Heart of Darkness - post from Sukanya

Dear Sir,

After I finished reading the novel, “Heart of Darkness”, my mind was flooded with various questions. While reading it I soon discovered that it was not just Marlow who was undergoing the process of self discovery, I too was subconsciously involved. This exceptional novel questions the very basic foundation of modern civilization. It vividly portrays the hypocrisy of imperialism and reveals its true dark side. The Europeans in the novel term their colonizing process as trade and a part of their selfless deeds. But while colonizing Africa they treated the natives in the most inhuman ways possible, and literally stole from them and ripped them of their land. Thus this “benevolent” process of civilization was in fact a false pretence through which the Europeans satiated their greed.

 

 So what is civilization after all? Is it achieved through oppression and exploitation of the weak by a dominating super power? At the beginning of his journey Marlow doesn’t have a single idea of the various atrocities he is about to behold, and only wishes to explore the “blank spaces” on the map due to his longing for adventure. Instead he comes face to face with the “heart of darkness” found in all men. This novel depicts that the civilized and primitive man differ only in a single aspect- the former is cunning and shrewd, and knows how to satisfy his selfish desires through “sophisticated ways” while the latter is naive and acts on his natural instincts without much thinking. The civilized man is bound by the chains of society and is forced to suppress his greed. Thus instead he adopts a new way and hides his inner greed beneath his false pretence of “altruism”. But in the jungles of Africa Kurtz, being free from societal rules, gave in to his primitive instincts. Initially he started off his journey to Africa pursuing a noble cause and unaware of his darker side. But soon he became overwhelmed by his selfish greed for ivory and adopted brutal ways to achieve it. He establishes himself as some sort of a God among the natives due to which they worship him. He even values his quest for ivory greater than his own life. Thus all his noble ambitions end in the scrawled message on his pamphlet which says “exterminate all the brutes!” I was intrigued by the way Conrad described Kurtz’s obsession with ivory that eventually caused his downfall. His last words “the horror! the horror!” is an epitome of the disastrous face of imperialism. At one point there was his conscience and morality, and at the other there was his insatiable greed for ivory. But I found a certain charm in Kurtz-his honesty. Most people held a very high opinion of him due to his eloquent style of speaking and communicating with people. But he possessed a certain kind of honesty which the other characters in the novel did not. For example the manager proves to be shallow, and though he craves for ivory just as much as Kurtz does, he is reluctant to face the truth and tells that the company’s operations are a sort of kindness they are bestowing upon the natives.

 

 “Heart of Darkness” embodies Europe . In the end I, just like Marlow, could conclude that imperialism yields nothing but madness. The tragedy of imperialism is unveiled. All the characters seemed to be enveloped in a state of chaos and avarice. They behave in a completely different manner while they are in Africa as opposed to their European norms. Marlow observes that the natives are subjected to harsh treatment by the Company and are made to work against their wills. The Europeans look at them as nothing but mere savages. The whites evade their land and extract all their valuable resources and in return the natives are treated so mercilessly as though they were animals. And the Company terms this on-going process of tyranny as “civilization”.

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much - The above few lines depict Marlow’s utter disgust of the colonizers.

 

At the end of his journey Marlow is transformed into an introspective and philosophic being, and he is described as “a meditating Buddha”. Having confronted the most dark and degrading side of human nature, he no longer could adjust himself into European society. I could totally relate the major protagonists of the novel to real life characters in modern days. Yes, a Kurtz could be present in us all, the reason being that society has changed but only a little. We all, to some extent, are drawn towards material gains, power and ambition. Times may have changed but imperialism has taken another form. Aren’t the weak, developing nations still dominated by the powerful ones? Aren’t innumerable people still subjected to injustice and racial degradation? Thus man is still crippled by his “heart of darknes”...