Power In Joseph Conrad's 'Heart Of Darkness'

Heart of Darkness Response Paper

The “Heart of Darkness” is a novel written by Polish-British novelist, Joseph Conrad that was first published in 1899. The novel talks about a man, Marlow telling his story about his journey to Africa and the experiences he went through. He recalls his journey to Africa to three men on the British ship, the Nellie. Marlow was an agent for the Company which was an ivory trading company. The main reason he got his position as an agent was because the person who was in his position was murdered which is probably a sign, things are not going too well in Africa. Marlow hears so much about a mysterious figure named Kurtz when he arrives in Africa and slowly becomes obsessed with him. Later on, he finally meets him

One theme used in this novel would definitely have to be power. Power is often talked and used throughout the novel from almost each person Marlow meeting in Africa, talking about how Kurtz is powerful and like a god causing him to be almost obsessed with this character. At the beginning, Marlow isn’t quite sure why Kurtz is so powerful and why everyone seems to view Kurtz in either admiration or jealousy. Later on, he finds out that most of the power Kurtz has is because he is able to control and communicate with the native Africans and with this, he has access to large amounts of ivory which also gives him power with the Company. However, it seems that Kurtz abuses his power and becomes like a tyrant which eventually leads to him not having any power at all. Another use of power is how the Europeans view the native Africans, they think it’s fine, that it’s normal to have them in their control just like the nature of Africa. They see the native Africans just like their nature, something to be in control of. This may stem from their different skin types and the fact that this novel takes place in the late 1800s. That is another theme that is shown in this novel,