"Heart of Darkness" and the Failure of the Imagination
Author(s): James Guetti
Source: The Sewanee Review, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Summer, 1965), pp. 488-504
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27541341 .
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"HEART
OF DARKNESS"
AND
THE FAILURE
OF THE
IMAGINATION
By JAMES GUETTI
is apparently an account
OF DARKNESS"
*?"TjEART
i
1
of one man's
and
the
understand
moral
of another's
of
essentials
and psychological
degeneration
to
spatial and intellectual
journey
that
the matter.
A reader expects
such a story will follow certain rules: the journey will be diffi
cult, but at its end will be a meaningful disclosure in which the
I shall
be placed
in a moral
will
framework.
"degeneration"
that "Heart
of Darkness"
try to show in this discussion,
however,
seen
to
of
such a moral
the
be
relevance
may
deny, particularly,
to question,
of mean
the possibilities
generally,
as
it is
the
itself?that
narrative
develops
journey
so as to deny
it ap
the basic assumptions
upon which
and
framework
for
the
ing
redefined
pears
to be constructed.
One
of
"darkness"
the
two
is this:
the
has
a "heart";
a reader penetrates
the unknown
to the known.
Marlow
suggests
throughout
and
known
partially
assertions
possible
story that at the center of
is pursuing
this meaning.
serves to emphasize
inquiries
In
ambiguity.
introspective
assertion
second and dominant
composed
and our
known
The
of
paradox
most
in
this manner
it is the
"darkness,"
there
implied
be
title
often
terms
we
takes
or
through
in the title
that
the
the
the
are
left
of
form
a hushed
in particular
above
"heart,"
of the title
in general:
must
progress
to the unknown.
the
there is meaning
and that he
things
And
the
Marlow's
of
yet
intensity
the inconclusiveness
of his findings.
the truth about Kurtz
about to declare
and again he seems
Again
and the darkness,
but his utterance
a thunderous
either
contradiction
of Darkness"
of
with
and
the
and "Heart
all, that is
darkness
lies,
or
apparently
partially
the
is nowhere
real
more
obvious
than
at what
is usually
taken to be the
"The
The
horror!
cry,
death-bed
a response
to the most
but Marlow
insists
that
of complete
knowledge."
not only with Kurtz's
at
world
piercing
ness."
may
large,
private
"wide
they
He
center
of
the
story:
words
These
horror!"
Kurtz's
seem
to the unknown
itself,
nightmare,
a "moment
are quite the reverse:
asserts
that "the
the hearts
this
can be known
horror"
but
history,
unspeakable
to embrace
enough
to penetrate
all
enough
to resolve
In attempting
into what
489
GUETTI
JAMES
also
the whole
that beat
apparent
of Kurtz's
has
to do
with
the
universe,
in the dark
contradiction,
we
history.
of the "new gang
once, an idealist of a kind, a member
a man
to Marlow,
of the trading
company;
according
come out
who
with moral
ideas of
"had
apparently
equipped
a moral man
some sort." A
as
of
this
of
Kurtz
view
complication
inquire
He
was,
of virtue"
is presented
near the end of
"
'He electrified
the
story
by
a sometime
journalist
He
had faith?
large meetings.
"
account
From
the journalist's
had the faith.'
see??he
to accept the possible
to this point, a reader might
but
be inclined
colleague:
don't you
as a clear case of moral
view of Kurtz
degeneration;
over-simple
a reader may
once
infer
"the
the man
faith," which
possessed
and
and unambiguous
be some high-minded
then,
creed,
Africa,
lost "the faith."
Kurtz would
have fallen,
to
in
in these
from
moral
of a traditional
the framework
scheme,
terms, within
a "heaven"
his
to a "hell."
But as the journalist
de
continues,
scription
turns upon
itself:
"
to believe
could get himself
'. .. the faith. He
anything?
a
have
been
He
would
leader of an ex
anything.
splendid
treme party.'
'What party?'
I asked.
'Any party,' answered
the other.
'He was an?an?extremist.'
I not think
Did
so? I assented."
Kurtz
faith.
this
is characterized
Marlow,
and asks,
like
"What
as a man
a reader,
who
momentarily
party?"?-implying
all
possessed
does
that
or any
faiths,
not understand
he
too
conceives
490
of
"heart
"the
faith"
self.
