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 it’s 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 God’s 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. Conrad’s 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 one’s normal social context  How does Conrad portray these themes?

12. Conrad’s 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: Kurtz’s death is as meaningless as life

13. Freudian Reading • Dreams are a clue to the inner workings of the mind • Marlow’s 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 Marlow’s 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…”