Essays on Heart of Darkness

In Conrad’s book, ‘Heart of Darkness’ Marlow can be viewed as a protagonist as he appears in various scenes. He is a character, who cannot be defined easily. For instance, he foresees records of great originality when echoing his Victorian forerunners. Marlow outstands as a strong hero, self-determined and creative thinker, an able and candid man. The writer echoes the words about Marlow by saying that, “Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him, the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale. It ...

Introduction

Racism refers to the act of distinguishing the superiority or otherwise of members belonging to a particular race and discriminating them based on their appearance and perceived characteristics. Depending on the language and the characters that writers choose to use while writing stories, a text may propagate racism by including characters that reflect certain races as inferior while also portraying other characters perceived as representing other races as superior. Accordingly, the manner in which scholars portray racism in their stories may differ from one’s personal prejudices to the period when the story was written. Ultimately, the extent of ...

The novella, Heart of Darkness is, in the literature world, considered one of the greatest cultural literary works of the 19th century. Conrad takes us through the experiences of the European colonialists in the heart of Africa. The clash of the European and non-European customs form the basis of Conrad's writings. The book has garnered a lot of criticism from African scholars who argue that the book negatively targets the African nation and the African people. The book, according to Chinua Achebe is a mockery of the African people. It ridicules the customs of the native Africans, terming Africa ...

Undoubtedly, Joseph Conrad's creativity can be considered unique and quite rare. This rarity and uniqueness are due to the very origin of the author, whose real name was Józef Korzeniowski (Kolocotroni 154). This had a very difficult and long way to go before he gained experience in understanding the world, people, and society. Not being a native English speaker, Conrad wrote the short story Heart of Darkness, which perpetuated his name in the history of the world literature. This novella affects a number of problems of a different nature and direction. The most predominant of such problems became ...

The film, ‘Apocalypse Now' is a 1979 American movie, which bases its settings In the Vietnam War. The film draws its plot and characters from the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, an explorer of the Congo, who puts down his experiences in the heart of Africa. The film and the novel both emphasize on the native savages depicting the latter as objects rather than human beings whose character deserve an exploration just like other characters. This essay reviews the ‘Apocalypse Now' film based on the differences and similarities between the film and the novel on which it ...

3rd June2016

Definition of Orientalism and How it is Problematic Orientalism is a way of comparing the differences of European, American and Arab cultures through exaggerating, emphasizing and distorting. According to Said, Orientalism considers Arab and African ways of life as uncivilized, precarious and out of the ordinary. Said describes Orientalism as problematic as it is ironical to be perfectly implicit. Understanding how the so-called “cultural domination” has operated over the years has proved to be problematic.

Globalization

Globalization is used to describe broadly the course of escalating intellectual, social, economic and political relations while at the same time integrating people’s ...

“A man's life was a series of transition rites which brought him nearer to his ancestors” (Achebe 122). – One of the impacts of colonization is the disappearance of cultural or traditional practices. This quote shows how a life of an individual is related to his or her culture or origin. “Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. Spirits of good children lived in that tree waiting to be born. On ordinary days young women who desired children came to sit under the shade” (Achebe 46). – This quote illustrates the richness of the culture of ...

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[Date Month Year] Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1898)

INTRODUCTION

Even his vilest critics cannot but respect the literary accomplishments of Joseph Conrad and his great work Heart of Darkness, which was published in 1898. Chinua Achebe, for instance, in her article “An Image of Africa” claimed that Heart of Darkness may as well be considered as one of those fortunate works of literature that must be considered as “permanent literature” (251). It has established a large collection of secondary literature revolving around the elements in the fictional narrative in the forms of essays and books, ...

For a long time, Heart of Darkness was praised as one of the greatest English literary works. The novel by Joseph Conrad is about a journalist who sailed to Africa up to the Congo River; and who later becomes a station manager. The novel gives the accounts on how the sailor was made the indigenous Africans to worship him. In his book, he referred to the Africans as savages. In 1977, Chanua Achebe discredited the book terming it as a racist piece of literature (Pozar 6). From the moment the book was first released in 1899, they have been ...

