Heart of Darkness

1
Heart of Darkness

• By Joseph Conrad

2
Colonialism vs. Imperialism

• colonialism as practice and imperialism as the
  idea driving the practice
• Imperialism first identified with ancient Rome.
  Used in the late 1800s with an expansionist
  connotation (Conrad mentions the Roman empire on
  pg. 67)

3
Colonialism

• About the dominance of a strong nation over a
  weaker one
• acquisition of the colonialist, by brute force,
  of extra markets, extra resources of raw material
  and manpower from the colonies
• While committing atrocities against natives, the
  colonialist believes he is acting morally

4
Rationale for Colonialism

• The colonized are savages in need of education
  and rehabilitation
• The culture of the colonized is not up to the
  standard of the colonizer, and its the moral
  duty of the colonizer to do something about
  polishing it.
• The colonized nation is unable to manage and run
  itself properly, and thus it needs the wisdom and
  expertise of the colonizer.
• The colonized nation embraces a set of religious
  beliefs incongruent and incompatible with those
  of the colonizer, and consequently, it is Gods
  given duty of the colonizer to bring those stray
  people to the right path.
• The colonized people pose dangerous threat to
  themselves and to the civilized world if left
  alone and thus it is in the interest of the
  civilized world to bring those people under
  control.

5
Effects of Colonialism

• Oppression dehumanizes both oppressor and
  oppressed
• Erosion of colonized culture
• Rejection among the colonized of everything
  western
• Advanced economy of land colonized

6
Post Colonialism

• expose to both the colonizer and ex-colonized the
  falsity or validity of their assumptions
• no culture is better or worse than other culture
• Alienation Colonialist is alienated in his own
  land, leading to trauma
• Ambivalence toward authority victory of the
  settler leads to ambivalence

7
Conrads Life

• Novel based on personal experience was a
  captain of a steam ship on the Belgian Congo
• Part autobiographical, part imaginary
• Sought to attack the criminality of inefficiency
  and pure selfishness of African colonialism
• Marlow is perhaps Conrad himself

8
Structure and Style of Heart of Darkness

• Framing narrative brings up the question of
  memory
• Most of the tale is being told aloud
• Conrad grips us with his storytelling skills, but
  at the same time he does not strive to teach a
  lesson
• Marlow has an ambiguous and uncertain moral
  position
• Marlow is cynical and never reveals meaning, he
  continues to ask questions and suggest mysteries.

9
Structure Continued

• Russian Doll effect Kurtz is at the center of
  the story, Marlow, narrator, reader
• Patterns of threes
• Patterns of opposition dark/light, inside/outside

10
Symbolism

• Light vs. Dark contributes to the ambiguous
  tone depicts the moral uncertainty of the world
  white is not necessarily good (ivory a symbol of
  greed), black not necessarily evil (suffering)
• The River Congo is the passageway to Africa,
  but also is a source of struggle for Europeans
  Thames is a symbol for civilization

11
Themes

• The Absurdity of Evil The world has ambiguous
  morality
• The Hypocrisy of Colonialism Africans were
  meant to be helped instead they were oppressed.
• Colonialism as a Source of Madness madness
  results from a separation from ones normal
  social context
• ? How does Conrad portray these themes?

12
Conrads Ambiguous Lessons

• We must know evil our own capacities for evil-
  before we can be capable of any good
• We must always atone for any allegiance with the
  powers of darkness
• As men, we are morally isolated from one another
• Life is profoundly meaningless Kurtzs death is
  as meaningless as life

13
Freudian Reading

• Dreams are a clue to the inner workings of the
  mind
• Marlows journey is like a dream
• Theory of the Id we are all brutes and savages
  on this level
• Exploration of the dark recesses of the human
  mind
• Kurtz as merely a voice the voice of Marlows
  deepest psychological self?

14
Truth of Experience vs. Clarity of Ideas

• Truths of the psyche and human soul are messy,
  vague, irrational, dark
• Striving towards a recreation of our own dark
  hearts
• Pg. 86 He was just a word for me. I did not
  see the man in the name any more than you do. Do
  you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see
  anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you
  a dream