Introduction
Heart of Darkness is a novel written by Joseph Conrad and was first published in 1902. It centers around Marlow, a sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz. As Marlow travels, he encounters cruelty and inefficiency in the treatment of the black inhabitants in Congo. Thus, the Heart of Darkness depicts various themes including violence, cruelty, greed, and inhuman treatment of men due to their black skin. Apart from the mentioned topic of racism, the paper will explore realism and symbolism as well as stylistic devices such as the use of imagery, foreshadowing, and irony in the novel.
Violence, Greed, Cruelty, and Inhumanity to Men Due to Racism
The black-skinned men are discriminated against compared to the white-skinned male as the latter refers to the former as cannibals, criminals, and savages. Violence was done to the men to kill or cause physical harm to the recipient. For instance, Conrad says, “A nigger was being beaten nearby. They said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it nay, he was screeching most horribly. I saw him later for several days sitting in a bit of shade looking very sick and trying to recover himself (28). The Europeans sent to civilize the Africans in Congo picked the men, chained, starved, mutilated, and murdered them without fear.
On maltreatment of the men from Congo, the Europeans were the mastermind with no sympathy. Conrad says, “…each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected with a chain whose bights swung between them rhythmically clinking” (p. 19). This was a form of the cruelty and inhumane treatment of the men in the Congo Forest who were forced to work with the chain on. Kurtz is used in the novel to portray greed at its best and this is seen in his obsession for power and greed to seize resources and ivory from Congo. Kurtz orders the beheading of several black men and has their heads impaled on many posts leading to his cabin. Therefore, from the novel the actions of the company were aimed at civilizing the Congo people, however, they were subjected to inhuman treatment from their colonizers.
Realism and Symbolism
Realism involves the representation of people’s reality from their experiences and actions. Realism is majorly portrayed in symbolism through the two major symbols used in the novel which are the colors black and white. According to Yildiz, black signifies death where women were knitting black caps to be put on the head of the people who died in the Congo jungle (7). Black is also used to depict the Congo River and that the evilness in people was drawn into the darkness that is found in the forest. However, from the novel, Marlow sympathizes with the black-skinned people as in reality they are portrayed as the ones with a loving heart and only do violent things to retaliate and defend themselves from the white people. The color white is used to symbolize good when civilization efforts to remove primitivity in Congo are to be done (Beyaz 2). However, despite the efforts to civilize the black people, Marlow observes that the reality is that the white people are entirely evil on the inside as many people are seen to die in their hands.
Imagery
Imagery is used to form a mental picture in the mind of a reader to enable them to describe and interact with a text deeply. The main imagery depicted is the darkness which is evident in the Congo Forest and the life of Kurtz. The heart is one of the central organs for the functioning of the body, hence, the title of the novel creates a mental image of darkness enveloping the majority of the novel. As Marlow’s story begins, dark clouds are seen to be hanging over the Thames as night falls. Consequently, the darkness imagery comes into play from the onset of Marlow’s journey when he leaves London and sets down the Congo River.
Irony
The irony is the figure of speech that involves the application of words or expressions of something to give the opposite meaning of the literal meaning of the said words. An example of when irony has been used in the novel is on the conversion of Mr. Kurtz, a once sensible and intelligent man into a savage (Yildiz 6). Initially, he held that savagery in Africa can be suppressed by the Whites, however, as the novel ends, he says that all brutes should be exterminated (Yildiz 6). This is the complete opposite of what Mr. Kutz initially was sent to do due to his moral restraint but it is ironic how he has turned into a savage that leads people in the execution of many savages.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing involves how events and scenes in the novel have been organized to some extent so to prepare the reader for what is likely to occur in the future. For instance, the opening pages of the novel as Marlow commences his description of his journey in the Congo jungle present a play of light. It says, “The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest and the greatest town on earth” (Conrad 5). This gives a foreshadowing of the darkness to come throughout the novel in the journey of Marlow.
Conclusion
Therefore, racism is evident in the novel and that symbolism has been used in the novel to explain the writer’s perspective on black and white. Realism has been used in the novel to depict the reality shown by the black and white races. Ironically, the white people have the darkest hearts as shown by their inhuman treatment of the black people. Similarly, black people are portrayed as those with the purest heart and only retaliates when attacked. Consequently, foreshadowing has been used to show what depth of darkness is anticipated throughout the novel.
Works Cited
Beyaz, Ayşegül. “An Analysis of Heart of Darkness.” Journal of English Language and Literature Club 2.1 (2020): 1-6.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart Of Darkness. The Floating Press, 2008. Web.
YILDIZ, Zeynep Hazal. “Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: An Improper Justification of the Colonial Discourse.”