Colonialism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
One title that assigns the meaning of a human’s life is carved on the headstone of their tomb. The first part, their name and relevant dates, are certain. The sub-titles of appellations, favorite quotes, bible verses or aphorisms remain uncertain, dependent upon the loyalties and knowledge of the departed’s loved ones. So too, the title of Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness is at once as specific and certain as a dot on a map while also expanding in meaning to embrace a Colonialism’s piracy, a continent, the skin color of its inhabitants, the workings of men’s souls and, at last, the workings of an entire world. Conrad’s story is a complete condemnation of the evils of Colonialism. That is certain. However, because Conrad’s conclusion about
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This urbanized child feels the incomprehensible wilderness surround him and feels the temptations offered by a lawless land to give into a dark desire to unveil the atrocities that swim like prehistoric monsters in the repressed darkness of his heart. How is he to avoid the temptation to give in? Marlowe provides an answer that presages Kurtz’ decline from his own initial idealism. As much as Marlowe knows that Colonial avarice is ‘not a pretty thing when you look into it too much,” (7) he also finds a justification. He believes that all the horror can be justified by the right kind of idea. He asserts that man’s intellect can provide the right words, a complex bargain with a devil of Colonial greed that will preserve both his soul and his conscience. This justification is, “an idea – . . . something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to” (7). It will be Kurtz’s ‘setting up’ of just such a fully actualized, virtuous idea and its horrific consequences that is Marlowe’s ultimate discovery of the meaning of Conrad’s title. His choice and the readers is to accept or deny its meaning. The long journey to the heart of this darkness will simultaneously initiate Marlowe and readers into an empathy with the jungle’s darkness necessary to render such a verdict; for, at the outset of his journey, Marlowe is only mildly
This urbanized child feels the incomprehensible wilderness surround him and feels the temptations offered by a lawless land to give into a dark desire to unveil the atrocities that swim like prehistoric monsters in the repressed darkness of his heart. How is he to avoid the temptation to give in? Marlowe provides an answer that presages Kurtz’ decline from his own initial idealism. As much as Marlowe knows that Colonial avarice is ‘not a pretty thing when you look into it too much,” (7) he also finds a justification. He believes that all the horror can be justified by the right kind of idea. He asserts that man’s intellect can provide the right words, a complex bargain with a devil of Colonial greed that will preserve both his soul and his conscience. This justification is, “an idea – . . . something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to” (7). It will be Kurtz’s ‘setting up’ of just such a fully actualized, virtuous idea and its horrific consequences that is Marlowe’s ultimate discovery of the meaning of Conrad’s title. His choice and the readers is to accept or deny its meaning. The long journey to the heart of this darkness will simultaneously initiate Marlowe and readers into an empathy with the jungle’s darkness necessary to render such a verdict; for, at the outset of his journey, Marlowe is only mildly