But
as a
ideal to wrhich Kurtz
dedicated
him
single moral
some
the matter
becomes
"the
faith"
is
clearer;
to believe
that enabled
Kurtz
in any creed
ability
With
this assessment Marlow
agrees.
then
or
quality
darkness"
whatsoever.
The
of the connection
Kurtz's
between
problem
moral
Kurtz
and
himself?his
unscrupulous
facility
more
Marlow
than any other.
On
ing?concerns
of
the voyage
up
of his "second-rate
the
to the
river
Inner
in his
helmsman"
eloquent
essential
the
with
Station,
shoes, he reflects
and
be
last stage
the blood
this
con
cern
in a feeling
as though
of disappointment,
he is
the man
a substance."
Mar
without
seeking were "something
altogether
not "as doing, you know, but as discoursing";
low imagines Kurtz
it is Kurtz's
that is the man's
voice alone
"real presence,"
"his
to talk, his words."
Even
after the actual physical
shock
ability
of Kurtz's
of his death, Marlow
insists:
appearance
and, finally,
"The voice was gone.
What
else had been there? But I am of
course
aware
hole."
muddy
as if Kurtz's
that next
the pilgrims
buried
in a
something
an
buried
anonymous
pilgrims
"something,"
were
as
Kurtz
detached
from
reality
completely
day
The
defined by his voice.
This
self
Kurtz's
between
separation
is often
in relation
described
Marlow
station,
contemplates
he remarks:
the human
unvoiced
speech and Kurtz's
to his "degeneration."
As
heads upon posts near Kurtz's
Kurtz
that Mr.
in the
lacked restraint
"They
only showed
of his various
that there was
gratification
lusts,
something
in him?some
small matter
the press
wanting
which, when
under
his magnificent
ing need arose, could not be found
eloquence."
The "whisper" of the wilderness "echoed loudly within him be
cause he was
found
with
hollow
himself
its externally
at the core."
in a world
imposed
which?in
restraints
It is thus
that Kurtz
suggested
to civilization,
comparison
of law, social morality,
and
public opinion?was
a man
ties, where
his "power
Kurtz
had
and belief
a world
of enticing
and dangerous
"own
his
innate
upon
depend
must
...
of devotion
no
such devotion;
left him "hollow
was most
he professed
what
or discard
Kurtz
morality:
him were wholly
But
this, Marlow
about
essential
possibili
strength,"
business."
to an obscure, back-breaking
his capacity
for arbitrary
eloquence
at the core."
"The
faith," we may
not as a moral
faith in himself,
being,
suppose, was Kurtz's
but as a being who couJd use
now
if what
491
GUETTI
JAMES
to believe.
as
lived
separate
from
insists,
is not
simply hypocrisy:
I could not appeal
I had to deal with a being to whom
"...
or
in the name of anything
I
low.
high
had, even like the
own
to
invoke
exalted
and
him?himself?his
niggers,
was
There
incredible
either
above
nothing
degradation.
or below him, and I knew it. He had kicked himself loose
of the earth. Confound the man!
he had kicked the very
earth
Kurtz's
to pieces."
is not
"degradation"
the
traditional
result
of
a moral
failure; it is "exalted and incredible," perhaps god-like; it is the
effect of his setting himself apart from the earth and the morality
of
the earth?apart,
even,
from
which he had such magnificent
What
Kurtz
tached
himself
has
the
the
earth
with
facility.
done
has general
the moral world,
from
of
language
consequences.
but in doing
least
He
has
de
so he has, at
has he
simply
for Marlow,
that world.
Not
destroyed
himself
loose of the earth," but "kicked
"kicked
the very
earth
to pieces."
Kurtz's
has
amorality
personal
ramifications,
public
is shaken;
he declares?looking
to Kurtz's
and Marlow
ahead
"The
"no
horror!"?that
eloquence
could
have
been
so withering
to one's belief inmankind as his final burst of sincerity."
in mankind,"
very business
himself
only
I think,
in which
implies
Kurtz
nature
the moral
could
be
so
adept,
from this general morality, Kurtz
the possibility
of such a release
but also,
"Belief
of mankind,
the
and in releasing
has illustrated not
as Marlow
suggests,
492
of
"heart
darkness"
to all men.
of morality
the possible
and irrelevance
inadequacy
and if it remains
his achievement,
Kurtz's
thus becomes
"failure"
a
in
is none
of
the
morality
adequacy
general
partially
failure,
theless
questioned.
