Lack Of Truth In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
Bitter Truth Belgian chocolate. A delicacy made from rich cacao beans, gathered by the hands of the enslaved. At its peak in the 18th century, Belgium, led by King Leopold II, stood as a superpower house; a model for the rest of Europe. Little did the world know about the truth behind Leopold’s large success, perched upon the laboring backs of Congolese men, women, and children. A lack of truth lies within thought and perception, making it difficult to differentiate reality from perceived reality, knowledge from what we may think is knowledge. Conrad, in his novella Heart of Darkness, explores the lack of truth in human nature and civilization through Marlow’s experiences in the Congo. Conrad uses the concept of civilization to illustrate
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When Marlow first hears about Kurtz from the Company’s chief accountant, he learns that Kurtz was “a very remarkable person” who was “in charge of a trading post in a true ivory country,” sending in “as much ivory as all the others put together” (p. 12). It becomes evident that Marlow values not only success, but both hard work and success which he sees in Kurtz, a reason that he becomes ever more driven to meet Kurtz. Kurtz, unlike the manager and the brick maker, appears to be deserving of his profits. Kurtz’s supposed death exasperates Marlow; Kurtz symbolized “the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness” (p. 32). In other words, Marlow viewed Kurtz as an emissary of civilization, the light in a land of darkness. Once Marlow learns about Kurtz’s greed for ivory, he finds the true nature of Kurtz. Kurtz ends up as the grimmest and most monstrous individual Marlow meets in the Congo. This contrasts sharply with what Marlow initially thinks of Kurtz but the truth in the end indicates that Kurtz’s greediness became fairly similar to that of the other European colonizers in the Congo. The fact that Marlow met a Kurtz different from the moral Kurtz he pictured shows the truth: the inability of an individual to understand another
When Marlow first hears about Kurtz from the Company’s chief accountant, he learns that Kurtz was “a very remarkable person” who was “in charge of a trading post in a true ivory country,” sending in “as much ivory as all the others put together” (p. 12). It becomes evident that Marlow values not only success, but both hard work and success which he sees in Kurtz, a reason that he becomes ever more driven to meet Kurtz. Kurtz, unlike the manager and the brick maker, appears to be deserving of his profits. Kurtz’s supposed death exasperates Marlow; Kurtz symbolized “the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness” (p. 32). In other words, Marlow viewed Kurtz as an emissary of civilization, the light in a land of darkness. Once Marlow learns about Kurtz’s greed for ivory, he finds the true nature of Kurtz. Kurtz ends up as the grimmest and most monstrous individual Marlow meets in the Congo. This contrasts sharply with what Marlow initially thinks of Kurtz but the truth in the end indicates that Kurtz’s greediness became fairly similar to that of the other European colonizers in the Congo. The fact that Marlow met a Kurtz different from the moral Kurtz he pictured shows the truth: the inability of an individual to understand another