heart of darkness theme essay

Heart of Darkness Themes

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Heart of Darkness: Analysis and Themes

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

First published in 1899, Heart of Darkness – which formed the basis of the 1979 Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now – is one of the first recognisably modernist works of literature in English fiction. Its author was the Polish-born Joseph Conrad, and English wasn’t his first language (or even, for that matter, his second).

As well as being a landmark work of modernism, Conrad’s novella also explores the subject of imperialism, and Conrad’s treatment of this subject has been met with both criticism and praise.

In this post, we’ll offer an analysis of Heart of Darkness in relation to these two key ideas: modernism and imperialism.

The Problem of Storytelling

In a letter of 5 August 1897 to his friend Cunninghame Graham, Joseph Conrad wrote: ‘One writes only half the book – the other half is with the reader.’

In other words, a book should leave the reader with room to manoeuvre: it should be, to borrow Hilary Mantel’s phrase, a book of questions rather than a book of answers. The reader makes up the meaning of the book as much as the writer. This is a key feature of modernist fiction, which is often impressionistic : giving us glimpses and hints but refusing to spell everything out to the reader.

With this in mind, it’s worth considering the moments when Marlow stops and interrupts the tried and tested literary framework of the novella. One of the questions which it’s very easy to trick people out with is the question, ‘Who is the narrator of Heart of Darkness?’ ‘Why, Marlow, of course!’

Except the narrator is not Marlow – not the main narrator, anyway. Marlow doesn’t address us , the reader; he addresses his friends on the boat, the Nellie , and then there is an unnamed narrator, one of the other people on the boat listening to Marlow, and it’s this unnamed individual who addresses us in his role as the conventional narrator.

And Marlow, who tells the story to the real narrator and his companions, cannot just sit and tell it. He has to check with his audience that they are ‘getting it’; and they’re not getting it, at least not fully. They’re having to work hard to ‘see’ what he’s recounting to them. That is, there’s a constant anxiety on Marlow’s part as to whether his audience – his ‘readers’, as it were – are understanding the story he’s telling them.

Marlow interrupts his narrative several times, at least once simply because he is despairing of the efficacy of his own storytelling technique. It’s the literary equivalent of ‘breaking the fourth wall’ – we may just about be beginning to imagine the scene in the heart of Africa when suddenly our imagination is jolted back to Marlow, sitting in a boat on the Thames.

We’re not invited to get too cosy with Marlow’s narrative, and not just because of the dark events he’s describing: the way he describes them is constantly making us question what we are being told:

Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream—making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams …

Note the subtle play on the word ‘relation’ here, where as well as meaning ‘the telling of a dream’ (relating a story to someone), it also glimmers with the other meaning of ‘relation’, i.e., one who is related to us, such as a brother or sister. It is as if fiction, stories, are the cousins of dreams, in that they’re both narratives that are at once both vividly and yet only dimly remembered. That is, you remember some aspects of dreams vividly, and others only hazily.

And ‘hazily’ is just the word. Note how the narrator describes Marlow’s way of telling a story, in a passage from Heart of Darkness that has become famous:

But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.

This passage pinpoints what Conrad is doing with Heart of Darkness : using the framework or basic structure of many an imperial adventure story of the late nineteenth century ( Heart of Darkness was originally serialised in Blackwood’s Magazine , which was known for its gung-ho tales set in exotic parts of the world which were under European imperial rule), but undermining it by questioning the very basis on which such stories are founded.

Language, as the multilingual Conrad knew, is an imperfect and flawed tool for conveying our experiences.

Delayed Decoding

‘Delayed decoding’ is Ian Watt’s term for the moments in Conrad’s fiction where the narrator withholds information from us so that we have to work out what’s going on bit by bit, just as the narrator himself (and it is always a him self with Conrad) had to at the time. As Watt himself writes, delayed decoding serves ‘mainly to put the reader in the position of being an immediate witness of each step in the process’.

