Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness is an intricate novel that captivates and delivers Conrad’s beliefs as well as leaves the reader with many ambiguous meanings and hidden messages that are for their own interpretation. The novel opens with a sailor by the name of Marlow recounting to several other shipmates about an incident in his past when he commanded a steamboat on the Congo River and the horrors and darkness he discovered during that perilous journey. In his tale Marlow is a young man eager to see the unexplored African jungles. But once he reaches the Company's Outer Station in Africa, he's confronted with a vivid depiction of black slavery and white greed that tears away all his pre-conceived notions of adventure and enlightenment. He also meets the Company's Chief Accountant, who mentions the central focus of Marlow’s reflection, Mr. Kurtz whom is a remarkable agent that sends a tremendous amount of ivory but has stopped shipping ivory back to the Company and thus as Marlow’s obsession over the mysterious Kurtz grows, he will continue deeper into the wilderness in search of him. Thus the journey through Africa and specifically the Congo River takes him through several outposts where ultimately in the innermost station, Mr. Kurtz exists. As he travels closer to Kurtz, the untamed force of nature slowly besets him and the rest of the European colonizers and every trace of “civilization” slowly dwindles away.

Once Marlow arrives at the Company's Central Station, he learns that the steamer he was supposed to command has been wrecked. During that time to repair it, he meets another character the local Manager of the Central Station that is full of greed, spite and essentially the embodiment of the European imperialism. The Manager, like many other characters, glean off more and more insights and information on the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz, where the Manager tells Marlow that Kurtz is ill, yet seems reluctant to help due to the greed and anger towards Kurtz as competition in profit making. After the steamer is repaired, Marlow continues the tedious voyage to Kurtz's station, through a jungle that Marlow describes as “foreboding, and gigantic.” During the journey, a thick fog through which they hear of threatening cries surrounds the steamer. Once the fog clears,