The big ISU.

Well I was going to hand it in on paper, but since it is a snow day today I figured I might as well post it on my blog.

The Darkness! The Darkness!

Heart Of Darkness (1902) is a novella written by Polish born writer Joseph Conrad. The highly symbolic tale is one that is metatextual. It follows the story of Marlow, as he recounts his journey into the heart of Africa- the Congo to be more precise. Marlow enlists as a ferry-boat captain, in which his task is to transport ivory; however, a more pressing task arises, that of retrieving a man named Kurtz. Throughout the novella, various aspects of darkness as well as racism are explored by Conrad. Searching for continuity, for the meaning of darkness in the novella seems to be a task that is close to impossible. Various aspects of darkness are presented, all open to various interpretation. When skimming the surface of the novella, darkness takes more of a physical form. The darkness represents the people residing in Africa as well as their societal customs; that of savagery. Furthermore, darkness can also be a metaphor for the unknown. Man has come to fear the unknown, therefore in a sense darkness is to be feared by man. Moreover, Marlow encounters various feats that embody dark themes on his journey to the heart of the Congo, this being the river that is used as a means of transportation. Secondly, at the center of every human being lies a heart of darkness (some more prominent than others) and this is the driving force behind the evil found in mankind. In the novella the white men-having been exposed to more developed societies, prove to be nothing but greedy, selfish people who are looking for nothing but self gain. They do so by taking advantage of the less experienced and civilized black people of the Congo. These types of men can be termed “hollow men” as their degree of human decency is lacking. The darkness in this sense is that found within mankind. Finally, on top of the various aspects of darkness seen in the novella, there are also numerous accounts of racism. Conrad portrays the black people of the Congo as being inferior beings to white men by contrasting the two. White men, as well as things associated with white men taking the position of “good” and the natives taking the position of “bad” respectively. Right until the end of the novella, numerous aspects of darkness and racism are seen.
As previously mentioned, the first form of darkness the reader is introduced to is that of physical darkness. What is meant by this, is that darkness represents the people(their skin color) residing in the Congo, as well as their customs. Upon first arriving to the Congo, Marlow’s first impression of darkness is seen by a group of young black men:
You could see from afar the white of their eyeballs glistening. They shouted, sang; their bodies streamed with perspiration; they had faces like grotesque masks-these chaps; but they had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast (Conrad,16).
This gave the reader a fairly positive outlook on how darkness could be perceived in the physical form, until Marlow actually reached his desired destination. Once arrived at the outer station, Marlow (as well as the reader) begins to see how black people are being treated:
Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind wagged to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking (Conrad, 18).
As it stands, the white men are taking advantage of the black people. The black people of the Congo are only used to savagery, it is their societal custom. The white men, who come from a more modern civilized society are taking advantage of the black people. Darkness now represents not only the black people of the Congo, but it also represents how they are being treaded, that is, unjustly, which is a bit of an understatement in itself. Throughout the novel, Conrad gives numerous vivid descriptions of the black people of the Congo: “They were dying slowly-it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now-nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom[…]”(Conrad,20). The reader comes to develop a certain degree of pity for the black people in the novella. Eventually, the black people begin to be associated with evil, more precisely evil acts, therefore darkness now taking the form of evil. For example, one day a fire breaks out. Since no one knows who, let alone what is responsible for the fire, the white men are quick to blame a black man:
A nigger was being beaten near by, they said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it may, he was screeching most horribly. I saw him, later on, for several days, sitting in a bit of shade looking very sick and trying to recover himself: afterwards he arose and went out-and the wilderness without a sound took him into its bosom again (Condrad,28).
This without a doubt being a form of racism against black people, which will further be discussed later on in this essay. Altogether, darkness as a physical form is used by Conrad to represent the black people of the Congo, their savagery and the way they are treated.