This
The
one
in part, is a familiar
moral man enters a world
problem,
imaginative,
he struggles,
ment;
alone,
of Darkness"
But in "Heart
to retain
to readers
of Conrad.
of danger
and entice
he fails.
Often
his morality.
is more
the matter
complicated,
be
restraint, may
for
seen
the means
of
the possible moralities,
to
I have attempted
to be less available?as
unreal.
alternatives,
seen
be
in which morality
of the manner
show something
may
is an account
what
follows
to fail Kurtz
in "Heart
of Darkness";
here
of morality
of the failure
in more
pervasive
terms.
kinds
with various
the story a reader is confronted
chief account
The
that are clearly unsatisfactory.
for ex
his fastidious
ant "accomplishes
with
dress,
something"
deceit
and continual
his envious
masks
and the manager
ample,
concern
the "right
a
and doing
for saying
with
hypocritical
Throughout
of "restraint"
thing." The most obvious case of this false kind of discipline is
native
Marlow's
"...
unstable
he
helmsman;
thought
kind
all the world
of fool I had
of himself.
ever seen.
He
He
was
steered
the most
with no
end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of
the prey of
you, he became
instantly
of a steamboat
let that cripple
would
of him in a minute."
In
whom
addition
to
restraint
is unnecessary:
"...
even
you may
to know
...
darkness.
creature
heavenly
these
pseudo-moralities,
an abject
funk, and
the
hand
upper
get
there
are men
for
dull
of a fool to go wrong?too
be too much
are
assaulted
the
of
powers
you
by
being
a
be
such
Or you may
exalted
thunderingly
as to be altogether
deaf
sights and sounds."
and
blind
to anything
but
None
of these
nor,
to Marlow's
493
GUETTI
JAMES
to the wilderness
responses
Both
for Kurtz.
is possible
are men
mind,
as morality
of appearance
do not
to
of
sufficient
course,
possesses
each,
imagination
to the "darkness."
vulnerable
dangerously
falsehoods
simpler
Marlow
"truth"
that
declares
it, a man
of
belief."
conception
that when
of restraint
sounds
was
boat
in one
piece:
watch
the
and
steering,
circumvent
. . . There
was
snags.
a
to save
Mar
wiser man."
low's
it is founded
of the
Marlow
may "find"
to contradict
himself,
incidents
?fades.
I felt
As
these
upon
surface.
keeping
that
says at one moment
his own "reality";
himself,
"When
however
and
"voice,"
"ashore
those
in these things
enough
as
the
that a man
of "truth"
kind
idea,
of the wilderness,
the "truth"
himself
against
surface-truth
concern;
to matters
indeed.
y
him from going
for a howl
prevented
his steam
only that he was too busy keeping
. . .
"I had to mess
about with white-lead
that what
a dance"
fine
to him
appealed
of his own.
Im
the wilderness
asserting
to every man?he
had a "voice"
to his own
his testimonial
following
and
the
wilderness,
his own
his own true stuff?with
won't do.
clothes^
Acquisitions,
Principles
that would
shake.
fly off at the first good
continues,
it must
mediately
he admits
him
truth with
this point Marlow's
?as
the
confronting
rags?rags
a deliberate
you want
pretty
No;
At
in
and
appeal,
render
must
meet
that
"...
inborn strength.
He
for Marlow,
to whom
the
oneself
may use to defend
is only a practical
upon
busy,
it is in "work"
later,
however,
attending
that
a man
he appears
remarks,
you have to attend to things of that sort, to the mere
the reality?the
of the surface,
I tell yon
reality,
The
it all
quotations
the
inner truth is hidden?luckily,
same.
. . ."
indicate, Marlow
uses
the
term
luckily.
"reality"
But
in
494
of
"heart
two ways:
essence
is the suggested
reality
that must
remain hidden
the primary
the darkness
wilderness,
survive morally,
darkness"
of
if a man
the
is to
is a figurative
the secondary
reality
reality
the truly real is concealed
reality by which
of the
that this reality
admits
And Marlow
while
an artificial
like work,
or even replaced.
second sort is simply
of things.
account
Marlow's
a deluding
activity,
a fictitious
over
the
reflects
his
play
surface
of his
as a "wanderer";
nature
own
he
as a fiction
restraint
is as morally
rootless,
as
perhaps,
Kurtz himself. In speaking of the "droll thing life is,"Marlow
describes his difficulties in a way that is suggestive in terms of
Kurtz's
experience:
con
It is the most unexciting
with death.