It’s as if you were there, and as confused and bewildered by it all as the narrator himself was. A good example is the moment when Marlow comes upon the abandoned hut in the jungle, and finds a strange book on the ground which contains notes pencilled in the margins which, he tells us, appear to be written in cipher, or code.

He – and we – later find out that it’s not written in code, but Russian. He makes us wait until the point in the narrative when he found out his mistake before he corrects it. This has two effects: it brings us closer to Marlow’s own experience (we learn things as we go along, just as he did at the time), but it also makes us work harder as readers, since we are encouraged to appraise carefully everything we are told. We can’t trust anything we read.

Much modernist fiction may be written in the past tense, as Heart of Darkness is, but a good deal of modernist fiction is narrated as though it were written in the present tense . That is, it wants to recreate the immediacy of the experience, the way it felt for the character/narrator as it happened .

It’s as if it doesn’t trust the overly neat brand of hindsight which is offered by the traditional Victorian novel written in the perfect (past) tense. Delayed decoding is one of the chief ways that Conrad goes about recreating the ‘presentness’ of Marlow’s experience, the sense of what it was like for him – surrounded by things he’s only half-figured out – as these things were happening to him.

The literary critic F. R. Leavis, who was otherwise a great admirer of Conrad, remarked that Conrad often seemed ‘intent on making a virtue out of not knowing what he means.’ Certainly Conrad seems to enjoy uncertainty, obscurity – darkness, if you will, like the Heart of Darkness .

In The English Novel: An Introduction , Terry Eagleton remarks that Conrad’s prose is both vivid or concrete and ambiguous or equivocal. It’s like describing mist in very precise terms, or depicting something as solid and tangible as a spear in terms which seem to make it melt into the air. This takes us back to Marlow’s own comparison between the story he is telling his companions and the experience of a dream.

Heart of Darkness and imperialism

Imperialism is an important theme of Heart of Darkness , but this, too, is treated in both vivid yet ambiguous or hazy terms. As Eagleton observes, the problems with Conrad’s treatment of imperialism are several: first, his depiction of African natives comes across as stereotyped and insufficient (a criticism that Chinua Achebe memorably made), but second, Conrad depicts the whole imperialist mission as irrational and borderline mad.

This overlooks the Enlightenment rationalism that underpinned the European imperial mission: colonialists used their belief in their ‘superior’ reason as an excuse for enslaving other peoples are taking their resources.

This belief may have been misguided and immoral, but it was hardly ‘irrational’: to depict it as such rather lets imperialists off the hook for their crimes, as if they were not in their right minds when they committed their atrocities or plundered other nations for their wealth.

However, when compared with other writers of his period, Conrad can be viewed as a more thoughtful writer on empire than many other late nineteenth-century authors. Consider Marlow’s account of the dying African natives:

They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now – nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom. … Then, glancing down, I saw a face near my hand. The black bones reclined at full length with one shoulder against the tree, and slowly the eyelids rose and the sunken eyes looked up at me, enormous and vacant, a kind of blind, white flicker in the depths of the orbs, which died out slowly.

This passage continues:

He had tied a bit of white worsted round his neck – Why? Where did he get it? Was it a badge – an ornament – a charm – a propitiatory act? Was there any idea at all connected with it? It looked startling round his black neck, this bit of white thread from beyond the seas.

Marlow is ‘horror-struck’ by the sight of these starving people, although he does go on to describe them as ‘creatures’, which strikes a discordant note to our modern ears. But it’s clear that Marlow is appalled by the plight of the natives where many colonialists of the time would have simply stepped over the bodies as an inconvenience.

From this, Marlow turns to describing the next European he meets:

When near the buildings I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision. I saw a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots. No hat. Hair parted, brushed, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand. He was amazing, and had a penholder behind his ear.

The contrast could not be clearer. The ‘greenish gloom’ in which the dying African youth fades away has become that thing of comfort: the European’s ‘green-lined parasol’. The ‘bit of white worsted’ tied around the African’s neck is replaced by the ‘clean necktie’ of the colonialist.

