Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Quote Analysis

The novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad proves that historian Will Durant was correct when he said that, “One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.” Conrad makes this clear when his main narrator, Marlow, provides commentary about the grotesque action of his colleagues, and the necessity to keep silent in certain situations.

As he narrates Heart of Darkness, Marlow makes statements that question how noble his mission is. These statements seem to communicate that nothing is often a good thing to do, especially when it comes to the topic of imperialism. We can began to see examples of this starting at the beginning of the book when Marlow recounts the powerful consequences

Conrad has us first associate this devil with the more active word. Finally Marlow helps us identify who these devils are when he says “How insidious he could be too, I was only to find out several months later and a thousand miles farther.” In the timeframe of the book “Several months later and a thousand miles farther” is somewhere in the Congo. We know that the devil he is discussing has to be a man because Marlow refers to him as “he.” Seeing as all of the prominent male characters in the Congo are European, it is reasonable to infer that the devils Marlow is discussing are colonizers. By associating the colonizers as “devils” of assorted violent actions, Marlow is having the reader consider how the actions of colonizers make the colonizers less moral, or more devilish. While he is technically also a colonizer and should also be classified as a devil, Marlow says that he has “seen” these devils as opposed to saying he has become them. He is painting himself as an observer. Throughout the novel, Marlow narrates the action of the others in the Congo, but talks very little of what he did. We see why Marlow did this

He tells his listeners, “But I couldn’t. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark-too dark altogether.”(Conrad, 72) Here, Marlow is making a very specific choice not to speak. He felt that telling this mourning woman that her fiance’s actions caused great pain would be the unintelligent thing to do, that he could not introduce her to the darkness. This is shown to the reader not only through the word choice of the quote, but also through the syntax. No sentence in this quote goes over nine words, and the short sentences help create an air of decisiveness. He is not taking a long time to contemplate if he should speak or not, which makes Marlow appear strong in his belief that silence is the right choice. Conrad’s choice of repetition here definitely shows that even when Marlow rethinks his silence he is only reaffirming that he made the right decision. . This is especially evident when Marlow says, “But I couldn’t. I could not tell her.” Not only is Marlow repeating his assertion, but he is also adding emphasis by breaking up the world “couldn’t”, allowing the reader to place emphasis on the “not” portion. In addition, the decision by Conrad to use the word “couldn’t” is important. It carries some choice, when “couldn’t” is used it is usually understand that person speaking has the ability to do the task they “couldn’t” do. However, “couldn’t” does not