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Katerina Pham
Mr. Quatrani
AP Lit
15.06.2009
Losing Light in Losing Civilization
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a tale retelling Marlow’s experience of traveling
into the heart of Africa while imperialism dominated the contientent. Africa is unlike any land
that Marlow has previously travelled to because this land is dark, unfamiliar, and uncivilized.
Along his journey, he encounters white men who morals have changed because of the land and
natives who are untamed from being separated from civilization. According to Marlow’s
recollection of the journey, as man travels further from civilization, the more primitive or “dark”
his behavior becomes.
Joseph Conrad, originally Jósef Teodor Konrad Walecz Korzeniowski, was born in
Russia to Polish parents. Conrad pronounced a desire to travel on the sea at the age of fifteen,
which surprised his family. He was able to travel upon French ships after being allowed to go to
Marseilles in 1874, making a number of voyages to Martinique and the West Indies. Eventually,
he left the French ships and traveled to Britain in his twenties, where he was naturalized as a
citizen and learned the English language. In 1888, he received his first command and in 1890, he
took a steamboat up the Congo River. This voyage into Africa was the main influence of his
book Heart of Darkness. This experience produced some serious illnesses and scarred his
imagination for life. The imperialistic circumstances surrounding Africa at this time created the
material he needed to write a novella such as Heart of Darkness. This novella is considered a
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significant piece of English literature. Joseph Conrad himself is considered one of the greatest
English novelists by many critics.
The journey itself, as retold from Marlow’s point of view, recalls a world that is
uncivilized and unwelcoming, while the geography of the land is often shadowy and unclear,
often characterized by shadowing figures and fog. Marlow felt that “‘instead of going to the
centre of a continent, [he was] about to set off the centre of the earth.’” (Conrad 109). At another
point, Marlow states that “‘the earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the
shackled form of a conquered monster, but there – there you could look at a thing monstrous and
free’” (Conrad 134). Other times, the environment of Africa is personified, given life, often
characterized by dark imagery and silence. At one point in the novella, as Marlow is gazing out
into the jungle, this thought occurs to him:
The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks,
branches, leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting
invasion of soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to
topple over the creak, to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence.
And it moved not. (Conrad 127)
By Conrad’s choice of diction, it appears as if the land of Africa does not accept the presence of
the foreigners and wants for these outsiders to leave the land. The length of the journey into the
continent was twice as long then the journey out. Travelling out of Africa is much easier than
travelling into the continent. This was not the Africa Marlow first envisioned as he looked at the
blank map of the land, which was his first experience with this foreign continent. Africa was
only represented as an idea, as stated by critic Claire Fox, that was “preconstituted for him by
iconic representations of the continent in the form of maps. Marlow first experiences Africa as a
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portable geographic code of signs and symbols, rivers, and cities” (Fox, “Writing Africa with
Another Alphabet,” par. 7). This is the coherent Africa that Marlow understands as compared to
the illegible Africa that he experiences. This allows for Africa to be set up as a foil to Europe, as
believed by recognized writer Chinua Achebe. Europe is the civilized world whereas Africa is
set up as the “‘other world,’ the antithesis of Europe, and therefore of civilization, a place where
man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality” (Achebe,
“An Image of Africa,” par. 7). Europe is a world as old as history, already having a past rich with
culture. The European countries were setting up empires, claiming other countries as their own in
hopes of taming these wild and unknown lands and cultivating European culture in these lands.
Africa, to the Europeans, is an unknown land, filled with strange traditions and rituals and
strange people who are untamed and wild. Yet, these natives, when compared to the incoming
whites, are better morally than them. They understand, respect, and take care of the land, only
using what they need and letting nature run her course. The white man, coming into the new
world, takes advantage of resources it has to offer, raping the land of the ivory it is rich in. Also,
in another sense, the refinement and intelligence that white men gain from being in a civil
society is of no use in this wild land. The natives hardly understand the foreign language, their
dress is impractical in the strange environment, and the mannerisms normally accepted by the
civilized society have no use when communicating with the natives since both their customs are
different. Conrad set up Africa as a contrasting land to Europe which is uncivilized, dark, and
unwelcoming, the opposite of Europe at this period and time.
