Question- What are the major themes of the novel?

Answer -

Heart of Darkness (1902) has been viewed as one of the greatest of Joseph Conrad's stories. As soon as it was published, it drew many critics attention. They analyse this story from many perpectives, such as the writing skills of the novel, morality, psychology, reader's reflection and it influence, racial prejudice, sexual, prejudice etc. So the theme of the novel is very controversial.

The truth embedded in Heart of Darkness lies in three aspects. Firstly, this novel exposes the true nature of colonialism, which is colonists 'material essence. Secondly, it probes into the dark side of human being, the most primitive form of human existence. Thirdly, there is disillusionment with the civilization. The colonists claimed to being civilization to Africa. On the contrary, they made the local environment worse. After experiencing hope, regret and fear, seeing, Kurtz die in fear, Marlow found the truth and suddenly felt life is nothing without purpose and meaning.

Some important/ major themes are as follows: -

The Colonists' Greed for Material Gain - Through Marlow's experience, Heart of Darkness reveals the wide gap between the aspirations of the official doctrines of colonialism and its actual practices. Marlow's observations upon his arrival in Africa illustrate the material essence of the colonists.

The main character Kurtz is an ivory trader, sent by a shadowy Belgian company into the heart of the congo five state. With the help of his superior technology, Kurtz has turned himself into a demigod of all the tribes surrounding his station and gathered vast quantities of ivory in this way. For Kurtz, ivory means everything. He is recognized as a top class colonist, because the amount of ivory he imports is the sum of the total input of other colonists. In order to obtain more ivory, he spared no efforts to look for it everywhere, unscrupulously. In order to take ivory from the local people, he even kills the natives. Therefore, Kurtz is also a thief, murderer, persecutor to some extent, yet he wants himself to be worshipped as a god.

Readers can see Kurtz is material. In order to realize his material dream, he became more and more greedy. As the incarnation of colonialism, Kurtz is such a person, who is full of desire for power and wealth. He went to congo to seek fortune, instead of the altruism that he claims. In Kurtz's opinion, if you show your leaders you have in you something that is really profitable and then there will be no limits to the recognition of your ability.

Put simply, Kurtz is a perfect representation of society going med with greed for power and wealth. Him personates imperialism's will to expand its domain over the earth and all its creatures and he has stepped over the tempting edge of complete material and cannot be rescued.

The Dark Side of Human Nature - The second important theme of Heart of Darkness is to reveal the dark side of human nature. 'Darkness' seems to pervade the novel. 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 region; and of course, there is a certain philosophical darkness that permeates the work.

During Marlow's mission to find Kurtz, he is also trying to find himself. He, like Kurtz had good intentions upon entering the Congo. Conrad tries to show us that Maslow is what Kurtz has been and Kurtz is what Marlow could become. Every human has a little of Marlow and Kurtz in them. Marlow says about himself. 'I was getting savage', meaning that he was becoming more like Kurtz. Along the trip into the wilderners, they discover their trueselves through the contact with savage natives.

The colonists desire to constantly expand the territory and gain the massive wealth is called the will to power by Nietzsche (1844-1900). According to Nietzsche's view, whether you are strong or weak the will to power is a unique human attribute and human genetic attribute. People's desire in power, money and beauty is the external form of human nature of the will to power in different circumstances. In Heart of Darkness, the will to power lies in the desire of the colonists to expand the colony and their greed for wealth. Conrad tries to show that, once the colonist live in particular environment, like the jungles of Congo and far away from civilization, human nature is completely exposed. Readers can see how terrible the consequence can be, when a man is under the control of the will to power and lets the will to power to continue and expand.

For example, Marlow's previous captain Fresleven had been killed in a scuffle with the natives Fresleven's conflict with the natives arose from a misunderstanding about two black hens, he doubted he was cheated in the bargain, then he beat the chief of the village mercilessly. At last, the chief's son killed him in desperation at hearing his father yell. Here, Fresleven acted as a cruel ruler, not as a civilized man at all. From the perspective of Nietzsche's theory of will to power, their atrocities only prove that once human beings are controlled by their desire for power in certain circumstances, the dark side of human nature will gain the upper hand, they will act in a way of the strong bullying the weak. Besides, there are contradictions within the colonists when the Manger suggests that the 'scoundrel' who is suspected of helping Kurtz procures his ivory, should be hinged as an example, his uncle agrees. Such actions are possible in Congo, a region far from the light of the civilized action. And Kurtz's most disturbing act, the placement of human heads stop poles surrounding his station house, is only possible in the concealed Congo. Here isolated from the rest of his own society, the colonists became corrupted by his power and isolation. The dark side hidden in the colonists is so obvious.

In conclusion, man's journey into self runs through Heart of Darkness. It is interesting to note that Marlow and Kurtz coming from the same background do not end up the same in the novel. Kurtz is the man who jumps off the edge of sanity and plunges into the darkness of insanity. Marlow is the man who goes to the edge of sanity, looks over the edge and has enough strength not to goover to the other side. Ofcourse, he is changed because of it. (CHENG, 1995, p.14)

The Disillusionment of Civilisation - The third theme of the story is the disillusionment of civilization.

What drives the colonists to Africa ? Marlow's aunt told him it was a glorious idea, they would being civilization to the backward Africa. But Marlow has mentioned 'profit' to his aunt and at the station, he gets a clearer answer.

At the Station, Kurtz does not force the natives to work for him by chains and fetter, but intimidates them by 'thunder and lightning' (which are just guns and bullets) and gradually swings a spiritual control over them to make them weak and even die for him willing by. His great influence upon the natives comes directly from his possession of modern weapons such as guns and bullets, which the natives have never seen before and they take gun fires as 'thunder and lightning'.

The weakness of the African natives is that they do not have modern weapons and have never seen them before. Kurtz shamefully takes this advantage and intimidates the African natives into surrender and even devotion to him. So he can maneuver them in his hunt for ivories in other villages. The heads of 'animals' fixed on the stakes surrounding. Kurtz's residence are an astounding evidence of the notorious mean of intimidation he uses upon the African natives.

Thus, one enlightening conclusion drawn from Heart of Darkness is that, when the white colonists treat their African fellow creatures inhumanity, their own humanity is also undergoing a degrading process. Hence the degradation and atavism of Kurtz. The colonist's rob and murder in the name of enlightenment.

...Prev | Next...