Mike Kelley
Prof. Ernst
Victorian Literature
Absurdism in The Heart of Darkness
Absurdist Philosophy as Evidenced by the Imagery of
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Joseph Conrad’s novel the Heart of Darkness is the tale of a man who travels to
the very heart of darkness, both literally and figuratively. Topically it is the story of the
riverboat captain Marlow who travels to the heart of the dark continent, Africa, via the
Congo in search of Kurtz, a once profitable and now lost (again, both literally and
figuratively) ivory trader. Figuratively it is about Marlow’s inner struggle, his journey to,
and narrow return from his inner heart of darkness. In the preface to The Nigger of the
“Narcissus,” 1897, Conrad says that the “task which (he) is trying to achieve is, by the
power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel-it is, before all, to make
you see.” He is able to make his audience see in both senses of the word, both to visualize
the world which he creates and to see and understand the truths contained therein. To the
former, Conrad’s imagery is so powerful as to challenge the conventional sentiment that a
picture is worth a thousand words. Responsible in no small part for imbuing the written
word with such power, is his ability to accomplish descriptions which are wonderfully
surreal. (This same surreality would later be translated with little lost to the silver screen
in the inspired movie Apocalypse Now.) Subject matter is often juxtaposed with the
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Mike Kelley
Prof. Ernst
Victorian Literature
Absurdism in The Heart of Darkness
intent to be incongruous and as such becomes surreal. This observation easily relates
itself to the very definition of absurdity and from that it is easy then to see the emergence
of absurdist philosophy.
Surrealism, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary (pg. 1808, Houghton
Mifflin Company, NYNY, 1992) is “A 20th century literary and artistic movement that
attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic
imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter” or “Literature or art produced
in this style.” The imagery of the novel certainly is fantastic, both in quality and in
content as the aforementioned definition intends. Many examples of “incongruous
juxtaposition of subject matter” can be found throughout Marlow’s journey. “I’ve never
seen anything so unreal in my life,” Marlow says at one point in the novel and we can
imagine the converse statement worded something to the effect of, “I’ve never seen
anything so surreal in my life” and having it prove just as true. The unreal thing or surreal
thing to which he refers to in this instance is the silent wilderness. “And outside, the
silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something
great and invincible, like evil or truth…” There are two major incongruities here. The
first of which lay in describing the silence as invincible. After all, it can be assumed that
it would have been easy enough for someone to break the silence just by speaking up.
Marlow cannot. The fact that Marlow “upon being within a hair’s breadth of the last
opportunity of pronouncement… would have nothing to say” is of great distress to him in
the end and here implies that the wilderness is somehow bewitching him, a surreal,
dreamlike notion to be sure. The second incongruency is the implicit relation between
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Mike Kelley
Prof. Ernst
Victorian Literature
Absurdism in The Heart of Darkness
evil and truth. Either/or, or more likely for the author and Marlow, both, satisfy the
condition of invincibility. Suggesting then that they are one and the same is a notion that
runs quite contrary to the vast majority of art and literature and one that most readers
should find repellant. It is incongruous with what we would like to believe.
Conrad’s style is evidently surrealistic while Marlow’s task is surreal. Surreal is
defined as “having an oddly dreamlike quality” by the American Heritage Dictionary (pg.
1808, Houghton Mifflin Company, NYNY, 1992). More than once Marlow refers to his
ordeal as occurring as if it were a dream, exemplified in the statement, “I remained to
dream the nightmare out to the end…”
We see how the imagery is surrealistic and surreal, owing to incongruencies such
as the incident where the protagonist feels “morbidly anxious to change his shoes and
socks” in the midst of more pressing concerns such as the imminence of death resulting
from the reoccurrence of the attack on his riverboat. Wanting to change your socks while
under attack is unreasonable. It is through the notions of incongruency and the lack of
reason that the surreal is easily related to the absurd. Absurd; “ridiculously incongruous
or unreasonable (American Heritage Dictionary (pg. 8, Houghton Mifflin Company,
NYNY, 1992).” And through disjunctive inference from the absurd comes the idea of
Absurdism, “a philosophy, often translated into art forms, holding that human beings
exist in a meaningless, irrational universe and that any search for order by them will bring
them into direct conflict with this universe (American Heritage Dictionary pg. 8,
Houghton Mifflin Company, NYNY, 1992).” A complete definition of the philosophy of
Absurdism requires the amendment, or corollary more rightly perhaps, that the human
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Mike Kelley
Prof. Ernst
Victorian Literature
Absurdism in The Heart of Darkness
being and his life are as meaningless as the universe in which it exists. This thought
receives the proper treatment in the second definition of absurd as it occurs as a noun;
“The condition or state… wherein people’s lives have no purpose or meaning.” To
paraphrase, one could say that people’s lives are futile. The riverboat captain would
agree. “Droll thing life is-that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile
purpose.” The author’s intent is to prove an irrational universe and he undertakes this
using amorphous and mismatched images, demonstrating death as operating almost
entirely at random. The theory of an unimpassioned universe cannot be shared by the
character until the end however, otherwise there would be no conflict, for he would not
come “into direct conflict with this universe.” This serves to account as to why the
character of Marlow must believe in an arrangement, however merciless, of logic and
accounts in part in his inability to give Kurt his “justice” in the final chapter. He lies to
the deceased’s wife whereupon the universe lets out an “exulting and terrible cry… the
cry of inconceivable triumph” (supposed on the part of the universe) and of unspeakable
pain (as may be supposed as having resulted from the realization of the futility of it all.)
In the end, after the whole inconceivably trying ordeal comes to an end, Marlow realizes
that “the heavens do not fall for such a trifle.” How then does one reconcile all that has
happened? What does one’s life amount to? What is the realization, the grand
pronouncement? How does one reconcile his knowledge and understanding of self, and
all his worldly perceptions with the realization that ultimately, “people’s lives have no
meaning or purpose?” With two words of one syllable apiece repeated twice with a dying
breath. The horror. “The horror.”
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Mike Kelley
Prof. Ernst
Victorian Literature
Absurdism in The Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is starkly poignant because of the genius of themes and the
skill with which they are conveyed. This is accomplished with beautiful imagery, its
potency due in large part for the “incongruent juxtaposition of subject matter” and
imagery which cultivates a surrealistic impression. This surrealism is easily related to the
absurd, and an Absurdist philosophy quickly becomes apparent from the reading. The
realization of the futility of it all, and the absurdity, …this is horrible for some.
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