Heart Of Darkness
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In Joseph Conrads novel, Heart of Darkness, the main character, Marlow, is aboard the ship “The Nellie” and tells his fellow passengers the story of his past voyage into the African Congo. In the Congo, Marlow was looking for Kurtz, one of his companys men. Kurtz was an ivory trader and had collected a lot of ivory for the company. Marlow had gone into the Congo for adventure but he ended up learning about the nature of man. Conrad used light/dark and white/black symbolism to contrast civilization with savagery.
One example of light and dark symbolism is the Thames and Congo rivers. Conrad described the Thames River as tranquil and full of light: “The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of dayspread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth…The sun set: the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore.” (
Marlow and Kurtz both represent the light and dark, or civilization and the jungle, respectively. Marlow represents light and civilization because even though he went into the jungle in search of ivory, he did not let the jungle take over his life. Marlow wanted to go back to civilization and get away from the “darkness” of the jungle. On the other hand, Kurtz went into the jungle for the same reason as Marlow but Kurtz had allowed the ivory and “darkness” to take over his life.
One example of white and black symbolism is the white ivory sought after by the British in Africa. When people think of white they think of it symbolizing something pure and clean, and when people think of black they think of symbolizing something that is tainted and dirty. In the novel, Conrad reversed these images and made the items that were white symbolize what black symbolizes. Ivory is a white material but in the novel it did not symbolize what white normally symbolizes. Ivory symbolized gluttony, lust, and greed. The