NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The Darkness Within Based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness In Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, the narrator journeys into Africa on what the Europeans termed a civilizing mission. The journey, which is spiritual as much as it is physical, becomes more than a simple mission, however, as the narrator must confront the powers of light and darkness: the dawning [light] realization is that the civilizing mission is inherently dark and evil. by the end of the novel, it is understood that instead of bringing light into darkness as it claims, the civilizing mission uncovers the darkness at its own heart (xi). In superstitions and stories, light is generally a symbol of good. In the case of Heart of Darkness, light did not serve as proof of an underlying good within the civilizing mission.
Instead, the sunlit face of the land [gave] a treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the round darkness of its heart (58). At first, Marlow (the main narrator) believed that the darkness existed through the savage nature of the native African tribes. He believed that the civilizing mission was a good idea and that the savagery should be done away with. For him, the light showed the dark nature of the people of Africa. It was when he met his main contact, Kurtz, that Marlow's view changed. Not only had Kurtz set himself up as a god-like person, but he wanted all that the tribe had to be his own.
He wanted complete control over all that was around him. Marlow was thus enlightened to the true nature of the civilizing mission: while the people of Europe were worrying about the savage nature of the Africans, it was a European who was behaving in a savage manner. Rather than civilizing the natives, Kurtz was taking control, giving in to the darkness of his own soul. Marlow realized that darkness [was] located at the heart of the civilizing mission (xxxiv). That darkness took the form of imperialism and racism.
Kurtz embodied both of these ideas. His imperialistic nature was shown in the way he set himself up as a god and ried to control all of the land that he could find. He did not even want to tell his employers about new areas which he had mapped out, for fear that they would take control of the land away from him. Kurtz also embodied the idea of racism. Helike those who had sent him on the civilizing mission in the first placed not believe that the natives were ina ny way civilized, nor did he believe that the natives could become civilized on their own, if at all.
In his report to his superiors, he scrawled across the bottom, Exterminate all the brutes! He did not see the Africans as human beings, but merely as animals. Instead of civilizing them, which he obviously had decided would be foolish, he felt it would be easier to simply kill all of the natives. In these beliefs, one can see the darkness that came from the civilizing mission. The idea behind the civilizing mission could have been a good one, if it had been to the benefit of the natives, rather than the Europeans. Unfortunately, the Europeans believed that the Africans were mere savages.
What the Europeans did not see, and what Marlow eventually realized, was that the true savagery lay within the people who were taking control over the land of Africa. The darkness was within Kurtz (and people like him), and that darkness was brought to light in the minds of people like Marlow who saw the savagery in their ways. Marlow's enlightenment was best shown in a speech he made about first entering the deeper part of Africa. He said, I seemed at one bound to have been transported into some lightless region of subtle horrors, where pure, uncomplicated savagery was a positive relief, being something that had a right to exist obviously in the sunshine (95). It was not until later that Marlow realized what his words had meant.
It was not until later that Marlow became enlightened with the idea that the heart of darkness existed within the imperialistic hearts of those behind the civilizing mission.
Free research essays on topics related to: joseph conrad, civilizing, marlow, mission, heart of darkness
Research essay sample on Heart Of Darkness Joseph Conrad