Furthermore, Conrad also uses darkness as a means of representing the unknown. One could conceivably argue that the “heart of darkness” in the novella is in fact the Congo, which is greatly unexplored, therefore making it the unknown to the white men. As Marlow states: “We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness[…]We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet”(Conrad,43). Marlow’s use of the “heart of darkness” here is used to represent the unknown and he describes it as being something “prehistoric” like something humans have never encountered before. Throughout history- and literature, the concept of humans fearing the unknown has greatly been explored, for example; the lord of the flies greatly investigates this phenomenon. Since darkness is used to represent the unknown than wouldn’t it be logical to assume that man should fear darkness? If so then why would one want to explore the unknown? At the beginning of the novel a very revealing piece of evidence is given about Marlow, that is: “Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be expected)[…](Conrad,6). Marlow not being typical would therefore allude to the fact that he was not accustom to things a typical man would be to. This would hence him not necessarily fearing the unknown and this is why he took up the position as a ferry-boat captain and plunged into the immense darkness of the Congo. As the story progresses, the unknown now becomes explored and recognized by Marlow and his crew, as well as the reader. The result being that the unknown is seemingly now less feared by man. Further evidence supporting the claim that darkness is used to represent the unknown is seen in the last sentence of the novella. Marlow is recounting his journey to the Congo while sailing to a location that is unknown to the reader. Once again, Marlow uses the heart of darkness as a metaphor for the unknown: “The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky-seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness”(Conrad,96). Since the reader is not informed of where Marlow’s journey is taking him, it is fair to assume that this location is unknown, hence him heading into the heart of an immense darkness.
On his journey through the Congo, Marlow also encounters many endeavors that embody dark themes, here darkness taking more of mystical, supernatural form. At the beginning of the novella when Marlow is looking at a map of the highly undeveloped continent of Africa, he peered upon the Congo and the river he was going to use to venture to and from his desired destination. Upon viewing the map, Marlow states: “However, I wasn’t going into any of these. I was going into the yellow. Dead in the centre. And the river was there-fascinating-deadly-like a snake”(Conrad,11). All this to say that the river resembled a snake. Snakes in Greek mythology were used to represent the guardians, or messengers of the underworld, this making the river seem very dark and ominous as it does in fact resemble a snake. This gives the reader the impression that Marlow is heading to a primordial, dark, ominous, evil place. Later on in the novella, Marlow states that: “The river resembled an immense snake uncoiled and it fascinated me as a snake would a bird"(Condrad,43). Therefore, Marlow has made the transition from the above world, which can be viewed as being Europe, to the underworld, or in other words the Congo. This resulting in the novella seemingly becoming more and more dark and ominous as well as it demonstrating elements of the supernatural. Also, while on their journey through the vast Congo, Marlow and his crew encounter a strange and mysterious fog. This fog adds to the whole darkness of their journey because it causes fear to arise:
When the sun rose there was a white fog, very warm and clammy, and more blinding than the night. It did not shift or drive; it was just there, standing all round you like something solid[…]Before it stopped running with a muffled rattle, a cry, a very loud cry, as of infinite desolation, soared slowly in the opaque air[…]The faces twitched with the strain, the hands trembled slightly, the eyes forgot to wink(Conrad,48-49).
What the people are fearing in this passage is the unknown, or darkness as previously mentioned. They do not know what is going to happen to them, if someone is going to attack them, if there is a strange beast lurking around, they are fearing for their lives. This fear that is caused by the fog reveals a lot about man. It shows that man does in fact fear the unknown, and in this case the darkness that is associated with all of these endeavors that embody dark themes.