Of course, the novella’s ultimate depiction of the corruption at the heart of the imperial mission is Mr Kurtz himself, who has set himself up as a god among the African natives. An fundamentally, here we are presented with more questions than answers. Kurtz is driven mad by it all – there’s imperialism as an irrational undertaking again – but what is equally telling is Marlow’s decision to lie to Kurtz’s fiancée when he visits her at the end of Heart of Darkness .

Is it because, to borrow Kurtz’s final words, ‘the horror’ would be too great? Is it an act of sympathy or cowardice: is Marlow complicit in the horrors of imperialism in continuing to insulate those ‘back home’ from the atrocities which are carried out abroad so that, for instance, Kurtz’s fiancée can have that ‘grand piano’ (with its ivory keys, of course) standing in the corner of a room ‘like a sombre and polished sarcophagus’?

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2 thoughts on “Heart of Darkness: Analysis and Themes”

Your analysis of Heart of Darkness was well written and held my interest throughout. Thank you!

A Conrad fan

It was perfectly possible to be both anti-imperialist and racist when Conrad wrote “Heart of Darkness”. “Race” was used in a much wider and vaguer sense than the word would be used now – where we would attribute something to “culture”, Conrad and his contemporaries attributed it to “race”. People spoke of the “races” of England. Josef Škvorecký examines the presence of the Russian Harlequin in Kurtz’s outpost in his novel “The Engineer of Human Souls” and in an essay “Why the Harlequin?” https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/crossc/ANW0935.1984.001/269:21?rgn=author;view=image;q1=Skvorecky%2C+Josef

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"Heart Of Darkness" Themes

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a fascinating tale of a journey down the Congo River during the times of colonialism. Its themes of imperialism, greed, hypocrisy, uncertainty, racism, isolation, sanity, and morality make it one of the most important books of the 20th century. Let's have a look at the themes of Heart of Darkness.

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Imperialism

The motivations and impact of colonialism and imperialism are one of the main themes of Heart of Darkness. Marlow is motivated by the desire for adventure but during his time the only way to explore was via imperialism. He provides an outsider’s view of imperialism because his motivation is different. One of the ways imperialism justified itself was through the concept of White Man's Burden, the idea that Europeans must spread civilization throughout the world. But in truth, the main motivation of imperialism was conquest and profit. Throughout the story, we see the negative sides of imperialism like greed and cruelty.

The main motivation for the company and most of the Europeans in the story is wealth, making greed one of the main themes in heart of darkness. The drive for money is what makes people leave their homes and venture into dangerous and uncharted territory. All the company cares about is that the amount of ivory they receive is maintained, they do not care about the means of how that goal is accomplished. Not only do the colonists mistreat the natives to achieve their goals, but they also treat each other with suspicion and jealousy, for example, the station master's plots against  Kurtz.

There are different kinds of cruelty on display in the story. There is the cruelty that the white man inflicts upon the locals, forcing them to work in dangerous conditions while bound by chains.  There is also cruelty amongst each other because of competition and jealousy. The locals have a very different life and perceive cruelty differently than the Europeans. The cases of them attacking Marlow's ship are not for cruel reasons but because they were ordered to. Kurtz himself transforms from a respected genius into a cruel dictator who abandons his ideals and morality when given unlimited power.

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is an important Heart of Darkness theme. Everything about exploration is uncertain. Since this is Marlow's first time in Africa everything is unfamiliar. The forests are mysterious and dangerous, leading to an aura of uncertainty that permeates the book.  Marlow is intellectually infatuated with Kurtz even before meeting him and lives with the uncertainty of how the man actually will be as he hears more and more about him on his travels. Kurtz himself lives between two personas, the man he used to be and the man he is now becoming and therefore his personality is uncertain.

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It is clear in the book that the white Imperialists consider themselves better and superior to the black natives. Racism was one of the ugly sides of imperialism and the book shows the many ways that the locals were mistreated by the colonists. Apart from using derogatory terms when speaking about them, they were chained and shackled and forced to work without much food. Even Kurtz who initially wanted to understand them ends up thinking of them as savages that he has the right to control. Marlow starts off respecting and appreciating the locals but ends the story without really understanding them.

