“Heart of Darkness is
experience…but it is experience pushed a little (and only a very little) beyond
the actual facts of the case for the perfectly legitimate, I believe, purpose
of bringing it home to the minds and bosoms of the readers.”
-Joseph Conrad
In
this novel, the author portrays himself as Marlow, a sailor who loves adventure
and has always yearned to travel to the heart of Africa.
Conrad himself had declared as a child that after growing up, he would travel
to the unexplored heart of Africa. Marlow
reports Conrad’s journey up to Congo River.
But one must realize that this novel is not just about Conrad’s journey, a few
people or one company. In a larger context, it shows the very essence of
colonization in Africa. He describes the
colonization as, “the vilest scramble for
loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience and geographical
exploration.” Throughout the novel, Marlow is pessimistic about the Company
and their actions. He believes imperialism brings out the worst n humans.
Marlow says, “All Europe contributed to
the making of Kurtz”, by this he is explaining the irony between Kurtz’s
noble motives and its destructive result to the policies of Europe in Africa throughout the nineteenth century.
Through
this paper, I would like to debate on the character of Marlow and the conflicts
within his mind at various times. Marlow was a White, so had to be a White (i.e.)
he had to show himself as superior at many times. But as a human being, Marlow
was different. He was sensitive and sensible. He does feel bad about the state
of the natives, but he cannot and does not do anything about it as there is
some amount of White supremacy’s influence on him. Throughout this paper,
various such incidents and situations will be dealt with.
The
moment he reaches Africa, he witnesses the
atrocities and ill-treatment of the natives. As a protagonist or a character he
is not able to do anything about it. But as a narrator, he creates in the minds
of the readers an image of suffering and pain.
“They walked erect
and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads…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 between them, rhythmically clinking.”
“All their
meager breasts panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered, the
eyes stared stonily up-hill.”
There
is another scene where he gives a piece of biscuit to one of the natives who
had been staring at him. That very act is an example of his character. The
action was more spontaneous than an act of sympathy.
Throughout
the novel, we can see that Marlow is friendly with the natives, but he does not
express it much. But his attachment to the natives and especially someone who
helped him is clearly shown in one scene. When they were traveling through the
jungle, they were attacked by the natives once. During this attack, Marlow’s
helper and friend, a native, dies. There were many cannibals on board with
them. Marlow had seen that they were not harmful and at one instance, ha calls
them ‘good cannibals’ too. But still he has that constant fear, which had been
created by others (mainly Whites) in his mind. Coming back to the scene of
attack, when the native is killed, Marlow instantly picks him up with great
effort and throws him over board so that the cannibals do not eat him.
“As soon as I
had put on a dry pair of slippers, I dragged him out, after first jerking the
spar out of his side, which operation I confess I performed with my eyes shut
tight…Oh! He was heavy, heavy; heavier than any man on earth, I should imagine.
Then without more ado I tipped him overboard.”
On
their way back, Kurtz dies in the boat. Kurtz had always inspired Marlow. Marlow
had heard a lot about Kurtz and had this deep fascination for Kurtz. The
natives didn’t want Marlow to take Kurtz away. And, though it was Kurtz who had
asked for relieve, he too did not want to leave the natives. He once tries to
escape from the boat. And even after all this, when Kurtz dies he is the one
who feels the most about it. He almost goes into some kind of a depression. The
death of Kurtz and his final words, “The horror! The horror!” haunted Marlow
for a long time.
Kurtz,
during his last few minutes leaves a packet of letters and records with Marlow.
After his death many people come to get it. Initially, Marlow resists, but finally
gives it to the respective people. Finally, he is left with just one packet.
That was supposed to be given to a woman who was Kurtz’s intended. He decided
to go personally, meet her and deliver the package to her. After a long,
emotional conversation, she asks about Kurtz’s last words. Marlow thinks hard and replies to her,
‘I pulled myself together and spoke
slowly.
“The last word he pronounced
was-your name”
This very action proves his character. He did lie, but
that lie had made a great mistake. It would give the woman, who had devoted
herself to Kurtz, some solace.
Marlow was just another agent of the Company, who had
come to the Congo
Basin with the orders of
relieving Kurtz from his station. But he was wise enough not to get engulfed by
the darkness of the continent. He didn’t turn out to be the victim of
colonization, like Kurtz. But Marlow had certain problems. But they were not
distinct enough as, when compared to the actions of the Company, Marlow was
nothing. But, he constructs this constant image of fear throughout the story.
This is because of his mentality. He already is prejudiced about certain things
and one such thing is darkness and Africa. He
uses many racial terms and keeps stressing on the word ‘black’ now and then. There
is no necessity for that, but he does it because he hails from Europe and that by itself is a great problem. It is
really difficult to look at the natives or Africa
with an open mind. He even goes to the extent of saying colonization has its
own advantages.