Secondly, Conrad’s use of darkness, or “heart of darkness” in this case is used to represent the evil that lies within mankind. All throughout his journey Marlow encounters numerous men who possess a “heart of darkness”. What is meant by this is that they are not only committing dark, or evil acts, but it is what they aren’t doing that is really causing them to be classified as having a heart of darkness. They saw the Congo as being an opportunity to prosper economically as there is a lot of money to be made in the ivory business. To make money, these men were not actually willing to do much work. They simply used their experience of coming from a more evolved and civilized society as their advantage over the people of the Congo who are use to nothing but savagery. They took the people of the Congo as slaves who would be used to retrieve ivory which would in turn get them rich. Now, about the men having a “heart of darkness” because of what they didn’t do has to do with slavery itself. Instead of someone waking up one day and realizing that slavery is wrong, and that these people are humans too, they simply just figured, “hey, we are making money, I can sleep well at night”. No one stood up for what was right and this is because of the darkness that lies within mankind itself. People were blinded by greed, by the lust for self gain, by profits themselves and they weren’t going to suddenly have an epiphany and see the light. One day, Marlow even questions a man on his reasons for being in the Congo: “I couldn’t help asking him once what he meant by coming there (Congo) at all. “To make money, of course. What do you think? He said, scornfully”(Conrad,24). This man was in the Congo for nothing but profits. He couldn’t care less if black people were dying around him each day, he didn’t care for anything else in the world but himself. Even though these men may have a “heart of darkness”, they can be termed “hollow men” as their degree of human decency is lacking. What is meant by this is that these men do not do anything to benefit mankind, if anything they are setting mankind back in time. They do nothing but think for themselves and they will never amount to anything good. Marlow even notices this phenomenon one day as he is talking to someone: “[…]and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe”(Conrad,31). It is simply sad if one is termed a “hollow man” as you are being compared to dirt. Dirt is nothing! These “hollow men” are nothing! The famous poet T.S. Elliot wrote a poem in 1925 on the phenomenon of “hollow men” and it had an epigraph relating to a line from Heart Of Darkness, that is “Mista Kurtz- he dead”(Conrad,87). The poem was indeed titled The Hollow Men and the first couple of lines are as follows:
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
This directly relating to the “hollow men” of Heart Of Darkness for many reasons. First of all, it talks about hollow men being nothing but men stuffed with straw as straw is not living, alluding to the fact that these men cannot think for themselves. Furthermore, “Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless” literally means that their words are worthless. They are not trust worthy, they are not worthy of anything. Whatever they say really does not mean anything as they cannot think for themselves. Whatever they will do will simply be for themselves. These “hollow men” lack a true heart, they cannot do anything good for the sake of mankind, which is why Conrad uses darkness to represent the darkness hidden within mankind.
Furthermore, the last lines of a very important character from the novella also reveal a lot about himself and mankind. Kurtz’s last words before dying are: “The horror! The horror!”(Conrad,86), and this can be interpreted in many different ways. First of all, it can be viewed as a reflection on his own life. Kurtz, although praised as a man being worthy of a saint, turns out to be nothing but a “hollow man” himself. “The horror! The horror!” can be viewed as a reflection of his life. Throughout his career, Kurtz took advantage of many people in order for him to gain success and all of this ended up taking its toll on Kurtz. “The horror! The horror!”, in a way being a confession of a “hollow man”. “The horror! The horror!” can also be looked at as a reflection of the horror found within man. Kurtz had many acquaintances throughout his life and he was exposed (and part of ) to many horrible things the men had done in the Congo. He has seen what horror man is capable of committing and this is his indirect way of admitting that man is accursed from day one. “The horror! The horror!” could also represent the horror of the whole project that went on in the Congo. The fact that men were sent there because of imperialism, which in turn is a reflection on man always wanting more, caused nothing but horror. All in all, Conrad uses darkness to represent not only the darkness and evil found within mankind, but it also represents what mankind is capable of doing, that is evil and terrible things.
Finally, as numerous accounts of darkness surface in the novel, the novel also possesses a great amount of racism. Before discussing racism, it is first necessary to get a solid understanding of what racism is and the outlook on racism at the time. Firstly, racism can simply be described as being: the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Racism is greatly portrayed in Heart Of Darkness, but one cannot fully blame Conrad for this. When the book was written in the eighteen hundreds, people conformed to racism. Conrad would not have considered a racist at the time, compared to today’s standards. It is possible for Conrad to be racist in Heart Of Darkness as Conrad is able to be racist in the story as he uses Marlow as a narrator so he himself can enter the story and say things how he would like to say them.
