Classic literature

Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad

How much does the influence of decency and morality affect man? Will he still comply with the restrictions set about by society if raw nature gnashes him in the face? Will the greatest of the champions of good ever succumb to evil itself?

Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, written in 1898, is such a tale of man going feral. Set in the deep heart of Africa, within the jungles of Congo, the tale begins with Marlow, a sailor from Europe, who was tasked to go look for Kurtz, a man reputed to be noble and idealistic in ways. Kurtz went to the thickness of the jungles to try and civilize the natives living there, but something went awfully wrong. It was Marlow’s task to bring the man home as he was reported to be sick with jungle fever.

Trouble and mayhem soon follows his journey, as he soon encounters the savageness that Africa has to offer. He has to deal with white men of devious agendas, with natives of cannibalistic nature, burning arrows, sabotage, and the dread of the darkness that is set within the jungle itself. When he finally met Kurtz, he found the man weak and delirious with disease contracted from the jungle. Kurtz revealed that he did not want to go home, as he still would like to finish his mission of converting the natives. When Kurtz died screaming his last breath out, he entrusted the completion of his mission to Marlow; a mission that requires the “extermination of all the brutes”, a genocide of the native populace that Kurtz has deemed unworthy saving.

Upon returning to Europe, those close to Kurtz asked Marlow of how such a tragedy could have happened to such a noble man. Not wanting to shatter the righteous image of the departed, Marlow told of how Kurtz died being righteous till the end.

In the novel ‘Heart of Darkness’, Conrad would like to point out that not every man can handle pressure of being labeled as a savior. Kurtz, idealistic and righteous to his friends abroad, showed the readers that he has an inner heart of darkness; that he could not keep up his false righteousness when faced with brutality and force. It takes a strong man to face evil, but it takes a stronger man to face evil and come back unscathed./TE