Heart Of Darkness Close Reading Essay
8 November 2013
Close Reading: Heart of Darkness
Imagine being stuck on a steamboat outnumbered by the other, who happen to be starving, unable to advance through the unnerving scream filled fog. This enigmatic experience is only one of many told by Marlow in the story of his journey up the Congo. Marlow is attentive to the restraint shown by the black slaves on his boat in fighting off the hunger that weakens them. The colleagues of Marlow are more concerned with the anonymous screams of “infinite desolation” (Conrad 35) ushered from the fog then with the present danger of having these same savages with them on the boat. Moreover, this revelation challenges the fear of the unknown. Though the starvation of the black slaves is evident, and should be of great concern to the sated men of the boat, …show more content…
It is a mystery to Marlow why the slaves refrain from allowing the primitive hedonistic nature of hunger to run its course. In a brief moment he is dazzled by slaves restraint, they are acting more civilized than his colleagues are in the face of danger. Marlow considers this fact to be “…like a ripple on an unfathomable enigma, a mystery greater—when I thought of it—than the curious, inexplicable note of desperate grief in this savage clamour that had swept by us on the river-bank…(Conrad 38). As a ripple alters perception Marlow’s ability to make sense of humanity is in constant transformation. The imperialism of Africa is subject to grand interpretation, for Marlow it near impossible to comprehend. A symbol of the white conquest of Africa is displayed as “the foam on the depths of the sea” (Conrad 38). Moreover, Africa is equally foreign to white people as the depths of the ocean; only the exterior can be discerned. Throughout the story Marlow is constantly challenged by the “unfathomable enigma”(Conrad 38) that is the imperialism of Africa. The madness of
Close Reading: Heart of Darkness
Imagine being stuck on a steamboat outnumbered by the other, who happen to be starving, unable to advance through the unnerving scream filled fog. This enigmatic experience is only one of many told by Marlow in the story of his journey up the Congo. Marlow is attentive to the restraint shown by the black slaves on his boat in fighting off the hunger that weakens them. The colleagues of Marlow are more concerned with the anonymous screams of “infinite desolation” (Conrad 35) ushered from the fog then with the present danger of having these same savages with them on the boat. Moreover, this revelation challenges the fear of the unknown. Though the starvation of the black slaves is evident, and should be of great concern to the sated men of the boat, …show more content…
It is a mystery to Marlow why the slaves refrain from allowing the primitive hedonistic nature of hunger to run its course. In a brief moment he is dazzled by slaves restraint, they are acting more civilized than his colleagues are in the face of danger. Marlow considers this fact to be “…like a ripple on an unfathomable enigma, a mystery greater—when I thought of it—than the curious, inexplicable note of desperate grief in this savage clamour that had swept by us on the river-bank…(Conrad 38). As a ripple alters perception Marlow’s ability to make sense of humanity is in constant transformation. The imperialism of Africa is subject to grand interpretation, for Marlow it near impossible to comprehend. A symbol of the white conquest of Africa is displayed as “the foam on the depths of the sea” (Conrad 38). Moreover, Africa is equally foreign to white people as the depths of the ocean; only the exterior can be discerned. Throughout the story Marlow is constantly challenged by the “unfathomable enigma”(Conrad 38) that is the imperialism of Africa. The madness of