His second is that of Africa; its physical characteristics, the ‘savagery’ of the natives and Marlow’s journey into the unknown ‘darkness’ of the Congo river and the forest surrounding it.
The Congo River is an important ‘darkness’ in the book. What Marlow sees on the map, ‘a mighty big river...resembling an immense snake uncoiled’, is exactly how he imagines it would be when he arrives in Africa. Conrad’s description of the Congo river focuses on the ‘trees, millions of trees’ that are all that Marlow sees ‘round the still bends, between the high walls of our winding way’. These trees give the sense of a ‘gloom of overshadowed distances’, and this is the ‘heart of darkness’ shown as the physical aspect of the river running through the darkness and gloom caused by the trees overhead.
However, another aspect of the Congo’s ‘darkness’ is that of it drawing explorers, such as Marlow and Kurtz into and further up the river, as if they have been ‘charmed’ by the ‘snake’. Their greed and darkness causes them to want to discover and take more from Africa, and it is if the river is luring them up it to do this.
Another ‘darkness’ in the novella is that of colonialism and its consequences. As already explored, Conrad is opposed to colonialism and uses Marlow to show how it can change people, and possibly bring out the worst in them.
The criticism Conrad is making of colonialism in this novella is its pointlessness and his opinion that nothing of any worth is gained from the conquests. In fact, they bring much more The characters in the ‘Heart of Darkness’ come from many different European countries, and the fact that all European countries want to get their hands on some of the supposed profits of this conquest is reinforced by the fact that Marlow sails out from Belgium on a French ship with a Swedish captain owned by an English company. The pointlessness of the campaign is clearly shown by the man o’ war which Marlow sees firing shells into what appears to be just dense forest. He concludes that ‘there was a touch of insanity about the process’.
Another example of the ‘objectless blasting’ of Africa is the building of the railway, which does not seem to actually serve a purpose. The colonialists are obsessed and almost overwhelmed by their quest to take ivory, and although they are doing things in the name of improvement, they are actually just causing mindless destruction. These two events which Marlow sees provide a sharp contrast between the seeming strength and vitality of the natives, and the pointlessness of shelling them and forcing them into work to ultimately achieve nothing at all. At all the stations which Marlow visits, the managers think they are there for a purpose, but maybe are not actually sure what this is.
At first, when Marlow sees the canoes ‘paddled by black fellows’, he respects the native Africans and sees them as natural and part of what should be there in its place. As recognised by Chinua Achebe in his essay ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"’, ‘Conrad is a romantic….for Conrad, things being in their place is of utmost importance’, and Conrad shows the blacks are in their place through Marlow’s view:
‘They shouted, sang; their bodies streamed with perspiration; they had faces like grotesque masks -- these chaps; but they had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast. They wanted no excuse for being there. They were a great comfort to look at.’
Conrad’s voice comes through when Marlow says that the native ‘men could by no stretch of the imagination be called enemies’. He says this after he has described one black native in charge of others. This shows his feelings that some natives are manipulated to turn on their own people and their own way of life by the colonialists. Conrad wants the reader to see the immorality of treating the conquered people in this way, and again shows that colonialism is pointless and brings nothing but suffering for the Africans, destroying their traditional cultures and way of life. The natives who Marlow sees and have been left to die once they are considered useless further emphasises the atrocities of colonialism.
Although I have read Conrad’s views as a criticism of colonialism, there are other views, notably that of Chinua Achebe in his afore mentioned essay. He claims that Conrad is a ‘bloody racist’, and is actually supporting colonialism in his dehumanisation of the Africans and his portrayal of them as ‘cannibals’ and ‘savages’.
Another important element in the ‘Heart of Darkness’ is Marlow’s realisation of his own heart of darkness. This is partly because of his changing views of the horrors he sees and their lessening impact on him as he becomes almost immune to them. Also, the things that he sees in Africa stay in his heart and even when he returns home, his memories haunt him.
As Marlow travels further into the unknown, the Congo and the sense of colonialism changes him. He starts to see the black natives as ‘savages’ and less as humans, but more as animals. He loses touch with reality and starts to feel and discover his own heart of darkness. Africa changes Marlow and whereas at the start Marlow felt that he ‘belonged still to a world of straight-forward facts’ he says ‘the feeling would not last long’. This is because he sees so many horrors that he is almost not sure what is real and what is not. He knows the things he sees are just the consequences of an even worse darkness, that in the hearts of the colonialists.
Before his explorations, Marlow himself is opposed to colonialism, but the further he ventures into Africa, the less critical of it he becomes, starting and continuing to see some of what he would have considered horrors at the start as just normal and facts of life. This is clearly shown in Marlow’s views of the natives’ heads on sticks outside Kurtz’s station. He realises the true horror and brutality of what Kurtz has been doing, and although Marlow is initially shocked, he soon accepts it; he seems to have come more immune to these horrors as he moves closer into the heart of the Congo – Kurtz’s station being the furthest it is possible to go and the ‘heart of darkness’. Marlow comes to the realisation that the worst thing he has seen on his journey is not Kurtz’s brutality, about which he states that ‘pure, uncomplicated savagery was a positive relief, being something that had a right to exist’. The thing which Marlow feels is more complicated, much worse than savagery and should not have the right to exist is the darkness and greed of mens’ souls, and the consequences thereof.
The memories Marlow brings back with him are shown clearly as he goes to meet Kurtz’s ‘Intended’. He describes how his thoughts and his memories are with him as if they are real, and they will remain for ever in the darkness of his heart. He especially remembers Kurtz on his death bed:
‘He lived then before me; he lived as much as he had ever lived…..The vision seemed to enter the house with me…. -- the heart of a conquering darkness.’
Marlow’s realization of his heart of darkness is linked to the process by which Conrad feels we all become aware of our own heart of darkness. This is linked to Darwin’s theory that we have all evolved from savages and Conrad feels that there will always be some savagery left in everyone. We cannot control when it will come out and show itself. Conrad’s views come through as Marlow describes colonialism as the ‘shackled form of a conquered monster’. He says that there is a temptation to see the African ‘savages’ as ‘inhuman’, but actually they are very close to us. Kurtz’s savage heart has become unshackled and as he ‘lacks restraint’ he satisfies all his desires. He only realizes his true darkness in his very last words; ‘the horror, the horror’. Conrad thinks ultimately we all have a heart of darkness because ultimately we are all savages.
In conclusion, the title is appropriate for the book because of many factors which are layered throughout the novella. Conrad has manipulated all his key points into one main idea and title. In my opinion, his main idea wanting to make the reader realize that we have not travelled that far from ‘savages’ and although we think we are now civilized and we can look down upon what we see as inferior races, we are only a short step away from our savage past. This is linked to Darwin’s theory of evolution, published just less than half a century before the book was written. Conrad also uses the ‘Heart of Darkness’ to show his criticisms of colonialism and the greed of men. He does this using the examples of England being colonized by the Romans and then the European conquest of Africa, showing that previous events have not been learnt from and that the greed of mens’ hearts is too strong for them to resist. Conrad uses Marlow as an example of the way in which we all discover that we ourselves have a heart of darkness. His imagery of light and dark gives the perspective of where these ‘hearts of darkness’ come from and what they can do to places - gloom over London where colonialists set out, darkness of Congo where terrible acts are being carried out and gets darker as Marlow gets closer to Kurtz’s station.
