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Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

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The disparity between truth and reality is quite evident in Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness. Marlow, the main character is on a long voyage through the Congo where he has a difficult time dealing with his own truth and what he believes, since it is very different from the reality of everyone around him, even though he is not aware of this. A truth is seen as an accepted fact, while reality is viewed as something that exists and has happened. The events of the outside world are much darker than an individual’s perception of it, which causes them to be naïve. In Heart of Darkness, many of the characters’ naivety allow them to believe one thing, but due to their lack of knowledge on a certain event, the reality is completely different. A difference …show more content…

After accepting a job at the company his Aunt warns him about the work they do on board. Her warning of how people in Europe are “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (Conrad, 10) displays the fear his Aunt has of him working for the company. Marlow then mentions that “I [He] ventured to hint that the company was run for profit,” (Conrad, 10) explaining to his Aunt that the people working for the imperialists still make a profit and it is okay. This signifies that Marlow does not fully understand the harsh conditions they go through and is assuming that it is not so bad, only because he truly has no idea of what happens on the voyage. At this moment Marlow’s own perception of the work is extremely different than the individual’s that are currently on “that lonely ship” (Conrad, 11) and are “dying of fever at the rate of three a day” (Conrad, 11). In this situation here, Marlow should not be naïve when it comes to his safety as well as his profession because his naivety could cause him to end up like the other men on board, and is also the reason why he has to deal with a very serious illness towards the end of their voyage. When Marlow said “the word ‘ivory’ rang in the air” (Conrad, 20) signifies that it is a prestigious item but also a symbol of all the lives lost due to their hard work collecting it, and when he continues to say he has “never seen anything so unreal in my life” (Conrad, 20) expresses that he does not fully understand the treacherous conditions that people have one through to collect the ivory since Marlow has never seen it in such large quantities before. What Marlow thinks happens on his trip is a lighter and less gruesome version of what actually transpires and in this case here, his truth is also different from what actually

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“The simple old sailor, with his talk of chains and purchases, made me forget the jungle and the pilgrims in a delicious sensation of having come upon something unmistakably real”(Conrad, P.34). The content of the book is tangible and real by providing concrete information focused on seamanship. The real concreteness contrasts with the ineffable feelings Marlow experiences. “Do you see the story? Do you see anything?

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(Conrad 6) These people lived on Hunting their food, and finding their own water, they are the complete opposite of the people on the boat. Marlow had to go to the doctor to get his head checked before he left for his journey and they said most people did not come back. He had to get his head checked because most people either die out there or come back insane Paragraph Two All the natives Marlow has run into so far has been put into slavery.

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In the early 1900’s the banks dictated the lifestyles of the people. This made the banks evil in the eyes of the people, because of the aspects of their control. This is evident in The Grapes of Wrath, the ones who work on the farms of being used by the bank. In the novel it can be seen that everyone is suffering because of the greed of the bank, it states, “The monster isn’t men, but it can make men do what it wants” (Steinbeck 34). The so-called “monster” is referring to the banks, While the only people that are being used are the people that work on the land.

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Nor does Marlow sugarcoat anything about himself - he admits when he has lied and admits his temptation to participate in primitive, savage rituals. However, Marlow never does participate in such events, nor commits any deed of great moral wrong, demonstrating a clear ability to restrain himself. Marlow is also not a hollow man because he is not moved by hollow desires. He is disgusted by the manager’s - and therefore the company’s - obsession with gold and ivory, deeming their imperialism purposeless. Due to his lack of attachment to material goods, Marlow is able to practice restraint, leaving instead of selling the ivory in Kurtz’s place.

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A biblical allusion is being made. The whited sepulcher is mentioned in the book of Matthews 23:27. It refers to people who are pure and beautiful on the outside, but on the inside is filled with impurity and uncleanness. This allusion proposes that the Company looks untainted on the outside, but is inwardly corrupt. The Company that Marlow comes across in the novel is not what is expected, it seems like a place for trade without any blemish, however the Company is only after the ivory that supply’s it with

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Significance Of Moral Ambiguity In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

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In Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness, there are a myriad of characters that can be viewed as morally ambiguous. The most prominent of these characters has to be the main character, Marlow. His moral ambiguity is demonstrated throughout the book with his many conflicting actions, opinions and principles. Many of the traits that demonstrate Marlow’s moral ambiguity give credence to the larger meaning of the work that the greatest barrier to knowledge is one’s preconceptions. Marlow is a good man by the nineteenth century standards that the characters in heart of Darkness adhere to.