Things Fall Apart is a book authored by Chinua Achebe whereas The Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad. Chinua Achebe’s book is about the story of a man who was doing his best to prevent the white men from taking over his clan and traditions. On the other hand, Joseph Conrad’s book is about a white man’s trip to the Congo River or his journey to Africa. Even though the two books seem very different from each other, they are so parallel to each other from the setting, the characterization, the themes, ...

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad

In the modern world of a successful and irreversible growing globalization the problem of the dialogue between civilizations as a socio-cultural communities that preserve originality is becoming increasingly urgent and important. The basis of the productive dialogue as a communicative process is a sense of self-identity, understanding of the historical roots of your own culture and national traditions. Only then one can adequately perceive another culture, history and way of life. Identifying the features of communication and interpretation processes in European and non-European cultures requires analysis of not only and not just a scientific treatises, but the amount of ...

The book the heart of darkness looks at the Victorian perspective and the efforts of a white man to civilize the black man. The role of men and women in shaping the political environment of the time has also been looked at. The current changes that have happened live modern philosophers believing that some of the stories of imperialism are mythical and can hence not be proved. The fact however remains that the past political environment helped shaped the current scene. In this paper, we shall be looking at the mythical perspective of the book ‘heart of darkness’ in ...

Joseph Conrad (his real name was Jozef Korzeniowski) is a classic of English literature of the twentieth century. He was born in the Russian Empire into a family of Polish patriots, who took part in anti-government protests. In 1874 he fled to Marseilles to become a cabin boy on a French merchant ship and three years later, while sailing in the Pacific Ocean, began to learn English. Over time, he became captain in the British passenger fleet. The marine experience gave Conrad the material for his literary works. After retiring, he devoted himself wholly to literature and in the mid-nineties began to publish ...

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a fictional novel with the sturdiest statements on imperialism. Though it has other significant themes, the emphasis focusing on imperialism can be easily noticed by the readers. Conrad wrote a letter to William Blackwood, his publisher, stressing how imperialism affected Africans. The narrative is clear and it sheds light on the criminality of incompetence and the high degree of selfishness in Africa civilization claiming its justification. Conrad declares his thoughts in a way that appears simple but in the reality, it is not. The aim of this paper is to discuss Conrad's criticism of ...

‘Instructor’s name’

‘Subject’ European colonial influences on African culture in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Achebe’s “Civil Peace Imperial powers employ different methods to control the nations ruled by them. Apart from force, they also use various ideological means as an indirect mode of attaining control over the colonized nation. Sometimes more than military prowess, ideological instruments makes the people of the colonies accept the power of the ruling imperialist nation, and make them receptive to the domination inflicted on them. Some of the ideological instruments include religion, literature, and education, and these instruments were used to ...

Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad. The setting of the book is in Belgian Congo, which was the most infamous European colony in Africa. This is a story about the protagonist Marlow’s journey to self-discovery, and his experiences in Congo. Conrad’s story explores the colonialism period in Africa to demonstrate Marlow’s struggles. Along the way, he faces insanity, death, his fear of failure, and cultural contamination as he makes his way to the inner station. Conrad through the protagonist and antagonist life explores European imperialism and its effects to Africans. Marlow is the ...

In the Apocalypse Now (movie 1979), Captain Willard played the role of the protagonist in this film. He was a passive character. The main target of was to kill Kurtz. He spent of most of his time in the film watching keenly and internalizing the activities taking place in the jungle. Captain helps to bring out the ironical perspectives of war while at the same time incorporating the theme of morality in the film. His observant nature enabled him to become alert on absurdities of the war and the darkness of the human nature. He clearly brought out how the ...

Analysis of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The novel Heart of Darkness develops its storyline around Charles Marlow describing his experience as an ivory dealer. He transports ivory using the Congo River located from Central Africa. The events in the novel happen between two societies that are completely different, the civilized and uncivilized communities. As such, imperialism and colonialism take charge of the story filled with evil. The characters, setting, events and storyline revolve around developing the events of imperialism and colonialism in the novel. This analytical essay looks into the above elements of the story. The story develops the themes of hypocrisy of imperialism ...

Human beings are complex, not only because of their intellectual ability, but because of their sentient nature. They use their senses and mind to develop concepts and associate them with the experiences and activities they engage in. A good example the application of this principle manifests in Said’s work on Orientalism. Basically, the concept of Orientalism delineates the interaction between the Europeans and the Asian culture in the early history (Said, 1979). Apparently, the Asian culture was new to European people so they decided to understand and define it as best as they could. The context within which ...

