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The process of representing something though an idea or object is defined as symbolism. Two symbols used in Joseph Conrad s The Heart of Darkness are darkness and white. Throughout the text, darkness was interpreted as undesirable and dreadful, while white, its opposite, was portrayed as pure and peaceful. The place where the contrast between darkness and white was apparent is in the map. After a country had been discovered, its color on the map would be darkened. The darkness represented a civilized country and the white showed an area that has not yet been tainted by humans.
On the map, the darkened areas revealed that the mysteries of the unknown lands have been exposed, and the white places represented areas that still inspired curiosity about unknown lands. The undesirable civilized countries and the peaceful unsettled areas symbolize the contrast between darkness and light. Considering traditionally, the meaning of the word darkness, it held the definition of dreadful and uninviting. Thus the dark, shaded areas of the map are interpreted as this. Darkness in the map indicated a country that has already been colonized. The fact that the colonized countries are darkened showed a negative view of colonization.
Because of the lack of area left to be explored by ones imagination, colonization can be viewed as a negative characteristic. a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It has become a place of darkness. (Conrad 11) The white areas on the map were empty because they have not experienced any outside interference by man. Marlow s experience of the darkened country left him with bitter recollections of his visit. When he retold his adventure story to the passengers aboard the Nellie, he did Marlow had the chance to discover a region he had dreamed of his entire life, but was left with an experience that has ruined a part of him in some regard. Thinking symbolically, this ruined him because the country changed from white to a darkened shade of yellow on the map over the time he was growing up.
Had the country remained uncivilized, Marlow would have walked away with the experience he was in search of, which was to discover the white place on the map. Since the color of the country on the map changed, Marlow was not able to fulfill his dream. The darkened countries were undesirable places for Marlow to travel because they would not satisfy his desire to discover an area. These countries left Marlow unfulfilled and with a darkened spirit. The only way for Marlow to experience peace was to visit a country whose color a map was white.
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Research essay sample on Contrast Between Darkness Darkness And White Map