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By recognizing this darkness that was there before the British were what he would call civilized, the word choice of this passage is revealed to set up this imperialistic notion of being human. In this story, Marlow exemplifies this colonial misconception, that being the belief that one must live as those of Europe live to be truly a person. While this is known to be false in modern times, in Conrad’s day, it was expected to hold this belief and it managed to seep its way into his writing. Still, it could be argued that Conrad was trying to point out this belief as the true darkness of man. However, this is a flawed argument as, in his work, he still managed to speak of the natives as nothing more than idiotic savages, thus making that assumption in the Romans passage and throughout Heart of Darkness a

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He claims “ten days [is] an eternity,”(18) when ten days of waiting is trivial compared the terrible lives of the slave labor, where Marlow observes the natives “dying slowly”(17) and likened their demeanor to the “deathlike indifference of unhappy savages”(16). Here, Marlow’s ignorance of the hardships of the natives is dreadfully obvious. He does not consider the struggles of the natives around him as toilsome as his own, even though the reader can clearly see the opposite is true. The native's lives are far worse than Marlow having to idly wait for 10 days before continuing his journey. Marlow represents the reader, so this is Conrad’s first step to making the reader self-aware of their own apathy and dehumanization of black people.

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This book represents order, and it was heavily used by the white man; this implies that this book was his way of protecting himself from the chaotic jungle around him. As Marlow read this book, he began to forget about the chaotic world around him, and it made him feel something normal from civilization. Conrad is using this plot event and the setting of the cottage to show the difference in the Europeans principles of order and chaos, as well as show how some of them use this order to shield themselves from the chaos. Conrad also uses many examples of how the sham of civilization hides the truth of our human nature. Conrad compares the Native Africans to the raw

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With the confusion Conrad provides leads Marlow to allow for his curiosity to advance to an obsession. There is a mere difference between having an idolization and an obsession, Marlow went from a moment of idolization and jumped straight to a dramatic obsession. This turning point happens through Marlow ghoulishly stating “Where the pilgrims imagined it crawled to I don't know. To some place where they expected to get something. I bet!

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The author uses this retrospectivity to convey what his character could not grasp as the events were transpiring, but came to understand later on. Through these semi-epiphanies, Conrad accentuates the reality versus the preconceived notion of idealistic imperialism. By contrasting it, the author discredits the claim of imperialism as an altruistic enterprise, and characterizes it as a greed-centered operation. Marlow claims that the entire endeavor was simply “ robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind” (Conrad 8). This, however, is not an observation that would have been made previous to the voyage.

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Marlow tells his shipmates on the boat (the Nelly) that the natives passed him “within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (16). Marlow’s story of his experience exhibits how the Europeans captured the natives and forced them to work; to strip their homeland of its resources and natural beauty. When the Europeans colonize Africa, they do not want to help the African people, but exploit them and put them to work for their own desire of obtaining ivory, rubber, and other resources and goods. As the Europeans imperialize the area, they do not build culture or assist in the development of the Congo region, but break down culture as they enslave the natives and take away their rights, along with stripping the area of resources and natural, earthly beauty, which is conveyed through the cruel physical treatment towards the natives. This treatment is also presented through the literary devices that Conrad decides to use to reveal the experiences of the natives to the

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Marlow tells his shipmates on the boat (the Nelly) that the natives passed him “within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (16). Marlow’s story of his experience exhibits how the Europeans captured the natives and forced them to work; to strip their home land of its resources and natural beauty. When the Europeans colonize Africa, they do not want to help the African people, but exploit them and put them to work for their own desire of obtaining ivory, rubber, and other resources and goods. As the Europeans imperialize the area, they do not build culture or assist in development of the Congo region, but break down culture as they enslave the natives and take away their rights, along with stripping the area of resources and natural, earthly beauty, which is conveyed through the cruel physical treatment towards the natives. This treatment is also presented through the literary devices that Conrad decides to use to reveal the experiences of the natives to the

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This shows the incompetent nature of the character of the manager. Conrad, users fog as a symbol of confusion and mystery. The fog that follows Marlow’s ship on his journey gets thicker as he makes progress towards approaching the inner station where Kurts is. The fog would represent lack of clarity and control. While the ship gets closer the heart of the native country the morals, ethics and humanity of these people dissolves into the fog leaving the people consumed by the creed

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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.

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