Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, holds thematically a wide range of
references to problems of politics, morality and social order. It was written in
a period when European exploitation of Africa was at a gruesome height. Conrad
uses double oblique narration. A flame narrator reports the story as told by
Marlow, assigned to the command of a river steamboat scheduled to transport an
exploring expedition. Kurtz is a first-agent at an important trading post of
ivory, located in the interior of the Congo. Both Marlow and Kertz found the
reality through their work in Africa. Marlow felt great indignation with people
in the sepulchral city after his journey to the Congo region because he
discovered, through his work, the reality of the universe, such as the great
virtue of efficiency, the darkness in society and individuals and the surface
reality. When Kurtz found himself on his deathbed and he said ЃgThe
horror, The horror referring to his life in inner Africa, which caused him
disintegration. Marlow emphasized the virtue of ЃgefficiencyЃh
throughout the story because he thought of it as the only way to survive in the
wilderness. After seeing the dying natives in the forest of the outer station,
Marlow described them as Ѓginefficient.Ѓh Under Ѓgthe devotion
to efficiency,Ѓh incompetent people were excluded from society. Only
efficient people can survive. For example, since Kurtz was the most efficient
agent, with regards to producing ivory, his employers respected his achievement
and regarded him as an essential person. However, once he fell into
disintegration, he was considered no more the than dying natives and thus was
treated as if he were dead. He was then buried in the darkness. The symbol of
inefficiency was the color green. Marlow illustrated a picture of dying natives,
when he said, Ѓg[They were] black shadows of disease and starvation lying
confusedly in the greenish gloomЃh(20). Another example of inefficiency is
shown in the description of the body of MarlowЃfs predecessor as ЃgThe
grass growing through his ribs was tall enough to hide his bonesЃh(13).
Marlow realized the real darkness did not existed in Africa but in Europe, and
not in Africans but in Europeans who engaged in colonial exploitation, including
Kurtz. Due to the nativesЃf physical features and customs like
cannibalism, Marlow defined Africans as the darkness. On the other hand, he
considered Europeans as the light because of his illusions of civilization.
After witnessing the evil practices of the colonizers in the Congo, Marlow
discovered the moral darkness in whites. European invaders in Africa dehumanized
natives under the name of enlightenment for the sake of profit. They practiced
no moral laws and inflicted callous and barbaric cruelty on indigenous people.
MarlowЃfs description of the CompanyЃfs offices in Paris revealed
his discovery: A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses,
innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, grass sprouting
between the stones, imposing carriage archways right and left, immense double
doors standing ponderously ajarЃh(13). Moreover, the older woman at the
offices was like a gatekeeper of ЃgDarkness.Ѓh These descriptions
indicated that the real darkness was in greedy whites, who were without moral
sense, thus dark-skinned natives were victims of darkness of whites. Through his
work in the Congo, Marlow found only Ѓgsurface truths,Ѓh which had
been adulterated and concealed by European culture, not core truths. The reason
why Ѓgthe meaning of episode [for him is] not inside like a kernel but
outsideЃh(9) was that MarlowЃfs viewpoint was trapped in these
surface truths. He could not touch the inside of the kernel because he did not
go deep enough. Furthermore, he just watched and judged things from the outside.
Marlow expressed, Ѓhtruth stripped of its cloak of time Ѓc -the man
knows and can look on without a wink. But he must meet at least be as much as of
a man as these on the shore. He must meet that truth with his own true
stuff-with his own inborn strengthЃh(38). Not only did he have a fear of
natives, but also he refused to be like them. Since natives were, for Marlow,
savage and mean-spirited fellows, he would not debase himself. Marlow used work
as a pretext. Mowever, he acquired Ѓgsurface truthsЃh in the Congo
region by handling the steamboat in the Ѓgfiendish row.Ѓh On the
other hand, Kurts went to natives and found the heart of darkness in him, which
was the primal reality of a deeper region of his mind. Kurtz brought moral ideas
to the wilderness. He said early in his work, ЃgEach station should be
like a beacon on the road towards better things, a center for trade of course
but also for humanizing, improving, instructingЃh(34). However, he found
immorality of Europeans in Africa. Moral ideas, which formed KurtzЃfs
identity, were destroyed. He lost his personality and rejected his humanity and
the materialism of the West. Shoes symbolized Western civilization: Kurtz used a
shoelace to tie letters together. It showed that Kurtz renounced things related
to the West. As a result, he became egoistic and ivory-obsessed. In addition,
his life became meaningless and empty. Being hollow at his core, Kurtz was
fascinated by Ѓgthe heavy mute spell of the wilderness that seemed to draw
him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal instincts by
the memory of gratified and monstrous passion(65). The wilderness has power to
turn KurtzЃfs heart black. Kertz made a pact with diabolic forces, which
lurk within the jungle and then became depraved and deranged. Although he could
not be totally evil, he massacred indigenous people and stole ivory from them
without restraint. He alternated between being evil and struggling his former
idealism. On his deathbed, Kurtz realized what he did to natives and himself and
found himself as an incarnate of greed that lacked self-restraint. Hence, Kurtz
cried ЃgThe horror, The horror.Ѓh The ЃgdarknessЃh of
this novelЃfs title refers to many kind of darkness: moral corruption,
ignorance, savagery. In the heart of darkness in Africa, Marlow found the sordid
exploitation of arrogance Europeans. They were not only mere avaricious but
inefficient people in the jungle. Marlow did not find truths, the darkness in
him, whereas Kurtz discovered it. Although the discovery of such reality was
Ѓgpaid for by innumerable defeats, by abominable terrors, by abominable
satisfactions(70), as Marlow said. Kurts personified the evil latent in man.
Under immorality and the demonic force circumstances, the darkness of oneЃfs
mind can be unleashed.