Joseph Conrad Heart Of Darkness Essay Research

Joseph Conrad Heart Of Darkness Essay, Research Paper

Joseph Conrad s Use of Light and Dark in His Writings

Many books are written by an author purely for informational, recreational, or monetary reasons, but some books are written to demonstrate a point. Joseph Conrad s book Heart of Darkness is one such book. If the book is examined only superficially, a tragic story of the African jungle is seen, but when the paragraphs are picked apart, a deeper meaning arises. Joseph Conrad uses the theme of light and dark to contrast the civilized with the savage in Heart of Darkness. The next 5 pages analyze Conrad s use of light and dark in Heart of Darkness. First, they explain how Conrad s past and experiences affected his writing. Then, they show how light versus dark is used to contrast the civilized and the savage. Finally, they will examine Conrad s use of light and dark in Heart of Darkness to contrast the civilized and the savage.

Joseph Conrad s past experiences contributed greatly to his literary style. He was born December third, 1857. His childhood was unstable; Conrad s parents came from families that sacrificed property, liberty, and life in the futile struggle for independence. (Gillon-3) His father, Apollo, joined a radical patriotic group which was working for another uprising. (Gillon-4) Apollo was jailed, and then was exiled to Vologda, in northern Russia. Joseph and his mother, Evelina were allowed to go with Apollo. During this time, Joseph s mother died because of Russian officials refusal to treat her with care. The remaining two Conrads moved to southern Russia. Conrad had few friends because his family was exiled, his mother was dead, and he spent much of his early years with his depressed father. The mood of hopelessness and resignation became a pervasive quality of his work. (Gillon-5) He was a seaman for his early years, therefore, all of his stories have a connection to the sea. He moved to England and took all the appropriate tests to become a captain. On April twenty-ninth, 1890, he accepted the position of first mate on a Congo steamer. Joseph thought that the experience in the jungle would be romantic, (Gillon-16) but, Instead of romance, Conrad found the horror of the jungle and its savage laws, the utter degradation of man isolated in the wilderness. (Gillon-17) According to Adam Gillon, the author of the Twayne book concerning Conrad, His concern was now with his own fate and that of humanity. Conrad the sailor was dead out of his misery and disenchantment Conrad the writer was born. (Gillon-17)

In Conrad s first influential novel, The Nigger of the Narcissus, the central idea of light and dark first arises. The sailing ship Narcissus is caught in a storm, and the only black mate aboard, James Wait, has a symbolic meaning. He is the stopping point on the ship, because none of the sailors trust him. He, as his name suggests, always waits before acting. Wait is a jinx (Gillon-39) and the ship will not reach land safely until Jim (James) dies. (Gillon-39) the images of light indicate the simple, good life of a seaman, while those of darkness are associated with the evil and mystery of the jungle, the corruption of the life on the land. (Gillon-25) In this case, black, or dark is bad, and the white, or light is good.

In Heart of Darkness, Conrad again uses light and dark to symbolize good and evil, except the roles are reversed. It is whiteness that is truly sinister and evil, for it symbolizes the immoral scramble for loot by the unscrupulous and unfeeling Belgian traders in ivory and human flesh; the whiteness of ivory is also contrasted with the blackness of the natives whose lives must be destroyed for its sake. (Gillon-25)

Many other authors use the theme of light and dark, especially Shakespeare, whom Conrad admired. In Macbeth, for example, much of the play is filled with the struggle between light and darkness. The darkness symbolizes Macbeth, who asks for darkness to hide his desires in Act I, and then darkness shrouds the night of the murder. The light in the first two acts is King Duncan, but the struggle went in favor of darkness. This struggle occurs in every act of the play. Conrad admired Shakespeare, who exercised an abiding influence (Gillon-5) on Conrad.Two central themes occur in Conrad s most famous book, Heart of Darkness. The first is the struggle between the white people and the native tribes, which plays into the next theme, that of light versus dark.

From the very start, Marlow (the main character in Heart of Darkness), creates a feeling of darkness.

At last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and from glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat, as if about to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that gloom brooding over a crowd of men. (Conrad-28)

The story is told one evening (Conrad-28)

He then starts out by telling a story of his adventures in the Congo while waiting for the tide to turn on the Thames River outside of London. Marlow s use of a modern city is the first glimpse of what he considers civilized and more importantly, uncivilized. Marlow begins by speaking of the occupants of the boat. He explains that the owner of the boat is an accountant and a lawyer. This fact alludes to the idea of what might be considered civilized. He talks about the lights that are reflected in the water