"I have wrestled
in an impalpable
It takes place
test you can imagine.
gray
with nothing
around, without
ness, with nothing
underfoot,
the great
without
without
without
glory,
clamour,
spectators,
in a sickly
the great fear of defeat,
desire of victory, without
atmosphere of tepid skepticism, without much belief in your
right, and still less in that of your adversary.
then life is a greater
form of ultimate
wisdom,
than some of us think it to be."
own
is the
Marlow
death
man
suggests
that
at
with
or, perhaps,
to see any reality
certain
moments?in
a wilderness?it
in a connection
struggling
difficult
is most
between
If
such
riddle
with
for
a
moral
"rights"
are necessarily
severe challenges
a man's most
and his experience;
When
of tepid
in an "atmosphere
encountered
skepticism."
to keep
the steamer
himself
Marlow
afloat,
struggles
struggles
for his life, he replaces his own "tepid skepticism" with work; he
is forced to do so by his physical danger. Kurtz's situation has by
no means
or
so simple.
he had no dominating
Like Marlow,
sense of
did he have Marlow's
but neither
"idea,"
been
saving
danger with
the reality.
its consequent
In this manner
Kurtz
activity?the
appears
even more
work
that
vulnerable
luckily
hides
than Mar
him
For
low.
the
"tepid
between
the disparity
viewed
more
reality
sidered
may
loose
himself
experience
the moment
for
conclude
was
earth"
the
of
was
skepticism"
his moral
more
fictions
he necessarily
Why
but if we are to rely
starkly.
in part,
only
insistence
that Kurtz's
we
495
GUETTI
JAMES
did
he
intense;
and an amoral
so,
con
I have
at all upon Marlow's
to his own,
then
corresponds
act of "kicking
that Kurtz's
caused
by his
vision?the
to
inability
vision
save
when
Kurtz's
which
fictions;
so
to
assumes
to
his own?destroyed
the truth
similar
be
Marlow
and restraint,
it also destroyed
their availability.
of morality
himself
with
It is on this account
a moral
that Marlow
refuses
to condemn
Kurtz
in
of the company
remarks
that Kurtz's
The manager
that
but Marlow
is "unsound,"
denies
this, asserting
was
at
that Kurtz
all."
The manager
it is "no method
conceives
way.
"method"
a "remarkable
once
but
that
man"
then
since
he
has
gone
his method
wrong.
was
Talk
sound, perhaps,
or
of "sound"
is a
and Kurtz
for Marlow,
however,
of
the world
because
he has escaped
exactly
he has shown
that these terms are
because
is irrelevant
"unsound"
man"
"remarkable
and unsound,
as a measure
inadequate
sound
of
his
experience.
that he has managed
Kurtz's
crime
himself off from the possibility of sin. At the moment
conversation
sympathy
or
for
things badly
then, is not
a
more
in
that he has sinned
or,
uniquely
generally,
an
means
act
vision
has cut
of
of
he
but
that
way,
by
achievement,
the company
horrifying
when
with
with
the manager,
Marlow
formally
of this
declares
his
Kurtz.
the
it is not simply
"Heart
of Darkness,"
again,
Throughout
nor
that are shown to be ignoble,
characters
codes of the minor
a tenuous fiction.
Disci
code that is proved
is it only Marlow's
in the story not
is defined
in general
pline
or
intention?in
of idea
also as a singleness
as restraint,
but
to
of course,
contrast,
only
something like Kurtz's multiple faith or to the infinite possi
bilities of the wilderness. This kind of spiritual rigidity is the
on his way to
important quality of the book which Marlow finds
496
Inner
the
of
"heart
Station?"An
Inquiry
darkness"
some
into
Points
of Seaman
ship":
a very
"Not
but at the first glance
you
book;
enthralling
concern
an honest
could see there a singleness
of intention,
. . . The
to work.
for the right way
of going
old
simple
me
with
his
talk
of
chains
and
made
sailor,
purchases,
forget
the jungle and the pilgrims
in a delicious
of having
sensation
come upon
real."
something
unmistakably
concern with work,
its single-minded
of the book,
"reality"
or secondary
that
is clearly
I have remarked,
the artificial
reality
to note here
such reality
that when
but it is more
interesting
so only
seems possible,
in terms
that are anomalous
it seems
out of
that this book is totally
It is apparent
in the wilderness.
