ipl-logo

Colonialism And Symbolism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

982 Words4 Pages

Heart of Darkness is an important example of modernist novel in English literature. It is full of symbols. A symbol is used to imply a hidden meaning behind the surface. When we look at symbols, we can understand the meaning attached to them. Through the story, places, and characters mentioned in the novel, Joseph Conrad wants to show the truth of colonialism and its effect on both white and black people. I will provide some of the symbols found in the novel.
As for me, the symbolic meaning of light and darkness play the central role in the novel Heart of Darkness. If we try to see the meaning of light it means bright, knowledge, life, perfection, etc. Darkness, on the other hand, refers to dark, death, ignorance, evil, madness, etc. so, the whole novel moves between the relationship of the symbolic aspects of light and darkness. …show more content…

Firstly, he symbolizes the darker side of humanity, starting with the extreme greed and an obsessive love of power. Secondly, he stands for the influence of the savages on the civilized man. Thirdly, we can see Kurtz 's descent into insanity“...the mysterious clues to Kurtz 's character, the dead bodies, skulls, crypt-like residences, and oppressive natural surroundings build in [an] increasing insanity until all these details appear to culminate into symbolic meaning” (Loe 1991). He is the person who collects the most ivory for the Company, and partly as a result of that he is admired and even revered by other people. He is willing to go farther than anyone else to obtain ivory, as shown by the fact that he holds the innermost station of the Congo. His methods also go beyond anyone else 's, including putting heads of natives on spikes.in his example we can see how the civilized person easily transforms into the cruel, savage and a barbaric

Show More
Related
261 Words | 2 Pages

Ayn Rand uses the archetype of Light and Darkness many times throughout her story. She uses the symbol of light to show Equality’s self-discovery. Since darkness is the opposite of this, it is the oppression and stifling he endures in the collective. The theme of this novel is finding freedom through separation from others.

Read More
219 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel, darkness signifies the society. The people aren't allowed to do anything without "their brothers", they can't be more intelligent than anyone else, which displays ignorance amongst each individual person. "It took 50 years to secure the approval of all the councils of the candle" (74), represents

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

Ignorance of another's personal values or situation results in an impassable schism between the two parties. People fail to understand each other, and as such, they regard each other in lower lights. In “Heart of Darkness”, Joseph Conrad, through Marlow, writes his novella through a lense of ignorance and the perspective of the typical white person of the time in order to relate his story to the reader. Marlow and the accountant are contrasted with Kurtz to display the effects of evil on an individual.

Read More
97 Words | 1 Pages

Hunt Hawkins presents the controversy that Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, encounters, as its contents portray Africans as dehumanizing, savage, and uncivilized beings. In order to provide a sufficient amount of information with regards to the controversy, Hawkins introduces the analysis of distinct scholars to describe racism, imperialism, and human nature. As a result, an analysis of the characters are provided to the audience and allow an individual to understand why Conrad decided to write Heart of Darkness the way he did. Thus, during this process, Hawkins describes the manifestation of the darkness that eventually consumes Kurtz.

Read More
1016 Words | 5 Pages

HL Language & Literature Written Task 2 1. How and why is a social group represented in a particular way? In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the natives of Africa – the Blacks – were represented in such a way that they seemed to have close to little or no value compared to the Whites. The constant use of animal imagery in the novel is both a comparison and a symbol that has been used in order to dehumanize any character that was not White.

Read More
1366 Words | 6 Pages

Mr. Kurtz is the main focus in this story and he undergoes a deep change that was due to his greed in the ivory trade. He started off normal

Read More
298 Words | 2 Pages

With my Psychology major, I intend to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist in a pediatric psychiatric ward. Unfortunately, poor mental health and mental illness has been prevalent in my life. Anxiety and depression runs in my family, and I have also watched many of my friends suffer similarly. About 6 months ago, a close friend who was manic depressive took her own life due to her mental illness. I believe that with greater awareness of her state and proper mental health care, her life may have been saved.

