0What do you think are the

themes in Heart of Darkness?

Heart of Darkness Themes

Civilization vs. Savagery (Darkness in Man)
0 The book implies that civilizations are created by the setting of

laws and codes that encourage men to achieve higher standards. It

acts as a buffer to prevent men from reverting back to their darker
tendencies.

0 Civilization, however, must be learned.

0 London itself, in the book a symbol of enlightenment, was once "one of

the darker places of the earth" before the Romans forced civilization
upon them.

0 While society seems to restrain these savage tendencies, it does

not get rid of them.

Heart of Darkness Themes

Civilization vs. Savagery - Darkness in Man (cont.)
0 The tendency to revert to savagery is seen in Kurtz. When Marlow meets

Kurtz, he finds a man that has totally thrown off the restraints of
civilization and has de-evolved into a primitive state.

0 Marlow and Kurtz are two opposite examples of the human condition.

Kurtz represents what every man will become if left to his own intrinsic
desires without a protective, civilized environment. Marlow represents
the civilized soul that has not been drawn back into savagery by a dark,
alienated jungle.

Heart of Darkness Themes

Civilization vs. Savagery - Darkness in Man (cont.)
0 Every man has a heart of darkness that is usually drowned out by the

light of civilization. However, when removed from civilized society, the

raw evil within his soul will be unleashed.

0 The underlying theme of Heart of Darkness is that civilization is

superficial. The level of civilization is related to the physical and moral

environment they are presently in. It is a much less stable or permanent
state than society may think.

Themes
Absurdity of Evil
0 Much of Heart of Darkness is concerned with Marlows struggle to

maintain his sense of morality as power conspiracies rage all around

him and the mysterious figure of Kurtz piques his curiosity.

0 Marlows desire to do good grows increasingly futile as he is plunged

into a world where no absolute goodness exists and the best he can do is
choose between a selection of nightmares. Eventually, we see that the
characters become unable to distinguish between good and evil.

0 Conrad illustrates this moral ambiguity with light and darkness imagery

that often blends together, yet is imbued with an overall inevitably

sinister shade.

Themes
0 Imperialism/Colonization (Belgian Company)
0 Cruelty of Man
0 Greed
0 Exploitation of People

0 Unlike most novels that focus on the evils of colonialism, Heart of

Darkness pays more attention to the damage that colonization does

to the souls of white colonizers than it does to the physical death and
devastation unleashed on the black natives.

0 Madness is closely linked to imperialism in this book. Africa is

responsible for mental disintegration as well as physical illness.

0 When one becomes so far removed from societys morals and
restrictions, good and evil become relative terms. When these moral
boundaries begin fading, Conrad suggests, man loses the sense of

where he stands in the great moral struggle.

Themes
Theme of Power
0 Many of Marlows crew have ambitions of moving up the corporate
ladder of the Company. Insatiable greed for wealth and power defines
their characters. This greed quickly demolishes any sense of morality
they may hold and we find a handful of them attempting to get in
Marlows good graces for the sake of his aunts influences.
0 Kurtzs ambitions do not stop at merely moving up in the Company; he

desires to prove himself superior to all Africans. Even Marlow is sucked

in; he tries obsessively to get as close to Kurtz as he can both
physically and emotionally. Marlow proves as attracted to power as any
of his corrupt colleagues.

0List and describe some of the

symbols in Heart of Darkness.

Symbols
Fog
0 Fog is a consequence of darkness.
0 Fog not only obscures but distorts: it gives one just enough

information to begin making decisions but no way to judge

the accuracy of that information, which often ends up being
wrong.

0 Marlows steamer is caught in the fog, meaning that he has

no idea where hes going and no idea whether peril or open

water lies ahead.

Symbols
Women
0 Both Marlow and Kurtz see women as symbolizing decency and

purity. Women represent the potential for goodness in all

humans, which is important to both men after having seen the
heart of darkness and evil.

0 Marlow frequently claims that women are the keepers of nave

illusions; which is a crucial role, as these nave illusions are at the

root of the social fictions that justify economic enterprise and
colonial expansion.

0 Women are the beneficiaries of much of the resulting wealth, and

they become objects upon which men can display their own
success and status.

Symbols
The knitting women:
0 The two women Marlow encounters when he arrives at
the offices of the Company represent the mythological
Fates who spin, measure, and cut the thread of life. It is
in the offices of the Company that Marlows life is being
measured out as he begins his journey into the heart of
Africa.

Symbols
Kurtzs painting:
0 The image in the painting resembles the figure of
justice, but there seems to be very little justice in
Africa. This image could also be another representation
of Kurtzs idealized vision of women who must be kept
ignorant of the darkness that he sees in the world.

Symbols
The accountant:
0 The Companys accountant is the physical manifestation of

the ethics of the company. What is important to the

accountant is that he defies his surroundings. His physical
appearance is elegant and pristine in an environment that is
filthy and chaotic. He goes on with his work no matter what
is happening around him, including people dying.

Symbols
Ivory:
0 Ivory is the physical symbol of the greed and runaway
ambition of the Europeans. They are willing to do anything,
include sacrifice their own humanity, in pursuit of this
treasure.

Symbols
The Whited Sepulcher
0 The whited sepulcher is Brussels, where the Companys headquarters are

located.

0 A sepulcher implies death and confinement. Europe is the origin of the

colonial enterprises that bring death to white men and to their colonial
subjects; it is also governed by a set of reified social principles that both
enable cruelty, dehumanization, and evil and prohibit change.

0 The phrase comes from the Book of Matthew in the Bible, where it says the

whited sepulchers are objects which indeed appear beautiful outward, but
are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

0 Belgian colonies, particularly the Congo, were notorious for the violence

perpetuated against the natives.

Symbols
The Congo River
0 The river resembles a snake, and the snake symbolizes the
idea of temptation and evil. The river leads Marlow and the
other Europeans into the heart of the continent where the
temptations prove to be too much for many of them.
0 Marlows struggles with the river as he travels upstream

toward Kurtz reflect his struggles to understand the

situation in which he has found himself. The ease with
which he journeys back downstream, on the other hand,
mirrors his acquiescence to Kurtz and his choice of
nightmares.