lighthod Human Soul Exposed in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness Essays

The Human Soul Exposed in The Heart of iniquity In Joseph Conrads novel, The Heart of Darkness, Charlie Marlow narrates the story of his journey into the ugliness continent, Africa. Through his experiences he learns a lot about himself and about the nature of mankind. He discovers that both sympathetics have the capability within themselves to do good or evil. Outside circumstances substantially influence which path a human will take. Marlow travels not only through the darkness of Africa, merely similarly through the darkness of the human soul. England sent missionaries to help civilize the natives of Africa. To Marlow, this is the utilization of colonization. During his journey he comes to see how the Africans are exploited for their labor and the innate resources of the land. They were dying slowly . . . cypher but black shadows of disease and starvation. . . brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundi ngs, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away(predicate) and rest. (p.83). As the quote implies, after the natives served their purpose they were just ignored. What started out to be a good cause became distorted by the greed for bone and other riches. The natives were weak and no competition for the civilized economically cause Englishmen. There was no resistance. They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force - nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others. They grabbed what they could apprehend for the sake of what was to be got. (p.70). Instead of being colonizers, the circumstances allowed the British to force conquerors. In the same way that Englands motives changed, so does the motives of many of the individuals who enter the dark continent. Kurtz starts out being the best agent the Ivory Company sends to Africa. He comes there with good intentions, not only to do his job for the company, but also he wants to help the natives. As Kurtz himself states, Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing. (p.104). Obsessed with meeting Kurtz, Marlow in the long run realizes the man he is seeking has become evil and is exploiting the same spate that he initially wanted to help.