The
place
book
in the jungle,
that despite Marlow's
as a symbol
this
of moral
reality,
grasp on the
desperate
is rendered
false
reality
and unreal by means of the very quality by which he declares it
established:
its irrelevance
In a similar
deny
singleness
As Marlow
ity.
his journey,
manner,
of purpose
he
to the wilderness
the wilderness
proceeds
encounters
may
or its equivalents,
the coast
down
a French
be
it.
surrounding
seen elsewhere
restraint
at
gun-boat
and moral
the
of
beginning
into
firing
the
jungle:
even a shed there, and she was shelling
"There wasn't
the French
had one of their wars
It appears
the bush.
a
on
Her
thereabouts.
ensign dropped
limp like
going
out
the
stuck
of
rag; the muzzles
long six-inch guns
the greasy,
all over the low hull;
slimy swell swung her
swaying her thin masts.
lazily and let her down,
of earth, sky, and water,
In the empty
immensity
into a
there she was,
incomprehensible,
firing
one
of the six-inch guns;
continent.
go
Pop, would
a little white
a small flame would
dart and vanish,
a tiny
smoke would
would
projectile
disappear,
give a feeble screech?and
nothing
happened.
could happen."
Nothing
to
up
with
War,
of
its polarities
497
GUETTI
JAMES
life
and
death,
and defeat,
victory
as a straightforward
be seen generally
may
are
and
and rigidly
too,
traditionally
Guns,
purposeful,
to happen.
Here
when
they are fired something
ought
nothing
are
there
the
the
guns "pop";
"feeble";
happens:
projectiles
In a parallel
is no enemy and no effect.
explosives
description,
and
enemy
matter.
are used
not
enemy,
at
the first
in the way
the work
or
hears
phenomena
with
to remove
a cliff:
blasting
on
all
"objectless,"
the face of
but
change appeared
sees six natives?"criminals"?
later Marlow
and then
explosion,
of the gun-boat:
recollection
another
his
was
blasting
objectless
is not only
for "no
cliff was
"The
this
but
anything;
on."
The
going
also without
result,
A moment
rock."
in chains,
station
the
these
synthesizes
of
think suddenly
from the cliff made me
"Another
report
It was
into a continent.
that ship of war I had seen firing
but these men
could by no
the same kind of ominous
voice;
were
be called enemies.
stretch of imagination
called
They
the
the
and
like
outraged
criminals,
law,
bursting
shells, had
come to them, an insoluble mystery
from the sea."
The
law with
shells
its apparent,
straightforward
been negated;
the blasting?has
and has no effect
incomprehensible,
and
purpose?like
it has become
the
a mys
as law, but merely
the savages
and unhappy.
indifferent
the law, the
Here
as having
no
and the warfare,
then, are characterized
blasting,
or
the
and
between
these
purpose
effect,
disciplined
disparity
which
devices
of civilization
and the wilderness
they attempt
tery,
renders
to the disparity
between morality
and
corresponds
The
described
scope of this disparity
previously.
man
schemes and the wilderness
is ever widening.
the wilderness
between
hu
II
It has
restraint
he has
been
remarked
in Africa
said that
here
depends
this restraint
that Marlow's
own
capacity
for
his busy
upon
thoughtlessness,
reflects a concern only with
the
and
inci
498
of
"heart
of the
dents
who
as
surface,
"Heart
begins
darkness"
to the "reality."
defines Marlow's
opposed
of Darkness"
in a way
that is puzzling,
yet
story-telling
own
characterizations
of his moral
Marlow's
The
narrator
manner
of
clearly
analogous
attitude:
to
a direct
the whole
simplicity,
the shell of a cracked
nut.
. . . and to him the
meaning
en
like a kernel
but outside,
the
as
a
out
it
tale
which
brought
veloping
only
glow brings
out a haze,
in the likeness
of one of these misty
that
halos
are made
sometimes
visible
the
of
illumination
by
spectral
moonshine.
The
seamen
of
yarns
have
of which
lies within
meaning
was not
But Marlow
typical
of an episode was not inside
In "Heart
coast
we
of Darkness"
we
encounter
of
an
the
observe
or over
of the wilderness
idea of his
Marlow
the
moving
along
of the river, and here
over the outside
moving
the surface
language
the episode
"episode,"
surrounding
Marlow's
at meaning
attempts
same form as his attempts
at morality
it.
but
never
penetrating
in general,
take the
then,
in particular.
