SH+P6+2014+Heart+of+Darkness+by+Joseph+Conrad

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Aim - Emily Hanzlick



The book Heart of Darkness is a classic novella about Western colonialism in Africa during the nineteenth century. Miranda Borrelli writes, “Conrad wanted to expose the ugliness in people, uncensored and truthful. For the most part he wrote from his own experience when he explored the Congo in 1889. He wanted to show that evil is a human entity, which anyone acting without the requirement or moral restraint can become so degenerated that anything is possible, so long as they are free to do it.” (1). Conrad wrote to show “civilized” Europe what exactly was happening in “uncivilized” Africa, about the horrors happening to the African people. His purpose was to enlighten Europe, England specifically, about how the western colonists were taking advantage and abusing the native people in Africa. He wanted to spread awareness throughout the West and document what was happening. Conrad’s purpose to writing Heart of Darkness was not only to inform the west, but to change the way people thought about colonization and Africa and the African people in general. Conrad disguises his message through figurative language and invites us to decipher it and find the root meaning of his writing. His book is a timeless classic and will be remembered always. His writing changed the way colonization was viewed and reminds people that there is a darkness in everyone’s heart.

Audience - Jenna Pinkney

The classic novel, Heart of Darkness was written in the intention of informing those kept in secret from the awful actions the English colonists were forcing onto the local Africans. Miranda Borrelli writes, “ The company left many doors shut hiding the vile condition of the workers, only focusing on making money and finding ivory. Conrad knew what happened behind the companies concealments; he saw the monstrosities for himself. This is probably one of the reasons Conrad was galvanized to write Heart of Darkness” (1). Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness following his journey to Congo in 1890. During this journey Conrad had close encounters with the corruption of the company. The purpose of sharing these wrong doings was to expose industry based evils to the outside world. In doing so, there is hope that others will understand the cruelness of the behavior and address the problem rightfully. The readers are shown what power and large corporations could achieve with little penalty. The audience in which Conrad wishes to reach are the many people unaware and in the darkness of these harmful acts of racism. Heart of Darkness reveals and exposes the evils of the world kept in secret from the public.

History - Skylar Duhon



Heart of Darkness is a novel written during the 19th century about the English colonization in Africa. Donald R. Wright tells about slavery in Africa by saying,“From the 15th to the 19th century, Europeans brought millions of slaves in West, Central, and East Africa and sent them to Europe; the Caribbean; and North, Central, and South America. These two overlapping waves of transcontinental slave trading made the slave trade central to the economies of many African states and threatened many more Africans with enslavement” (1). Wright talks about the same time period of when Heart of Darkness is taking place. In the novel, Charlie Marlow goes to Africa in one of the English colonies for a job. When he arrives, he realizes how horrible the Africans are being treated. Ivory Phillips, an African-American in Mississippi, states,”From the mid 1500s through the early 1900s, there was a serious decline in Black history, taking us from the greatness of Africa to the destruction of black civilization seen in the partitioning of Africa and the rise of European and American slavery” (1). Here Phillips tells how the imperialism and the colonization affected the population of the black race during those times. By explaining what Marlow sees, it makes the readers feel what Joseph Conrad felt writing this book.

Cultural - Racquel James Since 1899, Heart of Darkness has been culturally impacting decades of people who have read Joseph Conrad’s blunt vision of racism, slavery, and humans in general. David Miller states, “...of fury at colonial expansion and of how men make the least of life... Conrad composed a book where we see ourselves, darkly. Its relevance echoes forever, fizzing with understanding us then and there, and here and now, written for us all to live with today, whenever ''today’’ will be” (1). David Miller is absolutely correct; Heart of Darkness is a brutal realization of past societal mistakes. This book opens up a window to the past to allow everyone to see the evolution of mankind. Power, money, and greed drove humanity to do such crazy actions, and still does. In reality, that evil still exists within humanity; although, it’s less extreme. By society being exposed to a book such as this one, it allows society to develop an understanding of a deeper level of life. There are definitely differences between cultural ways of society then and now; but there are also similarities between the character traits. With Heart of Darkness, future generations will be able to endure the deep-rooted meanings of life, former mistakes in history, and self reflection.

Works Cited Borrelli, Miranda. "Joseph Conrad's Purpose to Heart of Darkness." Miranda’s Blog., 13 Dec. 2011.Web. 25 July 2014. Miller, David. “Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 07 July 2009. Web. 25 July 2014. Phillips, Ivory. "Slavery, Imperialism and the African Diaspora: Black History II."The Jackson Advocate. The Jackson Advocate Newspaper, Inc., n.d. Web. 25 July 2014. Wright, Donald R. "Slavery in Africa." Slavery in Africa. Microsoft Corporation, Web. 25 July 2014.