heart of darkness Essay

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The novel heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad conveys that a physical journey is essential in allowing an individual to gain a better understanding of themselves. In the first chapter, Marlow is described as seated in a manner that implies the posture characteristic of a Buddha. Marlow is also depicted as having “sunken cheeks” with a “yellow complexion”, indicating that his wise nature is a result of his physical journeys and grueling experiences. Thus, Conrad portrays Marlow’s inner journey through the impacts of his physical journey and his overall appearance.

• Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness demonstrates the importance of a physical and inner journey in understanding the dual nature of humanity. Through the journey that Marlow undertakes, an individual understands that humanity is neither entirely good nor bad, but has both light and darkness.

• “Now and then a carrier dead in harness, at rest in the long grass near the path, with an empty water-gourd and his long staff lying by his side” This quote shows the physical journey and how death isn’t a significant matter along his journey, especially since the carriers are the natives.

• “Perhaps on some quiet night the tremor of far-off drums, appealing, suggestive, and wild. There is sound imagery-alliteration, personification: BY personifying the sounds he hears, he suggests that the natives are wild and appealing. By comparing this sound to “Church Bells”, Conrad suggests that there is this wild savageness in all of us.
“Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet hole in the forehead, upon which I stumbled three miles further may be considered as a permanent improvement”(pg.24). Visual imagery, harsh imagery of pain mutilation, Sarcasm. His sarcasm emphasises the extent of the destruction and cruelty that Marlow has seen through his journey in the African Congo. The road or more specifically the lack of, in this passage becomes a symbol of the clear lack of “civilizing” force that white colonizers presumed to make on the African colonies. This is another of Marlow’s
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