Both mean
are seen to be matters
of the surface or exterior,
ing and morality
the reality?not
while
Marlow's
artificial
reality but the reality
surfaces?is
at the
beyond
something
deep within,
something
center
is not
that
between
however,
that
it would
be
important
difference,
and his more
gener
in the first instance he continually
attitudes:
ally meaningful
suggests
There
is an
approached.
Marlow's
moral
attitudes
to look beneath
imprudent
the
surface;
in the second he just as frequently admits that it is impossible
to do
so.
The
somehow,
structure
Inner
of
the passage
above
is affirmative;
the
quoted
that the search for meaning
can be
satisfied,
concern with
the exterior.
And
the very
yet
emphasis
narrator
implies
in a
of
Station,
search,
pervasive
and,
"Heart
of Darkness"?with
toward
certainly,
metaphor
the man
who
toward
some
of "meaning
the
constitutes
journey
the end
in
meaning
at the heart"?seems
terms
to
the
of
the
of
the
to assert
that
is a more
there
search
for Kurtz
matters
significant
reality
for some disclosure
and
are not
of the surface
suggested
after Marlow
even
Marlow,
the
within;
of meaning
of
fact
the
implies
that
a voice
for
enough.
I have
Previously
499
GUETTI
JAMES
that Kurtz
had
confronted
remained
him
at
the
Inner
even
and that,
evidences
upon Kurtz's
Station,
death, Marlow
as to whether
his uncertainty
there was ever anything
else to the
man
but a voice, admitting
buried "some
only that the pilgrims
This
thing."
attitude
toward
Kurtz?and
implies a failure by Marlow,
it is never
modified?
for although he struggles into the
to Kurtz,
of darkness,
his sympathetic
declares
allegiance
out again, he ends where
watches
the man die, and journeys
he
more
once:
remarks
his
than
Marlow
failure
began.
heart
. .
or no I would
with myself
whether
talk
arguing
come
con
with
to
but
I
before
could
any
Kurtz;
openly
to me that my
it occurred
clusion
in
silence,
speech or my
.
.
a
mere
deed
action
of
would
be
any
mine,
futility.
The
essentials
of this affair
under
the
lay deep
surface,
of meddling."
beyond my reach, and beyond my power
".
Marlow's
attitude
as bemused
as his
Although
wilderness
and
although
into
deeper
vague
mains
of
he
lies
toward
idea
of
the reality of the wilderness
remains
the meaning
of Kurtz's
experience.
at
center
that
the
the
of
suggests
constantly
"the
amazing
he often
the
heart
of
the paradoxical
always "inscrutable."
and
its awesome,
passive
cleared
of
its concealed
reality
life,"
that he is penetrating
and
"deeper
in his insistence
the
upon
darkness,"
asserts
re
of the wilderness
"purpose"
It escapes definition
terms
in
except
"...
the
wilderness
silent
magnitude:
the
speck on the earth struck me as some
and invincible,
like evil or truth."
is no
Marlow
thing great
a central
nearer
at
the
heart of the darkness
reality
geographical
surrounding
than
he was
a "general
this
down
the coast, he was
when,
proceeding
sense of vague
and oppressive
wonder."
aware
of
of
"heart
500
seems
It thus
generally
in any meaningful
darkness"
to move
impossible
way.
beyond
story exists
in this
Reality
the surface
not
in the
positive but in the negative, for it is all that human disciplines
cannot reach, all that lies beyond these disciplines within the
of a man,
center
of a wilderness,
itself.
perience
human
Language
fails
imagination,
of Kurtz
too,
as Marlow
and,
like
implies,
resources
other
all
to discover
in attempting
of ex
of
the
the meaning
and of experience:
I did not see the man
in the
for me.
"He was just a word
name any more
than you do. Do you see him? Do you see
. . .
it is impossible;
the story? Do you see anything?
No,
to convey
it is impossible
the life-sensation
of any given
of one's
its truth,
existence?that
makes
its
which
epoch
essence.
and
It
subtle
is
meaning?its
impos
penetrating
sible. We
..."
live, as we dream?alone.
a word
was
Kurtz
low were
face
the word
failed.