Responsibility

Responsibility and duty are important Heart of Darkness themes. One of the ideas behind imperialism was the responsibility that Europeans felt to spread civilization to the rest of the world. On a more personal level, many of the characters in the book do not take their responsibilities seriously. The stationmaster, the brickmaker, and many others at Central Station shirk their duties and do not get respect from Marlow. On the other hand, he respects the foreman who does his work diligently and gains a grudging respect for the native helmsman because he can do his work well. In some ways, Kurtz feels responsible to get as much ivory as possible which was a contributing factor to his eventual Madness. 

The negative impacts of isolation are clearly on display throughout the story. For many of the Europeans, living in isolation in a foreign country allowed them to act and behave in ways that they never would have back home. Kurtz is the prime example of the impact of isolation. As the only white man living amongst natives, he tries to assimilate himself into the local culture only to be driven mad. Isolation allows people to act and think in ways that are unacceptable in their normal social environments which creates negative repercussions.

Before Marlow leaves on his trip he visits the company doctor who tells him that most men who visit Africa return with some kind of illness. The man he replaces commits suicide. Every person he encounters on his trip seems to have some sort of character quirk. It can be argued that the trip affected Marlow deeply, affecting his mental perception of everything in the world. Kurtz is the prime example of a well-educated intelligent man who lost himself and his mind when put into a difficult situation. Sanity can only be judged based on the environment you are in, what is sane in one situation may be insane in another.

Marlow ends the story with the realization that Western civilization is as dark and hollow as the so-called primitive local civilization. Ideas of morality that the colonial countries pride themselves on and want to share with the rest of the world are actually false. He sees the way that the colonists treat the locals and the way greed corrupts them and makes them immoral. Kurtz is the ultimate example of how morality can shift. It is difficult to judge a different culture's morality from an outsider's perspective. 

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Marlow sees hypocrisy everywhere. He sees Western Civilization as superficial and shallow and the idea of spreading it to the rest of the world as laughable. The stationmaster forces others to work while leading a life of leisure himself. The locals hold on to their own way of life and traditions but still end up worshipping Kurtz. Kurtz himself loses his morals and values when given the opportunity to have absolute control. 

Marlow refers to the company men at the station who carry staves with them as pilgrims, but this is not because they are religious men. It is because they are driven by the same kind of fervor that men of religion have, except their motivation is gathering wealth. Religion was a big part of colonialism, and often local cultures and religious traditions were ignored. The locals have their own type of religion, and Marlow notes that the local’s traditions may seem barbaric to him, but only because he doesn’t understand them. 

Marlow tells the story as a recounting of events that happened in the past. He describes traveling down the river as going back in time, to an era and civilization that is in the past and in some ways almost prehistoric. What he realizes though is that there was no difference between past times and modern times. The nature of humanity is the same throughout. The advancement that comes with time is just an illusion. 

What is the theme of Heart of Darkness ? Among the many significant themes, a major one is the impact of colonialism. Other themes such as hypocrisy, cruelty, racism, religion, isolation, uncertainty, and greed stem from this overarching idea. If you need any help with Heart of Darkness or any other assignments, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at Studyfy! Whether you need someone to do my PowerPoint for me, do my Excel homework for me , write my discussion board post , or simply help me with my homework , we’re here to assist you.

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• Heart of Darkness: Summary: Part I
• Heart of Darkness: Novel Summary: Part I
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• Heart of Darkness: Novel Summary: Part III
• Heart of Darkness: Character Profiles
• Heart of Darkness: Metaphor Analysis

Heart of Darkness: Theme Analysis

• Heart of Darkness: Top Ten Quotes
• Heart of Darkness: Biography: Conrad, Joseph
• Heart of Darkness: Essay Q&A

