HEART OF DARKNESS is primarily an account of the voyage of the character of Marlow, an Englishman and a river boat captain of a trading company, from London to Africa through the river Congo. During the trip Marlow gets exposed to the dark side of European imperialism, the darkness of Africa and the rawness of the river Congo and the inhabitants of the continent but most importantly he discovers the darkness within each individual which urges him to commit devilish acts of barbarism and savagery.
The novel primarily focuses on subjects of colonialism and imperial authority, the superiority of the Europeans over other nations of the world, the savagery and primitivism of the Africans and how darkness lies inside our own selves rather than a place or region.
This novel is a remarkable example of the European perception of the world. It is basically a Eurocentric novel which brings forward the position of the colonised nations in the eyes of the imperialistic countries.
Conrad has written this novel keeping Europe in the centre while placing the rest of the world at its periphery. The distinction between the black and the white, the good and the evil, the civilized and the savage is an analogy to the distinction between Europe and Africa. Throughout the course of the novel Africa is looked upon as a place which is engulfed by darkness, which is devoid of culture and civilization. The character of Marlow which is virtually the voice of Conrad says at one instant of the novel “once London was also one of the dark places of the earth” which is a clear attempt to prove the English supremacy over the African nations. Marlow also refers to the movement of his crew into the interior of Africa through the river Congo as travelling back in time signifying the primitivism of the Africans. Marlow describes the natives as "mostly black and naked, moving about like ants." "Black shapes crouch on the ground, and creatures walk on all fours to get a drink from the river.” Such remarks compares the native Africans with animals enlightening there savage nature and there underdeveloped and unevolved state.
The inferiority of the natives is a constant theme. About the fireman on his ship, Marlow remarks "he was there below me ... to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches." The lower physical position of the body corresponds to a mental and social state. The narrator participates in believing what he describes is the inherent inferiority of the blacks. It is the use of such lines and remarks that some critics like Chinua Achebe refer to the heart of darkness as a racist novel.
But there is a bitter irony in this book. Conrad exclaims that those who look the most civilized are actually the most savage. Indeed, the institution of colonialism is referred to as a "flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil." Marlow at an instant in the novel also says that “colonialism is itself an act no less than thievery and barbarism.” This is one of the instances where the white men are animalised and hence denies the notion of the book being racist.
Conrad puts before us another very interesting question to ponder upon that is the POLITICS OF IDENTITY. Is human nature inviolable? Is human nature corruptible? The reader awaits the answer to this question throughout the novel but in the end he finds Conrad concluding the novel without clearly answering the same. The character of Kurtz in the book is a representative of the strong European man who is influential, dominant, ambitious and strong willed. He is a matter of great fascination to Marlow and is considered as a very firm and strong personality by him, a perfect civilized white man. He is considered not to bow down to any circumstances and still be a civilized white man after spending a considerable time with the barbaric tribes. But later in the novel we find that he has also acquires the traits of the natives. His house was adorned by heads of black men who tried to defy him; he would go on ivory hunts and go down to all extremes to acquire them unethically. This shows that Kurtz has turned his back on his roots and essentially become native. Thus the reader is left with the thought that if a man of such strong personality can be altered by his surroundings and reveals the devil and the darkness inside him then what about the common man. When Kurtz dies he utters the very famous phrase from the novel “THE HORROR THE HORROR” which is the fear of loss of identity and the overtaking of the soul by the darkness within.
Not only Kurtz undergo this change from being a civilized Englishmen to be a wild native but other Englishmen too. The manager and his uncle also wish that Kurtz should be hanged so that the trading field might be levelled to their advantage. The revealing of these men’s predatory nature points to the theme of savagery. The two men propose a very savage solution to a seemingly civilized problem of economic competition. Thus questioning the stability of identity of an individual and revealing the darkness and the wilderness that lays within us no matter how civilized we may consider ourselves.
Conrad has used a very poetic technique to write this novel which makes it look like poetry rather than a prose. The whole novel although short seems to be quite long because of the slow pace of occurrence of the events. The narration is such that the reader looks at everything with Marlow’s perspective. It seems that the reader is watching insides Marlow’s brain and hears his thoughts. The charming rhythm that Conrad uses in the text is what makes the reading of the HEART OF DARKNESS so deeply affecting.
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