Conrad uses a variety of personalities in his characters, both African and European,
capturing a contrast between the two parties, which contributes to the nature of the continent in
the eyes of Marlow. Continually throughout the novella, Conrad makes an effort to describe the
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natives of the land as “black.” Marlow points out as they moved along the river a boat paddled
by black natives, indicating several features that are reiterated throughout the novel:
It was paddled by black fellows. You could see from afar the white of their eyeballs
glistening. They shouted, sang; their bodies streamed with perspiration; they had faces
like grotesque makes – these chaps; but they had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense
energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast. (Conrad
110)
Later in the novella, Marlow poignantly describes one of the natives as he “‘a black figure [who]
stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms, across the glow’” (Conrad 165). He
puts an effort to point out that this black figure has black features, which separates the natives
from the white man who comes into the country. As Achebe points out in his essay “An Image
of Africa”, there are many explicit differences between the white man and the native of the
African continent. He states that Conrad “[bestowed] human expression to the [white man]
and…[withheld] it from the other [the natives]” (Achebe, “An Image of Africa,” par. 15). As
Marlow travels further into Africa, the land become more “black.” He encounters less white
men. His only contact with white men at this point is the crew aboard the ship. At the beginning
of his journey, the natives that Marlow meets are silent and he constantly describes them in
animalistic views. Further in his journey, he encounters more natives, often under the threat of
attack. These threats are never enough to any real damage to the white man on board. The only
fatality is Marlow’s helmsman, who is a trained native. The natives, as Marlow describes them,
become more beasty and primitive as they move closer to the central of Africa to where Kurtz
can be found. They use no real speech other than calls and shouts, using no real language. They
are portrayed as being wild and untamed with no emotion or rational thinking. The only other
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white man that Marlow sees in the deepest parts of Africa is Kurtz, who is basically the exact
opposite of the natives while at the same time, he is one of them. Kurtz is the white man from
Europe with the refined education and along with that the superiority of being from such an area.
Marlow and anyone Marlow meets in Africa are fluently talking throughout the journey and
often hold conversations that Marlow himself is involved in or overhears. Mr. Kurtz, a prominent
figure in the novel, is recognized as an eloquent speaker. The natives are mostly silent
throughout the novella, just as nature is, and only make animalistic sounds when they speak. In
one event Marlow experiences, the natives “‘howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid
faces; but what thrilled [a man] was just the thought of their humanity – like [any man’s] – the
thought of [a man’s] remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar’” (Conrad 134). The
natives are described as inhuman and uncivilized. The Africans, as Marlow moves throughout
the land, are treated as slaves, reminiscent of early colonial times. The enslavement is the prime
example of man’s cruelty to man. Before Marlow meets Kurtz, he encounters several other white
men who use Kurtz’s techniques to a lesser extent by the means of slavery. Marlow describes the
treatment of these enslaved natives:
They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets of earth on their heads, and the
clinks kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the
short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their
limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were
connected together with a chain whose bights swung with them, rhythmically clinking
(Conrad 112).
In the previous statement, the natives are made to sound like animals, degrading their human
quality. The natives are not human because they do not reside in a civilized land.
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Kurtz, a prominent character whom Marlow seeks out in the novella, is the embodiment
of what happens to civilized man when they journey into uncivilized territory. Kurtz is a highly
respected figure in the novella, often praised and talked about for his ability to find and obtain
ivory. What isn’t said, though, is the fact that Kurtz uses cruel methods to obtain ivory. At first
Kurtz believes that white man was superior to the natives, hoping to reform them. Marlow finds
a paper written by Kurtz about how the natives could be tamed, only to find scrawled out on the
bottom all the brutes, meaning the natives, should be eliminated. According to the Twayne
Author Series on Heart of Darkness, “Kurtz became one of them…he resorted to violence in
extorting ivory for his company…he came to hate the natives” (Twayne Author Series, par. 11).
