Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Literary Analysis

In the book Heart of Darkness, the author Joseph Conrad explores the age of imperialism through his own mentality and personal experiences. through the use of the literary analysis technique New Historicism readers can analyze Conrad’s story by looking into the author himself, the time period the book was written in, and social movements during the time. Because of this, readers can draw conclusions to the meaning of this novella in an elaborate and enriching manner. Heart of Darkness dives into a deeper meaning than what a typical European story of Imperialism would, giving readers a sense of Conrad 's own dark heart: the same dark heart and mind that aids in his portrayal of his characters, the storyline and the tone the book gives off.

Conrad never fully recovered from the events of his childhood which appear in his work. Death and destruction overflow from his mind and spill onto the pages of Heart of Darkness to create an overwhelming sense of grief. Not only do characters in the book have to deal with the death of their equals, like the death of the helmsman, but there is an overwhelming sense of defeat that comes along with the imperialist movement. Conrad had to work through the death of his parents, forever scarring him; as the characters in the book have to learn to cope with the death of the only acquaintances they have Conrad copes with the hardships in his life through his writing. Some of his hardships included a single suicide attempt that is known of, possibly more, and also signs of depression and

The opposing viewers believe New Criticism, a technique that looks at how literary techniques while analyzing a story, is the better was to approach a storyline. While both techniques do try to find a deeper meaning of a book are valid and acceptable, looking at the history behind a book gives details and context that New Criticism can not.
This view of the of Heart of Darkness in relation to the mind of Conrad allows us to see the true purpose of this expansively progressive book, giving readers a look into imperialism at its core. Not only does Conrad’s own history affect his writing, but it is also a major building block and base of the creation of Heart of Darkness. Conrad and his expression through his characters bring the view that Imperialism and the civilized world have their own heart of darkness into the