Read More
712 Words | 3 Pages

Everyone has their own opinions of which cultures are civilized and which are savage. A culture which is civilized is one where morals are set in place and and there is intellectual advancement. Civilized cultures follow a set a moral given to them usually by a government. A savage culture is where there are no morals in place. The people part of this culture do not follow any morals only hoping to survive, with no government intact.

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

Into the Darkness: How and why is a social group presented in a particular way? Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes a multi-faceted approach to the issues that surrounded 19th century colonization and imperialism in Africa. Marlow’s journey into the heart of Africa serves to highlight the hypocrisy of this endeavor, and how this deceit followed the rhetoric utilized by the colonizers in order to justify their colonization of Africa and the treatment of the natives. As the novel progresses, Africa becomes more of a backdrop for Conrad to truly expose the depravity of European intervention in Africa. Through Marlow’s narrative, varying connotations of words and his own main character’s reactions,as well as copious amounts of descriptive imagery, Conrad casts Europeans in a negative light in order to criticize imperialism and colonists.

Read More
4089 Words | 17 Pages

LANGUAGE TECHNIQUE USED IN JOSEPH CONRAD’S HEART OF DARKNESS ABSTRACT The nineteenth century has been called "the age of the novel", as the last of the major forms of literature to appear. The novel was one of the most fluent, diverse, and unpredictable of literary forms. It was the dominant literary form which reached its apotheosis in the Last century. The novel may seem modern but is historically related to other literary forms such as drama and the epic.

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

‘Heart of Darkness’ was written in 1899 by a Polish novelist Joseph Conrad, about the expedition up the Congo River in the Heart of Africa. This essay will mainly deal with the reference of the ‘darkness’ in the novel and it even deals with the theme which will further support the statement. The idea of ‘darkness’ in ‘Heart of Darkness’ represents evil or dark side of Humanity. It is also related to the idea of colonization, especially when it comes to the idea of mistreatments of people and misuse of natural resources.

Read More
1880 Words | 8 Pages

Darkness, as expected, symbolizes evil and madness. As Marlow travels into the unexplored region of the world, he discovers the evil that lives there in the form of the Europeans, who essentially were meant to bring enlightenment. In the pursuit of ivory (that is something physically light), the white man has embraced the darkest places of its nature; its primitive self. Women (Kurt’s painting)

Read More
1066 Words | 5 Pages

Racism in Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Polish- British writer Joseph Conrad in 1899. Since it was written Heart of Darkness has been criticized as a colonial work. One of the critics who condemn Joseph Conrad and his work has been the Nigerian authors and critics Chinua Achebe in his work "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad 's 'Heart of Darkness". Achebe considers Conrad as “a thoroughgoing racist” (Achebe 5) for depicting Africa as "the other world" (Achebe 2). The aim of this study is to examine Heart of Darkness referring to the Achebe’s ideas in his 1977 essay.

Read More
1041 Words | 5 Pages

The lights from the city reflected the Thames River because London is described as being light, the light symbolizes Conrad’s view of civilization. According to Conrad civilization is where evil is present but ignored. The light is the knowledge that is gained through exploring. Conrad uses Africa and the Congo River to represent the evil that waits in the unknown. The darkness is said to be full of savages and cannibals it is further emphasized as being the uncivilized part of the world where people eat people and the savages wait in the trees and in the darkness.

Read More
915 Words | 4 Pages

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a story that centers around Marlow, an introverted sailor, and his treacherous journey up the Congo River in search of a man name Kurtz. Unfamiliar with the terrain and natives, Marlow faced many different obstacles that made his journey even more tough. Obstacles like the Congo River and the dense jungles that surround it not only limited the crew progress, but also aroused confusion as well. Joseph Conrad amazing use of descriptive wording and imagery help the readers understand why their surrounding was giving them uneasiness throughout their expedition to meet up with Kurtz. The readers can understand why nature was truly an adversary to Marlow and his crew.

Read More

More about Colonialism And Symbolism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Related Topics

Open Document