HEART OF DARKNESS
-Joseph
Conrad
Joseph
Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was an orphan by the age of 12; his mother and
father both died as a result of time the family spent in exile in Siberia for
plotting against the Russian Tsar. He wrote his best-known works in the years
just before and after the turn of the century: Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord
Jim (1900), and Nostromo (1904). Conrad died in 1924.
Joseph
Conrad's novels reside in the transition period between Victorianism, with its
strict conventions and focus on polite society, and Modernism, which sought to
explode old conventions and invent new literary forms to convey human
experience more fully. Conrad's work was instrumental in this effort,
particularly his experimentation with the use of time and non-chronological
narratives. Heart of Darkness also fits squarely into the genre of
colonial literature, in which European writers portrayed the colonialism and
imperialism of European nations from Africa to the Far East in the late 19th
and early 20th century.
During
the last two decades of the 19th century, European nations battled each other
for wealth and power. This battle caused the "scramble for Africa,"
in which European countries competed to colonize as much of Africa as possible.
While the colonizing Europeans claimed to want to "civilize" the
African continent, their actions spoke otherwise: they were interested solely
in gaining wealth and did not care how they did it, or who was killed. One of
the most brutal of the European colonies in its treatment of the native
Africans was the Belgian Congo, the property of the Belgian King Leopold I. In
1890, Joseph Conrad worked as a pilot on a steamship in the Belgian Congo, and Heart
of Darkness is at least in part based on his experiences there.
This
is a book that takes place in Europe and then in Africa. Lot of students read
this in class as a short story. It is not that short. This was also a movie
called "Apocalypse Now". Martin Sheen is in it, with fatty Marlon
Brando and Harrison Ford. It's a pretty good movie. In this story there are
"agents". These are guys that travel and go get ivory.
The
story starts out with these 5 dudes sitting on a boat. There is a lawyer, an
accountant, a military guy, the narrator, and some dude named Marlow. Then
Marlow tells them his story. He starts out telling them how he was sailing
around, all over the place. He jumped from boat to boat experiencing new
things. Many of these boats were ivory boats, sailing around looking for ivory.
His rich powerful Aunt got him a job as the captain of a steamer in Africa
looking for Ivory. . Then he arrives at the "station". He sees a lot
of overworked black slaves. He meets this handsome accountant guy. The
accountant tells him about a dude named Kurtz. Kurtz is one of the best
"agents" (he gets a lot of ivory). They take a trip to the central
"station". They get there and see that their steamboat has sunk. The
manager of the central station doesn't know where Kurtz is.
That night Marlow talks with one of the agents. The agent
says good things about Kurtz and how he'll probably be promoted in the big
company. However, the agent kinda hates Kurtz because they are competing for
similar promotions. Marlow pumps the agent for info on Kurtz. Marlow is very
curious about this dude named Kurtz. Then the Steamer is fixed so they continue
with the trip. They head toward Kurtz’s station to find out what the hell
happened to him.
They sail on the river and then they are attacked by spears
and arrows. It’s the African savages attacking them. They shoot back and try to
pop some caps in their asses. They finally blow the steam whistle and the noise
scares the savages. Then they get to the "Inner Station". A Russian
dude is there and he’s taking care of Kurtz because Kurtz is sick. The Russian
sailor dude tells the crew that Kurtz went psycho and started killing the
African savages and stealing their ivory. He became their leader and was
treated like a God. Marlow sees sticks with heads on them (like Lord of the
flies). Marlow is kinda scared because he knows Kurtz has a big African army
that will do anything he wants them to. Kurtz was the one who told the savages
to attack Marlowe's steamboat. So now the crew has Marlow in their
"custody".
The night before they leave, Kurtz tries to escape back to
his followers (the African savages). Marlow catches him and doesn’t let him go.
They take Kurtz back and that’s where he says those famous lines "Oh the
horror. The horror! Then Kurtz dies.
Marlow gets sick, but then gets better. He goes back to
Brussels. He visits Marlowe's fiancee who he left at home. In the book she is
called the "Intended" (like he intended to marry her). She asks
Marlow what Kurtz’s last words were. He lies and says it was her name. She
cries.
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