Criticism of Colonialism Through Symbols in Heart of Darkness

Written by: Ena Vladika (FFOS)

Issue 1 (March 2018)

In his work Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad takes the reader on an intense journey to the heart of Africa, seen through the eyes of a character named Marlow, a sailor in search of an adventure. He finds his way to Africa by securing a job in the Belgian Congo, after one of the captains there had died. Following his expedition, the mysteries of the African continent are slowly revealed. However, instead of describing the land simply in geographical terms, Conrad approaches it from a much darker perspective – the novel revolves around the depiction of imperialist conquest of Africa and its devastating consequences for the native population. The aim of this paper is to explore the way criticism of European imperialistic tendencies is established in the novel by means of different symbols of darkness, such as the river Congo, blackness of the forest, strangeness of the people on the continent as observed by a white man, and other similar themes.

The most evident symbol of darkness is the colour black. The author uses this colour to paint the environment: the trees, the entire coastline and the overall atmosphere of the setting is marked by blackness. It is accompanied by the glaring sun that burns and creates unbearable conditions. If the novel were just a book focused on traveling, this might seem like a simple insight into the climate of the continent but considering the complexity of the novel and Conrad’s masterful use of language, all these motifs gain a more profound meaning. The newly discovered land is unfriendly and relentless - this darkness does not only describe the landscape, but it also shows the effects of corruption that stems from colonisation. The novel draws parallels between the hostile environment of African wilderness and the mental state of people obsessed with the idea of gaining power and wealth. Repetitive mentions of “dark” and “black” are used to add a negative undertone to the European intrusion into Africa.

Another important theme of the novel is the river Congo. Its course unravels the story, unfolding like a ball of yarn whose threads lead Marlow deeper and deeper into the heart of Africa. Even years before arriving to Africa, attention of young Marlow was caught by an outline of the Congo river on a map:

But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. And as I looked at the map of it in a shop-window, it fascinated me as a snake would a bird—a silly little bird. (Conrad 12).

The way the river is described, resembling a snake, which has always been a symbol of evil, shows Marlow’s attitude toward Africa, even before having visited it. It is immediately associated with something dreadful, a source of fascination that comes from fear. This displays a relationship between the colonialists and the African continent based on simultaneous attraction and repulsion. Moreover, at the very beginning of the novel, there is a comparison with Thames, which is also said to have been “one of the dark places of the earth” (Conrad 6) before the Romans conquered it. Thames is presently depicted as a calm, peaceful river that defeated its barbaric nature and “after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity“ (Conrad 4). It serves as an example of what Congo might become after colonisation, after “the darkness” has been eradicated.

The portrayal of the native population is always placed in contrast to the white pilgrims, natives being given attributes such as “savage”, “wild”, and “primal”, all pertaining to the closeness to the nature and wild impulses ruling over reason. But in one instance, Marlow observes a connection between the colonialists and the natives: ”They howled, and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar “(Conrad 72). This suggests that any person, should they find themselves in this situation, would succumb to the primitive drives that are in fact pre-existent in every individual, but are simply put under control due to the norms of civilisation: “Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend” (Conrad 72). This and other similar negative connotations that Marlow adds to the description of the natives can be attributed to the criticism of hunger for power and wealth that dominates over people and makes them give in to the primal urges, which is what happens to the colonialists after a while spent at their posts.

The character that best illustrates the effect that greed has on people is Kurtz. He first comes to Africa motivated by the idea of teaching and enlightening the natives and sees himself as a sort of a missionary, but this quickly changes: “The quest for greed (in pursuit of ivory) is thrown shockingly into association with Kurtz’s earlier status as a missionary of technological progress, and with the dedication associated with zealots“ (Tucker 56). Having obtained large quantities of ivory, Kurtz is soon blinded by the acquired fortune and abandons his original motives in favour of the materialistic possessions. He establishes himself as a ruler over the native tribes and manipulates them according to his personal interests. While numerous characters that Marlow encounters on his trip attest to Kurtz’s brilliance and power of persuasion, it is also visible from their stories that this man has gone beyond ordinary ambition that inspired people to pursue this kind of career. He has become completely obsessed, to the point of madness. His mental state is mirrored in his physical appearance – pale, “ivory” skin featuring “the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror--of an intense and hopeless despair” (Conrad 145). Kurtz’s disease represents his decline into lunacy.

At first it might seem that the colour black is used to describe the African continent, its people and the prevailing wilderness as the direct opposite of the civilised European continent, with black being considered the negative side among the two. But upon closer examination, a different reading is brought to light. Soon, the relationship between the opposing sides shifts, and as Philip V. Allingham points out: “Marlow reverses the normal symbology of the black-white dichotomy, so that gradually darkness comes to mean truth, whiteness falsehood.” It is also visible in the title itself where darkness indicates not the depths of African continent but rather the human nature corrupted by greed. Exploration of Africa serves as an analysis of the deepest human drives that are revealed once an individual is freed from the cultural shackles of the “civilised” western world. The final and most important figure that embodies these notions is Kurtz. He represents the fate of colonialists who, on their quest for wealth, get completely possessed by their own desires. This idea, which is the main idea of the novel, is best illustrated by the following quote: “All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz” (Conrad 102).

Works Cited

Allingham, Philip V. “White Lies and Whited Sepulchres in Conrad's Heart of Darkness.” Victorian Web. www.victorianweb.org/authors/conrad/pva52.html. Accessed May 27 2017.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, 2013.

Tucker, Martin. “Martin Tucker on Symbolic Language”. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (Bloom’s Guides), edited by Harold Bloom, Infobase Publishing, 2009, p.56.