The Pervasiveness of Darkness Perhaps the strongest theme in the novel is that of darkness.  Indeed, darkness seems to pervade the work.  Marlow's tale begins and ends in literal darkness; the setting of the novel is often dark, such as when the steamboat is socked in by fog or when Marlow retrieves Kurtz; dark-skinned individuals inhabit the entire region; and, of course, there is a certain philosophical darkness that permeates the work.  But within the tale darkness operates in several ways.  As any child knows, darkness symbolizes the unknown; it gains its power from its ability to conceal things we are too frightened to face.  Several times in the novel we see characters afraid, not of the darkness itself, but of that which potentially lies within it.  One of the most alarming scenes occurs when the men aboard the fog-bound steamer hear a shrill cry from somewhere around them.  It is particularly frightening because the men know some potential threat is near, but they cannot see it; it is simply out there in the darkness, waiting.  Darkness also effectively conceals certain savage acts.  It is possible to operate in the cover of region's darkness in ways that would not be possible in the more civilized Europe.  For example, when the Manager suggests that the "scoundrel," who is suspected of helping Kurtz procure his ivory, should be hanged as an example, his uncle agrees, noting that such actions are possible in the Congo, a region far from the "light" of civilized action.  And Kurtz's most disturbing act, the placement of human heads atop poles surrounding his station house, is only possible in the concealed Congo.  Of course, darkness is also very compelling.  Despite the fear it induces, there are plenty of men who are willing to brave it for its potential rewards.  For the company men, the incentive is material wealth in the form of ivory.  There are, however, other rewards.  Marlow travels to the region because of a map he sees, which lists the area as one of the few largely uncharted lands left.  To him, the Congo is a place to undertake a great adventure.  The Harlequin is a physical and spiritual wanderer, and through Kurtz and his dark station, his mind has been "enlarged" he has found a sense of purpose.  The character who most fully embraces the darkness is, of course, Kurtz.  He has been completely transformed by his experience in the Congo.  He has looked deeply within himself and has seen his own potential for savagery, yet he has accepted it.  The Europeans try to push back the darkness, if only temporarily, through their white clothes, adherence to European customs and morals, and technological advances, like the steamboat and the railroad.  But the novel argues that the darkness is too enveloping.  In the preface to his tale, Marlow remarks that London was once "one of the dark places of the earth." Later he sees how quickly the jungle reclaims its territory.  When he locates the remains of his predecessor, Captain Fresleven, who died in an argument with a native chief, he notes that "the grass growing through his ribs was tall enough to hide his bones." These remarks suggest that in time Europe too will be reclaimed by wild.  The light of civilization with someday return to darkness.  Colonization as Destruction Another major theme in the novel is the notion of colonization as a destructive, rather than constructive, force.  Kurtz's initial approach to colonization is very altruistic; he believes that each company station "'should be like a beacon on the road toward better things, a center for trade of course but also for humanising, improving, instructing.'" Kurtz is not alone in this philosophy.  The International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs, which commissions Kurtz to write a report, is likely an organization that believes in "civilizing" the inhabitants of Congo.  Even Marlow's aunt, who helps to secure his position, is pleased that her nephew will help in "weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways." Of course, the reality of colonization is very bleak.  As Marlow comments: "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." Marlow sees firsthand the cold truth of colonization: physically wasted workers operating in deplorable conditions, backstabbing co-workers jockeying for the most profit and recognition, and a colonized people literally being shackled.  It's as if the company is a steamroller plowing through the jungle, flattening anything and anyone that happens to be in the way, all, of course, in the name of profit.  The Manager condemns Kurtz for his "unsound" methods, yet in one sense Kurtz has achieved the ultimate form of colonization: the natives actually worship him.  As a result, he brings in the most ivory.  Of course, it is at Kurtz's station where Marlow sees the greatest act of savagery, the placement of the decapitated heads of "rebels" atop poles.  By the time Marlow encounters Kurtz, Kurtz no longer has any noble intentions; instead he feels the need to "Exterminate all the brutes!'"  Colonization may help to maintain the surface luster of the home country, but there are no benefits for those being colonized, only hardship, suffering, and death. 

