Heart Of Darkness :: essays research papers

Heart of Darkness ?gHeart of Darkness?h, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a wide range of references to problems of politics, morality and social order. It was written in a period when European exploitation of Africa was at a wan height. Conrad uses double oblique narration. A flame narrator reports the story as told by Marlow, assigned to the command of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an exploring expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an important trading post of ivory, located in the internal of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the reality through their work in Africa. Marlow matte up great indignation with people in the sepulchral city later his journey to the Congo region because he discovered, through his work, the reality of the universe, much(prenominal) as the great virtue of efficiency, the darkness in society and individuals and the come up reality. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said ?gThe horror, The horror referring to h is life in inner Africa, which caused him disintegration. Marlow emphasized the virtue of ?gefficiency?h throughout the story because he thought of it as the only way to survive in the wilderness. later seeing the dying natives in the forest of the outer station, Marlow described them as ?ginefficient.?h Under ?gthe devotion to efficiency,?h incompetent people were excluded from society. only when efficient people can survive. For example, since Kurtz was the most efficient agent, with regards to producing ivory, his employers respected his acquisition and regarded him as an essential person. However, once he fell into disintegration, he was considered no more the than dying natives and thus was treated as if he were dead. He was then buried in the darkness. The symbol of inefficiency was the color green. Marlow illustrated a draw of dying natives, when he said, ?gThey were black shadows of disease and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloom?h(20). Another example of i nefficiency is shown in the translation of the body of Marlow?fs predecessor as ?gThe grass growing through his ribs was large enough to hide his bones?h(13). Marlow realized the real darkness did not existed in Africa but in Europe, and not in Africans but in Europeans who engaged in colonial exploitation, including Kurtz. Due to the natives?f physical features and springer like cannibalism, Marlow defined Africans as the darkness. On the other hand, he considered Europeans as the light because of his illusions of civilization.