ipl-logo

Cruelty In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

224 Words1 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Racism: a history part 2

Cruelty is commonly found in types of literary works functioning as a crucial motivation or factor. The Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad is no exception to the propounding amounts of cruelty and deception. Cruelty shapes not only the events taking place in the story, but it also portrays the cruelty and how it has shaped mankind. This story is introduced in the year 1899 the same time period when racism and bigotry were popular and commercialized. The atmosphere given was described by Conrad as a “foggy dark and heavy” scene, further playing into the theme of Hypocrisy and the darkness that surrounds it. Cruelty coincides with the time period which profound racism could be found. Conrad uses the comparison to civilization and savagery.
Show More
Related
1073 Words | 5 Pages

The depths of inhumanity know no bounds, but how have we ever wondered how far we can take it? Well, there is no extent to how far cruelty can go. The Holocaust was a prime example of this, as the corruption of inhumane nature spread among the victims of this harsh time period. In Night, Elie Wiesel illustrates the thematic concept of humanity, and the idea that once people's lives are jeopardized with the constant threat of death in dehumanizing conditions, people start to lose a sense of humanity, as developed through the use of foreshadowing, a tragic mood, and the symbolism of silence. First of all, Wiesel reveals how people in the concentration camps during the Holocaust have lost a sense of humanity through foreshadowing.

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

Authors often use cruel and inhumane acts to develop a theme as well as to appeal to the readers emotions. Elie Wiesel uses cruelty in his memoir Night to emphasize the barbaric treatment towards the victims of the holocaust; in addition to, how cruelty develops his character throughout the story. For one thing at the beginning of the novel Elie is extremely religious, but after he arrives in the concentration camp he starts losing his faith. For example, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name?

Read More
271 Words | 2 Pages

Cruelty is a major theme in the novel “After The First Death”. First even though Miro seems like he could be nice, he ends up evil. Second, Artkin had many sides to his cruelty that affected other characters. Lastly,Kate had to become cruel to get what she wanted. Therefore Miro, Artkin, and Kate all did cruel things to accomplish their goals Miro helped a terrorist group hijack a full of children.

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
1025 Words | 5 Pages

The human mind is a being 's reasoning and thoughts. Your mind can make you hear, see, or think things that aren’t actually there. One could easily get lost in their own mind. APA President Philip G. Zimbardo, PhD, believes, “Just about any ordinary person can slip into madness. In fact, all it may take to trigger the process is a special kind of blow to one 's self-image to push someone over the edge of sanity.”.

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
417 Words | 2 Pages

People need to know that this book is a challenge. The Heart of Darkness contains troublesome vocabulary and confusing symbolism. I suggest that you have dictionary by your side while reading it. The story takes you back into the time of strong imperialism and racism of European world over Africa. This frightful story begins on the Nellie.

Read More
2362 Words | 10 Pages

How do the ideas of main characters change and how their justification develops throughout the story, in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky In this essay I will be exploring the changing of the ideas of main characters in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and the development of their justification throughout the story. Heart of Darkness is a philosophical adventure novel written by a famous English writer Joseph Conrad, it was published in 1902. The novel is a narrative journal of a sailor that travels up the river of Congo as a captain of a commercial vessel.

Read More
1772 Words | 8 Pages

With the imperialistic drive being a bigger motive for Europe, he could depict the harshness of the Victorian Era class system in his novel Heart of Darkness. Not only were the effects of the class system that made it dangerous, but also how easily it can spread. These themes are present in Heart of Darkness due to the Victorian Era being one of the worst time periods for class diversity. Also, Conrad presented the story from the point of view of a white man, or Middle Class worker, just so the reader can see what goes on directly below and above him in the social hierarchy. While there has always been a class system for all types of societies, the Victorian Era may be the worst since the poverty problems at the time gained little attention, yet a numerous amount of people fell victim to it.

Read More
1971 Words | 8 Pages

1. Two Time Periods, Two Influences on how Interpreting Heart of Darkness The first thing to remember is that reactions to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness from one period to another are not entirely the same. Indeed, the responses are sometimes contradictory, especially concerning the race aspect in the novella. Chinua Achebe and Caryl Phillips, the two postcolonial writers, are the best example in that case; they belong to different periods that have influenced their interpretation of the book.

Read More
1320 Words | 6 Pages

Conrad uses psychological influence throughout the novella specifically in the areas of, physical health, geographical surroundings, and eerie obsession to lead to the overall truth of madness. An image of such madness is apparent through Conrad's works of psychological influence within physical and mental health. The mental well-being of the characters,

Read More
1592 Words | 7 Pages

Within human nature lies animalistic behavior from which our vices stem. Societal rules and restraints allow us to suppress these more animalistic instincts and advance as a species. However, when one has access to the power that comes with advancement but is placed in a world without the necessary constraints to control this power new vices are formed fueled by greed and self-righteous attitudes. The novella, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, explores the darkness within and what draws it out of one 's soul. Conrad uses Africa as a metaphor for the motherland of this darkness, a world without rules; through setting description, character description, and obvious aspects of the plot that comment on the need for civilization, Conrad explains

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
1988 Words | 8 Pages

1. Marlow begins narrative in London on the Thames River, talking of his past expeditions on the deck of the Nellie. Six years he had traveled and started becoming restless in civilization. He describes his time in London as a mission to civilize the fellow shipmen. He then goes into his desire to explore, discussing his fascination with maps as a child.

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

More about Cruelty In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

Related Topics

Open Document