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Heart of Darkness — Review On The Joseph Conrad’s Book “The Heart Of Darkness”

The Features of Modernism in The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

• Categories: Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad Modernism

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Introduction, heart of darkness and modernism.

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Heart of Darkness

By joseph conrad.

• Heart of Darkness Summary

A group of men are aboard an English ship that is sitting on the Thames. The group includes a Lawyer , an Accountant , a Company Director /Captain, and a man without a specific profession who is named Marlow . The narrator appears to be another unnamed guest on the ship. While they are loitering about, waiting for the wind to pick up so that they might resume their voyage, Marlow begins to speak about London and Europe as some of the darkest places on earth. The narrator and other guests do not seem to regard him with much respect. Marlow is a stationary man, very unusual for a seaman. The others do not understand him because he does not fit into a neat category in the same manner that the others do. He mentions colonization and says that carving the earth into prizes or pieces is not something to examine too closely because it is an atrocity. He then begins to narrate a personal experience in Africa, which led him to become a freshwater sailor and gave him a terrible glimpse of colonization. With the exception of two or three small paragraphs, the perspective shifts to Marlow, who becomes the main narrator for the rest of the novel.

Marlow has always had a passion for travel and exploration. Maps are an obsession of his. Marlow decides he wants nothing more than to be the skipper of a steamship that travels up and down a river in Africa. His aunt has a connection in the Administration Department of a seafaring and exploration company that gathers ivory, and she manages to get Marlow an appointment. He replaces a captain who was killed in a skirmish with the natives. When Marlow arrives at the company office, the atmosphere is extremely dim and foreboding. He feels as if everyone is looking at him pityingly. The doctor who performs his physical asks if there is a history of insanity in Marlow's family. He tells Marlow that nothing could persuade him to join the Company down in the Congo. This puzzles Marlow, but he does not think much of it. The next day he embarks on a one-month journey to the primary Company station. The African shores that he observes look anything but welcoming. They are dark and rather desolate, in spite of the flurry of human activity around them. When he arrives, Marlow learns that a company member recently committed suicide. There are multitudes of chain-gang types, who all look at him with vacant expressions. A young boy approaches Marlow, looking very empty. Marlow can do nothing but offer him some ship biscuits. He is very relieved to leave the boy behind as he comes across a very well-dressed man who is the picture of respectability and elegance. They introduce themselves: he is the Chief Accountant of the Company. Marlow befriends this man and frequently spends time in his hut while the Accountant goes over the accounts. After ten days of observing the Chief Accountant's ill temper, Marlow departs for his 200-mile journey into the interior of the Congo, where he will work for a station run by a man named Kurtz .

The journey is arduous. Marlow crosses many paths, sees deserted dwellings, and encounters black men working. Marlow never describes them as humans. Throughout the novel, the white characters refer to them in animalistic terms. Marlow finally arrives at a secondary station, where he meets the Manager , who for now will oversee his work. It is a strange meeting. The Manager smiles in a manner that is very discomfiting. The ship on which Marlow is supposed to set sail is broken. While they await the delivery of the rivets needed to fix it, Marlow spends his time on more mundane tasks. He frequently hears the name "Kurtz" around the station. Clearly everyone knows his future boss. It is rumored that he is ill. Soon the entire crew will depart for a trip to Kurtz's station.

The Manager's uncle arrives with his own expedition. Marlow overhears them saying that they would like to see Kurtz and his assistant hanged so that their station could be eliminated as ivory competition. After a day of exploring, the expedition has lost all of their animals. Marlow sets out for Kurtz's station with the Pilgrims , the cannibal crew, and the Manager. About eight miles from their destination, they stop for the night. There is talk of an approaching attack. Rumor has it that Kurtz may have been killed in a previous one. Some of the pilgrims go ashore to investigate. The whirring sound of arrows is heard; an attack is underway. The Pilgrims shoot back from the ship with rifles. The helmsman of the ship is killed, as is a native ashore. Marlow supposes that Kurtz has perished in the inexplicable attack. This upsets him greatly. Over the course of his travels, he has greatly looked forward to meeting this man. Marlow shares Kurtz's background: an English education, a woman at home waiting for him. In spite of Marlow's disappointment, the ship presses onward. A little way down the river, the crew spot Kurtz's station, which they had supposed was lost. They meet a Russian man who resembles a harlequin. He says that Kurtz is alive but somewhat ill. The natives do not want Kurtz to leave because he has expanded their minds. Kurtz does not want to leave because he has essentially become part of the tribe.

