Sample Essay
Paul Cassidy
Mr. Gillespie, period 8
AP English Literature
Colliding Cultures: Setting as Conflict in Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness examines in part the question of what happens when
a child of civilization enters a world of chaos. The many issues the novel examines, including
morality, race, and politics, would not have been impossible without the two contrasting worlds
the main characters find themselves in: Europe and the Belgian Congo. Throughout the novel,
Europe is ironically hailed as the bringer of the light of civilization; however, it is soon made
clear that the Europeans in the Congo are committing atrocities and the natives, though
technologically primitive, possess restraint and self-control. The reason for this is seemingly
paradoxical—Europeans have grown up under governmentally-imposed rules of moral conduct
and in a society that values material wealth and power. As a result, citizens do not have a selfcreated morality, but they do have an internal appetite for riches and control. Thus, Europe
functions as a symbol of both civilization and amorality, of power without a conscience. In
Africa, it is quite the reverse. Although dismissed by the Europeans as primitive and backwards,
the Congo’s lack of governmental structure has given the natives a moral self-control that the
colonists could only dream of. By providing these contrasting places—Europe and Africa—
Conrad ironically presents a darkness in which the amoral Europeans will descend into “the
horror” of their own crimes.