflect the major characters’ evolving emotional state and indeed to play a major role in the story as a character capable of action in its own right.