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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 54 KB, 269x401, heart-of-darkness.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
11794031 No.11794031 [Reply] [Original]

What the FUCK is the heart of darkness in pic related?

>> No.11794082

>>11794031

Man's capacity for evil, chaos, destruction. That's it. It shows up in various forms (Africa, black people [conrad was a racist], insane whites, etc) but that's it

>> No.11794085

Kurtz's perception of the savage state to which man is reduced when he is unrestrained by civilization.

>> No.11794104

>>11794082
shit tier criticism

very doubtful you even read the book

>> No.11794111

>>11794031
The heart of the wh*Te man

>> No.11794131
File: 36 KB, 478x181, sternWheeler_Queen.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
11794131

>>11794031
The steamer they were on had two levels and the pilot's house was on the top
Sorta like this but probably a little wider and with a larger pilot-house

>> No.11794136

>>11794031
It's a metaphor

>> No.11794142

I think it's a symbol

>> No.11794168

>>11794031
Its the last line of the book.

>> No.11794191

Maybe the real Heart of Darkness were the friends we made along the way.

>> No.11794200

>>11794191
haha

>> No.11794237

>>11794082
How do we know Conrad is racist?

>> No.11794386

>>11794031
A state of being.

>> No.11794388

>>11794200
Nice commentary

>> No.11794393

>>11794031
N_____

>> No.11794610

Darkness is lack of lightness. The area of London, once dark, is now light. So darkness is the lack of civilization. It is the unknown.

Darkness is characterized by its lack of structure and by the lack of meaning; just as it is harder to see something in the dark than it is in the light, it is harder if not impossible to make sense of the darkness while in the lightness, things are clear. "No method at all...". A result of this is the brutality and savagery and godlessness (giving rise to spooky pagan worship) in the darkness.

Groups of people (establishing civilization) are the only mechanism by which the darkness can become the lightness. But not all groups do this, as is clear in the novella with the natives. Individuals, however, are largely at the mercy of their surroundings. I could go on here for a long, long time about the relationship between individuals, surroundings, and darkness and lightness, but for sake of brevity just suffice it to say "darkness is infectious". That is not exactly the most accurate representation but it will do.

The colonialization of the Congo (for ivory) is not an honest attempt at bringing "light" to the Congo. This is obvious because of the weakness of structure in the area, and it only gets upriver, where outposts become more and more dilapidated and makeshift.

The Congo has never known civilization, and as such Marlow, from civilization, sees the Congo for what it is: the heart of darkness. The culmination of darkness, where nothing makes sense, there is no structure, there is no method. It will take more effort than was given (ie any at all) to bring this place to the light.

Kurtz, a learned man from civilization, comes and similarly sees that there is no structure. He tries to implement structure to service his job (accumulation of ivory). But Kurtz is only a single man, and he is infected by the darkness. His time away from light and in the heart of darkness has weakened his sense of structure and civilization. So Kurtz's structure is unchecked and dark, functional to his purpose (to get ivory) but utterly incomprehensible to Marlow and the Company, who know only the light. Those who have spent more time in the heart of darkness respect Kurtz as a genius because lightness for them is losing its grip as well. We see the beginnings of this in Marlow with his obsession.

Ultimately, however, Kurtz's genius structure is of darkness and so inherently flawed. He is overwhelmed by the darkness and dies, the last lightness in him speaking of the unspeakable horror of the darkness.

The end shows Marlow's frustration at the failure of the Company to fully understand the evil of what they do (by sending men to the heart of darkness) and his acceptance that society is better off not knowing about it (Kurtz's intended).

>> No.11794719

>>11794610
And to briefly follow through on this we see that lightness is only lightness in the perspective of those who believe it to be lightness. Civilization is lightness because it is functional to its purpose (that being fulfilling the wishes of people sufficiently from the darkness), and people accept it and live in it.

This is why others, and arguably Marlow too, see Kurtz as such a genius. In the heart of darkness, Kurtz's system is lightness. The white people praise it, the Russian even in spite of being threatened by it. The natives do not want Kurtz, the lightness, to leave.

>>11794237
He's not, that guy is an idiot.

>> No.11794865

>>11794031
the white man's temptation to surround himself with niggers in order to feel like God.

>> No.11795173

>>11794865
yikes