The paper is about Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad. In the Heart of Darkness, Joseph is sharing the experience of a man that has identified through the acts, behaviors and deeds that he do with others. Also he refer efforts by all man with Congo. 1899 was the year of publishing the Heart of Darkness by Conrad. He explains with the words that he has experience throughout his career. This story is a journey of a person who is moving on a path to search himself and face the reality of the newest truth. The person highlighted is Marlow by naming ...

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is viewed as one of the best novellas in the English dialect. On the surface it is a dreamlike story of riddle and exploit set in focal Africa; in any case, it is likewise the story of a man's typical excursion into his inward being. An abundance of vivid subtle elements that are huge on both strict and typical levels helps the equivocalness of Conrad's story and has prompted clashing understandings of its importance. At the start of the last area of Part 3, Marlow has recently recuperated from his close deadly sickness. His "nothing ...

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and in Francis Ford Coppola’s loose adaptation/re-imagining Apocalypse Now, the character of Kurtz is portrayed as a white man who has chosen to separate himself from his civilized contemporaries and rule over a native sect of people in a faraway land. While both characters come from the same source, there are significant differences between the two. While Heart of Darkness’ Mr. Kurtz portrays specifically the imperialism and hopeless ambition inherent in the ivory trade, Apocalypse Now’s Colonel Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando) inhabits the horrors of the Vietnam War and what happens to ...

Conrad's approach to his story of the rationalization and justification of racist Western imperialism presents a record of this despicable time that continues echoing the long-term evil in parts of former colonial holdings in 21st century Africa. Debate continues today about Conrad's intention writing this factual-based fiction (Bloom 6), and surely, exemplifies another literary offering of how racist ideas "were the basis of colonization" (Ginio 185). This academic exercise presents discourse about "Heart of Darkness" by Conrad with an analysis of the ideology of the justification of 19th century Western racism/imperialism connected to the distortion of Darwin's theory of natural ...

Plot summary

Heart of Darkness is set in colonial Africa and revolves around Marlow, a meditative sailor, and his expedition through the Congo River to meet Kurtz, an optimist with myriad abilities. While working as a riverboat captain for a Belgian company trading in Africa, Marlow meets face to face with high handedness and cruelty meted against the natives in the Company’s stations. They are forced into hard labor, and are heavily overworked and mistreated by the Company’s agents. Marlow turns up at the central station under the care of general manager and discover s that his steamship had been grounded and ...

Introduction

1979’s Apocalypse Now is one of the most significant films which emerged from the Vietnam War period. The movie is based on Heart of Darkness, a book by Joseph Conrad (Syn 1). The story revolves around the character of Benjamin Willard, who is tasked with the duty of killing Colonel Walter Kurtz, who has gone rogue in the Cambodian jungles. The accuracy of the movie in depicting the actual happenings of the Vietnam War has been a subject of extensive debate. Francis Ford Coppola, the producer and director of the film asserts that Apocalypse Now is not just about Vietnam ...

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the dangers of imperialism - and the line between man and beast - are explored in detail, through the story of Charlie Marlow and his encounters with Mr. Kurtz. The place and the right of civilized man to command and control other cultures that are less technologically advanced is explored, as is the transition of men between good and evil. While many physical objects are used in literature to denote certain things, Conrad's use of the Africans in his book constitutes, just as easily, the same narrative and thematic purpose of an object. ...

Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner are two of the most prominent writers of the modern literary era. In fact in an event held in the year 1957 at the Virginia University, Faulkner openly stated that his works were influenced by Conrad’s writing style. Faulkner have rated ‘ A Heart of Darkness’ as one of his favorite books, and reportedly when he travelled through Kent he remarked to his mother about the serenity of the place, and commented that ‘ no wonder Conrad writes such fine books from here’. Such was the admiration he carried for Conrad. Both of them wrote ...

The two novels are literary works which show the patriarchal attitudes which surround the women of the society. The works also express the interrelation between the sexes and study the societal forces which govern our lives. Virginia Woolf in To the Lighthouse brings forth the feminist voice against the patriarchal prejudices through the characters of the novel. The novel goes on to critique colonialist patriarchy and the stereotypical assumptions about Englishwomen. The starting of the novel does away with the masculine “sphere” of activity and thus shakes the opposition between the sexes. The public world of business and “ ...