After talking for a while with the Russian, Marlow has a very clear picture of the man who has become his obsession. Finally, he has the chance to talk to Kurtz, who is ill and on his deathbed. The natives surround his hut until he tells them to leave. While on watch, Marlow dozes off and realizes that Kurtz is gone. He chases him and finds Kurtz in the forest. He does not want to leave the station because his plans have not been fully realized. Marlow manages to take him back to his bed. Kurtz entrusts Marlow with all of his old files and papers. Among these is a photograph of his sweetheart. The Russian escapes before the Manager and others can imprison him. The steamboat departs the next day. Kurtz dies onboard a few days later, Marlow having attended him until the end.

Marlow returns to England, but the memory of his friend haunts him. He manages to find the woman from the picture, and he pays her a visit. She talks at length about his wonderful personal qualities and about how guilty she feels that she was not with him at the last. Marlow lies and says that her name was the last word spoken by Kurtz—the truth would be too dark to tell her.

Heart of Darkness Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Heart of Darkness is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

How does Marlow think the Roman conquest of Britain compares and contrasts to the British imperial enterprise of his own day?

Marlow reminds us that Britain was once considered savage by civilized Romans. The river Thames (to the ancient Romans) was much like the Congo to the present day Belgians.

What are the main five incidents in the central station in part 1?

He is taken to his Company's station. He walks through pieces of "decaying machinery" and observes a stream of black people walking slowly, very thin and indifferent. One of the "reclaimed" carries a rifle at "its middle." Marlow walks around to...

According to Benita Parry, Heart of Darkness both reiterates and challenges colonial stereotypes. What evidence of this contradiction can you find in this passage?

colonialism is at the heart of Heart of Darkness: it is linked to the idea of cultural identity. The European colonizers seek to impose their own culture and way of life on the African natives, leading to a loss of cultural identity and a sense of...

Study Guide for Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness study guide contains a biography of Joseph Conrad, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Heart of Darkness
• Character List

Essays for Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

• Alienation: A Modernist Theme
• Darkness and Light: the Illumination of Reality and Unreality in Heart of Darkness
• An Inward Journey
• Matters of the Truth
• The Real Heart of Darkness: The Manager of the Central Station in Heart of Darkness

Lesson Plan for Heart of Darkness

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Heart of Darkness
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Heart of Darkness Bibliography

E-Text of Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness e-text contains the full text of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Wikipedia Entries for Heart of Darkness

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Heart of Darkness

Joseph conrad.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Students and critics alike often argue about whether Heart of Darkness is a racist book. Some argue that the book depicts Europeans as superior to Africans, while others believe the novel attacks colonialism and therefore is not racist. There is the evidence in the book that supports both sides of the argument, which is another way of saying that the book's actual stance on the relationship between black people and white people is not itself black and white.

Heart of Darkness attacks colonialism as a deeply flawed enterprise run by corrupt and hollow white men who perpetrate mass destruction on the native population of Africa, and the novel seems to equate darkness with truth and whiteness with hollow trickery and lies. So Heart of Darkness argues that the Africans are less corrupt and in that sense superior to white people, but its argument for the superiority of Africans is based on a foundation of racism. Marlow , and Heart of Darkness , take the rather patronizing view that the black natives are primitive and therefore innocent while the white colonizers are sophisticated and therefore corrupt. This take on colonization is certainly not "politically correct," and can be legitimately called racist because it treats the natives like objects rather than as thinking people.

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The Themes of "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

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The theme of Imperialism:

Criminality of inefficiency and pure selfishness:

The historical theme:, works cited.

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