Heart Of Darkness casts Africa, or the Congo as being the complete and udder antithesis of Europe itself. The novella starts off with Marlow sailing on the Thames river, the sky being perfectly blue, the water tranquil, but the actual story itself will be set in the Congo. What the reader is told about the Congo is that “going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginning of the world”(Conrad,42). Conrad seems to be saying that one river is “better” than the other, one being good and the other being bad. The impression of the Congo river does not give the reader a very positive outlook on the continent of Africa itself, making it look bad compared to the Thames river. This alluding to discrimination towards the country itself, the majority of the racism lying in the descriptions of the people of the Congo.
We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil. But suddenly, as we struggled round a bend, there would be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us-who could tell?[…] The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there-there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were-No, they were not inhuman. Well, you known, that was the worst of it[…](Conrad,43-44).
This excerpt is one that reveals a lot about Conrad himself and the racism found within Heart Of Darkness. Conrad starts off by saying that “We could fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance…” this basically saying that it didn’t matter who had discovered the land first, as long as the white men have arrived, they can now claim it as their own. This in turn degrading the black people of the Congo because it essentially shows that they are worthless compared to the white man. This is further demonstrated by the very vivid picture Conrad paints of them by saying “as we struggled round a bend, there would be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage”. Conrad casts the black people of the Congo as basically being comparable to an animal; savage, untamed, as if it being some sort of national geographic program. The black people are probably thinking the same thing of the white men, yet nothing is ever mentioned of this throughout the novella. Conrad gives the impression that the black people are “bad” people for living the way they do, compared to the “good” white people. Conrad goes on to say “It was unearthly, and the men were-No, they were not inhuman. Well, you known, that was the worst of it”, as if it’s a shame that these men are actually considered human because of the lifestyle they inhabit. Conrad is being completely racist here, a human is a human, no matter what color their skin is or where they live.
Throughout Heart Of Darkness, Conrad constantly referred to the natives of the Congo, by using the most derogatory terms such as : black savages, niggers and brutes. This displaying ignorance toward the African history and racism towards the African people. Conrad also wrote that , Black figures strolled out listlessly[…] the beaten nigger groaned somewhere (Conrad, 28). They passed me with six inches, without a glance, with the complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages (Conrad, 19). It is easy to tell that Conrad, or Marlow in this case had a problem with black people.
All throughout the novella, Conrad constantly contrasts black and white. Whenever there is a white man in the scene, he makes the darker look even darker, or in other words, the bad look worse. The most famous account of this is when Marlow finally meets Kurtz face to face for the first time:
The glamour of youth enveloped his(Kurtz) particoloured rags, his destitution, his loneliness, the essential desolation of his futile wanderings. For months-for years-his life hadn’t been worth a day’s purchase; and there he was gallantly, thoughtlessly alive, to all appearance indestructible solely by the virtue of his few years and of his unreflecting audacity. I was seduced into something like admiration-like envy. Glamour urged him on, glamour kept him unscathed[…]I(Marlow) looked around, and I don’t know why, but I assure you that never, never before, did this land, this river, this jungle, the very arch of this blazing sky, appear to me so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness (Conrad,68-69).
It is easy to see the contrast being identified here. Marlow is praising Kurtz and in doing so realizes how dark and hopeless his surroundings are, this a direct contrast between white and black. White in this case obviously being Kurtz and black being the Congo.

The analysis of darkness and racism in Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness results in their being various aspects of each that surface. Searching for continuity for the meaning of darkness in the novella is a task that is harder than it seems. Conrad uses the natives of the Congo and their societal customs to represent darkness as a physical form. Furthermore, Conrad also uses darkness as a means of representing the unknown, which is generally feared by man, therefore man in turn fearing darkness. Moreover, Marlow encounters various endeavors on his journey to the heart of the Congo, all which embody dark themes, in which darkness takes the form of the supernatural or mystical. In addition. darkness is also used by Conrad to represent the darkness that lurks within mankind as well as the evil man is capable of doing. Throughout the novella, various elements of racism surface, with white people being associated with good and black people with bad. Conrad is able to explore elements of racism by using Marlow to represent what he really believes. Various contrasts are also made between white and black, resulting in the dark becoming even darker, or bad becoming worse. If there is a lesson to be learned from Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness is that there is a heart of darkness in all of us, but it is up to the individual to determine if it will consume them or not.