The Heart of Darkness reflects the paradoxes of imperialism in the late 19th century.

Imperialism is the act of developing a country in infrastructures and basic growth by the superior countries in order to exploit the minor countries. In Africa, during colonization the superior countries developed African countries in growth and improved literacy level while reaping the benefits from the native countries. In the Heart of Darkness, the author demonstrates imperialism to be costly and ridiculous in conquests of Africa. It is contrary to the expectation of the Africa since the profit was not proportional to the Africans. The end did not justify the means but there was a team that misquoted saying that ...

Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is an affluent, paradoxical, vivid and layered novella, which combines autobiography with travelogue, adventure story, political satire, black comedy and spiritual melodrama. The novel was written in the latter half of the 19th century and is regarded as one of the pioneer’s of the imperial art. . The plot deals with a journey into darkest Africa, a region recognized as the ‘Congo-free State’ by the Berlin Conference of 1885, the private possession of King Leopold II of Belgium. Conrad depicts in ‘Heart of Darkness’, the ways in which men in Africa served, and died ruthlessly ...

What is humanity? I guess this is the question I have been trying to answer ever since I decided to take this class. So far, I haven’t found an answer yet but it is coming pretty clear that culture is one of the most important factors that make a human being human. Now, if culture is that important, how come African Culture or elements of it are absent in the contemporary world? Where is the place of African people all over the world? Where is the civilization of black people? Where is their religion? Where is there dignity? Is ...

Joseph Conrad’s novella, The Heart of Darkness, which centers on the life and times of Marlow, expresses some ideas conveyed in one of D.H Lawrence’s essays: Why the Novel Matters. D.H Lawrence expresses some perturbing views on humanity and life in his essay Why the Novel Matters, and it is the same views that Conrad brings out in his novella. In the essay, Why the Novel Matters, Lawrence comes out against the hypocrisy expressed by scientists, philosophers and even religious people, who focus on some elements of life, without appreciating every bit of it. Despite the fact ...

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the dangers of imperialism - and the line between man and beast - are explored in detail, through the story of Charlie Marlow and his encounters with Mr. Kurtz. The place and the right of civilized man to command and control other cultures that are less technologically advanced is explored, as is the transition of men between good and evil. While many physical objects are used in literature to denote certain things, Conrad's use of the Africans in his book constitutes, just as easily, the same narrative and thematic purpose of an object. ...

Discussion

My primary reaction to this story was that it is a timeless narrative. While the specific context of the colonial era and the technology of travel by steamship certainly places this within a tight time frame, the themes at work will never grow old. The notion that unlimited and unchecked power leads to unimaginable corruption is as old as King Herod and as recent as the era of apartheid in South Africa. The idea that, ultimately, people will do evil, if left to their own devices, is as old as Cain and Abel and as new as the young man who ...

Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is a colonial narrative which discusses the brutality of the British colonialists in Africa. The plot follows the central protagonist, Charlie Marlow, as he transports ivory down the Congo River. The novel presents a number of paradoxes with regard to its presentation of imperialism. The central paradox to all imperialism is obviously the enrichment of the colonial state which is juxtaposed with the decreased amount of national liberties; when the British Empire assumed control over Africa, they ploughed money into the nation which arguably, helped to improve the African standard of living but equally, ...

Thomas Stearns Eliot is one of the most important poets of the 20th century of the English language. The American –born turn British poet and playwright was also a literary critic whose works are still influential to this day. “Hollow Men” is one of Eliot’s major poems published in 1925. Its main thematic concerns include the post war Europe, salvation and to some extent issues of marriage relationships which some critic attribute to Eliot’s own marriage to Vivienne which did not survive their full lives.

In what easily passes as intentional fallacy, Eliot says that he derived ...

Long time ago when the colonizers were still the force behind every move in the world, the native people had no say on how to carry on with their lives of property. Everything at that time belonged to the colonizers. Our ancestors lived a state of unrest and no one could even dare gossip about their presences since they had spies in almost every village and locality. If someone, dared to utter a word those whites will sprint from nowhere descending on an individual mercilessly. The ancestors described the situation at that time as being in hell. The colonizers were not ...