Heart of Darkness is the perfect book to use with the theme of the duality of man. The book near-constantly explores the topic and does so quite well from multiple different angles, as, instead of focusing on a lone isolated conflict or a single broad and somewhat vague theme, Heart of Darkness instead examines the duality of human nature on its many different levels. However, Heart of Darkness's greatest achievement may just be the fact that when it presents the lines that divide good and evil, sometimes it can be hard to tell upon which side light dwells, and which darkness calls home.
Initially, the book starts off by showing the reader the duality and disparity found between the "Moral and civilised" European businessmen and the "Savage" native Africans. Told from the perspective of one of said Europeans, but one who's managed to maintain his morals in this cold world, the reader can see how decadent, debased, and savage the society of, not the Africans, but the Europeans has become in Africa. Africans, incapable of offering a proper resistance, are simply forced to work themselves to death, but the Europeans can happily ride around on donkeys, have their belongings carried by a negro or twenty, and, if any of the blacks fell behind, shoot them and toss the load upon their fellows. And yet, through all this, the Europeans take the moral high ground... Give the ground to themselves is more like it, however. One manager even states that "When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate these savages--hate them to the death." Because, of course, the biggest problem for anyone in Africa is putting down sums. The book later goes on to duality on a pair of smaller scales, when it compares Marlow, the aforementioned protagonist of the book, and Kurtz, a manager in the trade company stationed at Africa, one who had thrown his ethics to the wind and become truly savage. Marlow, in this situation, represents not only civil society as a whole, but strength, as, instead of falling victim to the many temptations of the continent, his morals were powerful enough to see him through his journey in Africa. Kurtz however, with his complete debasement, shows only weakness, as he lets his desires and emotions rule his actions. This is extremely helpful to analysing the theme because it shows duality in two forms: two men opposite eachother, and two sides of one coin in a single man. Marlow and Kurtz directly oppose one another, as stated, Kurtz shows the two sides to humanity within a single person. It is entirely likely that, back in Europe, Kurtz was a perfectly respectable human being, but after the African wilderness and its many temptations sunk their claws into him, he changed completely, the coin within him flipping. Personally, I rather enjoyed reading Heart of Darkness, quite a bit in fact. The duality found in humanity is a topic I was introduced to somewhat recently, but one that, none the less, interests me greatly, with its discourse on human nature, a topic I am always very fond of examining, and the fact that it often delves into explorations of psychopathy and insanity at their core, both topics I also enjoy, morbid as that may or may not sound. Thus, Heart of Darkness, with its thorough and multi-faceted presentation of the duality of man hooked my attention quickly, and held on to it quite firmly throughout the novel.
As I mentioned, the duality in Heart of Darkness takes many forms, from the difference between the native Africans, populating the setting of the book, and the European businessmen who entered the continent for profit, to the more specific and heavily presented difference between the still-ethical Marlow, the book's protagonist, and the savage, immoral Kurtz, a manager whose civility was thrown into the African wilds. This only makes the book further appealing, as instead of focusing solely on two highly distinct sides, or never going beyond a single, vague overtone, Heart of Darkness explores the divisions in humanity on as small a level as the individual to one as large as two entire rivaling societies. Honestly, I might just find this appealing because I'm lazy, as it may simply be convenience that sways me, but I applaud Conrad, the author, for managing to, in just a single book, so candidly explore the many angles the topic of human duality can be viewed from. Even aside from the theme and my interest in it, Heart of Darkness yet still gains itself my approval.First of all, I enjoy the style of writing Conrad uses for his novel. Instead of a simple account of Marlow's exploits in Africa, the story is told from the perspective of a crew-mate of Marlow's, listening to him recount his own tale to the crew, an account of an account, so to speak... Insert arbitrary Inception joke here. Either way, overused puns aside, I enjoy the style because it means the book is written in a more natural tongue, as it's Marlow actually speaking about his journey, the story even sometimes being interrupted by an exclamation or the like. This makes the book more enjoyable because, as you may or may not but probably have noticed, I enjoy a, shall we say, less formal style of writing for my own compositions, much to the ire of established curriculum, using language that feels more natural, something that'd come out of a mouth, rather than a machine. As stated, Conrad pulls this off very well in his writing, making the novel feel more engaging, easier to follow. In addition, the book struck a personal interest, as the time period it's set in is one that I myself find intriguing, the 19th century, post industrialisation, a time of change and turning. All in all, my opinion of Heart of Darkness? I'm a fan. |
Alec winterAlec Winter |