Kurtz would ruthlessly kill natives and plunder their land to acquire the ivory he desired. In his
quest to obtain the ivory, Kurtz became uncivilized and had “‘taken a high seat amongst the
devils of the land’” (Conrad 148). According to Philip V. Allingham, Kurtz’s “sociopathic
tendencies [were] being given full play [and] Kurtz mercilessly murder[ed] and pillag[ed] to
provide his firm with his quota of tusk” (Allingham, White Lies, par. 9). Kurtz had assumed
godhead as according to Philip V. Allingham because Kurtz “[became] a savage better only in
fire-power than those with whom he is in league” (Allingham, White Lies, par. 9). In trying to
tame and educate the natives, Kurtz becomes one of them because he resorts to primitive
behaviors, such as killing the natives and enslaving them by exerting superiority over them. As
he traveled further into Africa, further away from the civilization from which he grew up, he
gave over to darkness residing in his heart, a darkness most people have but suppress. He
“cannot restrain himself from misusing the tools afforded to him by his race’s superior
technology” (Allingham, White Lies, par. 9). Along with killing the natives, Kurtz would also
kill rebels who defied and fought against him. As Marlow steps of the steamboat and walks
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through the hills, he notices decorative orbs that seemed more than what they appeared. Marlow
states that:
These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and
puzzling, striking and disturbing…those heads on the stakes….black, dried, sunken, with
closed eyelids – a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole (Conrad 157).
Kurtz resorted to any means necessary to attain what he desired, whether it is the ivory or the
respect of the natives through the use of fear. Kurtz was not the only white man to use such harsh
methods with the natives. The white Europeans that Marlow encounters before meeting Kurtz
also show this same lust and greed for the ivory that is rich in the land. Marlow critiques a band
of explorers called the “Eldorado Exploring Expedition”, comparing them to the colonist of
Africa because both wanted to “‘tear treasure out of the bowels of the land [as] their desire, with
no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe’” (Conrad
128). Marlow describes at one point that “‘the word “ivory” rang in the air, was whispered, was
sighed’” (Conrad 120). Both types of men are nothing more than common thieves with no moral
integrity. The white colonist are only concerned with making a profit, tearing the land apart and
enslaving the natives to search and find ivory. These men, as they left civilization and ventured
into the wild and dark heart of Africa, lost their sense of cultured self. Achebe, in his paper,
states that “tragedy begins when things leave their accustomed place” (Achebe, “An Image of
Africa,” par.15). The men lose their refinement and civilized personality as they ventured into
Africa, causing trouble for themselves and for the natives. The wilderness itself unpredictable
and dangerous, luring these men into its alluring grip.
As Marlow retells this journey to the crew aboard the Nellie, he realizes how man
behaves more “dark” and primitive, much like the land they travel into. The wilderness is
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unsettled and isolated, often characterized by stillness and quiet. This is a contrast against the
nature of man, which is portrayed between the uncivilized and enslaved natives and the greedy
and ivory-hungry white man. Traveling into this uncivilized area causes man to become
uncivilized and like one of the natives.
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Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua . "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Massachusetts
Review 18 1977. 2 June 2009 <http://johnlknight.com/achebe>.
Adelman, Gary. Joseph Conrad. Twayne Author Series. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987. Gale
Group. Upper Perkiomen High School. 12 June 2009.
Allingham, Philip V. “White Lies and Whited Sepulchres in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” The
Victorian Web.
<http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/conrad/pva52.html>
Claire, Fox. "Writing Africa with Another Alphabet: Conrad and Abish." Conradiana 22, no. 2
(1990): 111-25. Gale Group. Upper Perkiomen High School. 12 June 2009.
Conrad, Joseph . Heart of Darkness and Other Tales. Ann Arbor, MO: Borders Classics, 2007.
99-178.