He
Kurtz
to face:
And
attempts
Marlow
a word,
he and Mar
a
to discover
is not
that
his
or remoteness
"aloneness"
particular
a general
there is revealed
condition
has meaning,
in "Heart
coast
of experience?the
Language
the exteriors
a
river, a man's
can exist as a
reality
or otherwise,
of all
of
guage
even when
meaning
beyond
only of Kurtz.
speaking
some meaning
in terms of
to convey
inability
but he continues,
with
the in
characteristically,
on Kurtz's
is universal,
this inability
that by focusing
begins with
in Africa,
sistence
and remained
from
the world
of human
of meanings
experience.
of Darkness,"
of a wilderness,
in terms
the
of
surface
and his voice?and
this meaning
appearance
so long as one remains
ignorant, deliberately
that lies beyond
these exteriors,
of what
lan
cannot
something
ties comes
the intimation
that there
For with
is
penetrate.
the intellectual
the verbal
and, indeed,
beyond
capaci
if we de
is fiction.
that language
And
the realization
sire to discover
a reality
greater
than
that
of words,
we
are
con
fronted not with the truth within, but with the real disparity be
JAMES
tween
the gimmickry
cause Marlow
wishes
of surfaces
only
tween
as
thing
or
of
Be
truth.
than
imagination
is assumed
disciplined
this world
to which
whereas
Thus,
the reality which
more
this
His
of man's
nothing
and
mind
the reality
surfaces,
of
knowledge
reality may now exist
of
the unbridgeable
be
separation
is destroyed.
his
knowledge
the world
the human
to know
501
GUETTI
uses
and
that
some
to relate.
term
in two ways,
"reality"
a reader?discovers
is of a third sort.
Marlow
he?and
the
in the realization
is a reality which
that "surface"
and
exists
can have
are inevitably
"heart"
and that mind
separate matters,
awareness
is
the
final
of
former.
Marlow's
ordered
reality
only
It
a state of suspension between the disciplined world
language
whatever
cannot,
these may
a dream-state
aware
finally
It
is for
these
only
"summed
ence
be?which
at the center
mind
of
suggestions
sorts of "reality,"
of both
utterance
had
of essences
the world
and
reasons
that Marlow
of mind and
of experience?
to apprehend
attempts
Marlow
and futilities.
certain
does
as a cry of selfish despair,
as a summation
And
up."
but
is
of neither.
not view
but declares
Kurtz's
last
that Kurtz
of the literary
experi
can have but one
"The horror!"
of Darkness,"
are in darkness;
the morality
all hearts
and meaning
man
himself
surrounds
and his experience
is unreal;
of "Heart
meaning:
with which
the reality
lies beyond
and the processes
of experience
language
to Mar
In
this
of the human
revealing
knowledge
imagination.
not take ex
would
has taken a step that Marlow
low, Kurtz
. . he had made
over
he
that
last
had
".
stride,
stepped
plicitly:
the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating
foot." Because he has relinquished his hold upon his ideals and
his eloquence, because he has wholly detached himself from
matters
of the
which Marlow
surface,
Kurtz
himself?in
is able
at last
to define
that
about
his preoccupation with both the reality
of the "heart"?has
been so re
reality
is torn, throughout
Marlow
the story,
luctant and so ambiguous.
a
as
as
to
final
realization
and
achieve
Kurtz's
the desire
between
of
the
surface
and
the
502
of
"heart
darkness"
the conviction that he must deny such a realization
to have
and
final
:
truth
is destroyed
Kurtz
meaning.
confrontation
of what Marlow
that
the essentials
of experience
if his life is
in his movement
as
views
remain
toward
the ultimate
amoral
even,
and,
alinguistic.
"Heart
of Darkness,"
of things?of
center
the
human
existence?poses
and as the refutation
at the beginning
only as something
unapproachable.
a
and such a discourse,
the struggle
journey
than
continues
of
at the center.
the
At
beneath,
a
no more
de
it
is
and
darkness,
it
and the narrative;
of the journey
be found within,
may
the search we encounter
meaning
end of
fined
of
as the
account
of a journey
into
of
of
of
and
Africa,
Kurtz,
Marlow,
as
a
the refutation
itself
of such
journey
the general metaphorical
that
conception
then,
such
to exist
The
stages
with
vague
that one is
ness
and paradox,
the sense
always with
accompanied
not yet at the heart of the matter,
must
Once
suffice.
again amid
that are so easily and
of civilization
the disciplines
and meanings
to be real, Marlow
calls to mind his experience
assumed
carelessly
and
these meanings
beyond
to his weakened
body
imagination
are
that wanted
that
declares
beside
anxious
the point:
".
ministrations
. . it was
my
soothing."
Ill
in "Heart
it is perhaps most
of Darkness,"
central
Although
a
in much
theme
of
fails is major
the idea that the imagination
a
and
simul
Conrad
narrative
Often
Conrad's
presents
writing.
taneously demonstrates the impossibility of giving
and final meaning,
suggesting
ated can be approached
only
that
the fictional
by verbal
it a disciplined
he has
world
contradictions
and
cre
a sense
of mystery.
This
noted
Conrad
rection,
obscure
by E. M.
sense
of an unreachable
Forster,
"philosophically,
to write.
nothing
who
truth
suggests
because
there
No
creed,
in Conrad
that we
is,
in fact.
need
not
has been
consider
in this
particular
di
Only
opinions,
and
503
GUETTI
JAMES
the right to throw
when
them look
them overboard
facts make
. . . and
of eternity
absurd.
held under
the. semblance
Opinions
is
for a creed."
Forester's
therefore
easily mistaken
position
more
in
who
dis
defined
by F. R. Leavis,
declares,
pejoratively
a passage
from "Heart
of Darkness,"
is at times "merely
of Conrad
"significance"
that
cussing
ence
on
the presence
of what
the absence,
the willed
betrays
tent on making
a virtue
out
the
an emotional
apparent
insist
insistence
The
produce.
is in
the nullity.
He
'intensity,'
what he means."
of not knowing
he
can't
in some cases, I have
hold
may
complaint
to show that in "Heart
it does not, and
of Darkness"
attempted
In "Heart
that it is always a suspect conclusion
Conrad.
regarding
Leavis'
Although
knows
I suggest, Conrad
also that what he means
of Darkness,"
but he knows
ence
very well what
is not enough;
he means,
his insist
on unresolved
and the failure of language
suggests
paradox
narra
his
as
of
the
world
that
within
elsewhere,
imagined
here,
of imagination
the resources
tive there is a reality which
escapes
Leavis
What
itself.
takes
of Conrad's
to be a particular
failing
is deliberately
Conrad
failure which
a general
is actually
his narrative.
within
dramatizing
prose
Conrad
?of
but
which
conflicts
confusion
of linguistic
or sense and nonsense?
not
of language
of meanings
the world
to sentences
and
destruction
kinds
between
conflicts
of
an awareness
communicates
and
that world
creeds.
It
between
threatens
is a
even
and Lord
like Kurtz
characters,
Jim,
at moments,
be seen to experience,
and Willems
may
Almayer
con
some are enigmatically,
often
and of which
eccentrically,
world
some
which
scious?like Marlow,
and like Stein of Lord Jim:
and
element
submit yourself,
is to the destructive
way
water
make
the
feet
in
and
hands
of
exertions
the
with
your
In destructive
element
the deep, deep sea keep you up. ...
. . . That was
To
follow
the dream,
the way.
immerse.
"The
and
finem.
again
to
follow
the dream?and
so?ewig?usque
ad
. . ."
11
504
"The
HOMECOMING
that
reality
the conflict
illusory
tizes,
to the ultimate
is analogous
I think,
element,"
in "Heart
of Darkness,"
and it is
remarked
man's
this "element"
and "the
between
dream,"
destructive
I have
creeds
suggesting
and meanings,
that Conrad
repeatedly
to life than language.
that there is more
HOMECOMING
By MARTHA
You
know
They
This
is no
once more
back to their
gone
time to try the door.
affairs.
they who were here before?
the owners nor the heirs
know
Corners
This
back
are
Neither
The
by going
have
Where
You
GRIMES HOLLAND
by going
of a child's
under
stirrings
is no time
back
once more.
eye
ignore
sheeted
chairs.
to try the door.
on a crooked floor
straight game
Goads
you to play it unawares,
You know, by going
back once more.
A
Who
Lies
This
knows what hoodwinked visitor
at the bottom
is no time
of the stairs?
to try the door,
the look it always wore
Wearing
In indecipherable
nightmares
You know by going back once more.
This
is no
time
to try
the door.
drama