Heart of darkness (riassunto) Joseph Conrad, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica Heart of darkness (riassunto) Joseph Conrad e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! “HEART OF DARKNESS” JOSEPH CONRAD Before starting to analyse this work, I think it would be wise to begin by talking a little about Joseph Conrad, the author of this book. He was born in Poland in 1857; he was educated there, and then, as a young man, he went to Marseille, on the French coast, where he wanted to pursue a career in the brewing world of nautical trade. Therefore he ventured to the Far East, to Australia and then he came back to Europe. He got involved with England and he learnt English; in fact, believe it or not English is his third language. Afterwards, in 1890, he got involved with a belgian trading company which sent him down to Congo; this experience constitutes basically the foundation for his work “Heart of darkness”. HISTORICAL CONTEXT The historical context of Heart of Darkness is rooted in imperialism and European conquests across the globe. Though it was almost purely an economic operation, European colonialism was often justified through a "civilizing" myth. Colonizers claimed that they wanted to "civilize" native populations of foreign countries by spreading Christian doctrine and European lifestyle. This argument is also built upon the notion that white Europe represented the archetype of civilization, whereas indigenous populations were primitive and ignorant. In many cases, this so-called benevolent colonialism served as a justification for the exploitation of foreign resources. The Belgian Congo colony, where Heart of Darkness is set, was one of the most brutal and exploitative colonial regimes in history. While the original intention of the 1899 text was to reveal and condemn the brutality of European colonialism, modern readers will notice that the novel does not escape the racist ideology of its time. Both Kurtz and Marlow promote the idea that white men are “civilized” and native populations are “savages.” THEMES The themes in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness include: • racism: heart of darkness reflects the racism of the time, and racism becomes a primary aspect of the novella. Because of racism, this work has been highly criticized. • greed and imperialism: the company says it wants to civilize the native people, but the true goal is to gain power and money; this attitude is the essence of imperialism. Everything belongs to the power that can take it. • hypocrisy and indifference: the company is recalling Kurtz apparently because they find his methods to be excessively brutal; yet, company officials ignored their own brutality in pursuit of ivory. • civilization and barbarism: though they believe that they come from a more civilized culture, the agents of the company consistently behave in a more barbaric manner than, the so called savages of uncivilized Africa. SUMMARY Charles Marlow, a sailor, while travelling in a ship, tells his fellows about the events that led to his appointment as captain of a river steamboat for an ivory trading company. First, he talks about the famous knights and boats that have travelled the Thames; then, the story moves onto Marlow’s early life. He tells them that he has always been charmed by ‘the blank spaces’ on maps, and that when he grows up, he becomes a sailor and desires to explore the farthest places in the world. In the 1890s the map of Africa is divided into different parts, belonging to colonies of European nations. Marlow wants to visit the Belgian territory of the Congo. With the help of his aunt, he is selected for a long journey to Africa to find Mr Kurtz, who is an agent of the company. Soon, he departs on a French steamer for Africa. He reaches his company station where he stays for some time. Here, he witnesses the ill-looking Africans who worked on the railroad and now are waiting for their deaths, as they were made to overwork by the Whites. There he also hears appraisals of Mr Kurtz. From there he leaves along with sixty men to travel to the Central Station where the steamboat is. Upon reaching there, he discovers that the steamboat has met an accident, and it takes some months to repair it. Yet, Kurtz’s station is in trouble, and Marlow has to send assistance immediately. The manager of the Central Station tells Marlow that Kurtz is admired by the natives, but he himself doesn’t like him. Before the departure, Marlow hears the manager and his uncle conspiring against one of Kurtz’s men. The steamboat is finally repaired and they again set out for the journey. They are now travelling into the heart of darkness, the darkness of the unmapped Congo River, at the heart of Africa. On the way, we might suppose. Along the journey down the west coast of Africa, on the way to Congo, we have a scene, in which Marlow runs into a French ship, which is aiming its cannons at the dark mass of the African continent and it's firing cannonballs into it. He describes it like this: “In the empty immensity of Earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible firing into a continent. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight.” In this little scene, which is highly symbolic, Conrad reduces the enterprise of imperialism to something which is truly absurd, this ship thinking itself to be so powerful, firing into a continent. What could it be possibly hoping to achieve? That's the question which I think Conrad leaves us with here. Upon arriving at his destination, Marlow quickly dispels the idea that the Europeans might be trying to achieve anything great or noble with their intervention in Africa: despite their talk of a great, civilizing project, bringing light to the darkness, he perceives that there is really no great benevolence there at all; but nor is there any evil. In fact, to Marlow’s disappointment, he encounters what he describes as an “imbecile rapacity”. As he lands in Africa, all he sees are the Europeans torturing and tormenting the natives and holes blown up into the ground for some unknown reason; the whole operation is really disappointing to him. Here in Africa, Marlow stumbles into what Conrad terms the “Grove of death”. This grove of trees is where the natives suffer and die while the imperialists come to exploit both the inhabitants and the natural resources. The natives have been working so hard, only to be thrown away to die and sicken in a shady grove by the river Congo. He describes it thus: “Black shapes crouched, lay, sat beneath the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair. they were dying slowly - it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now - nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom.” I think passages like this have an undeniable empathy, they are truly a gust at the sorrow that's being inflicted by being European colonialism. Now, once preparations have been made, Marlow sets off and he's part of an expedition which involves going to the far station, in order to collect a man called mr. Kurtz. This man is described as an extremely animatic figure; throughout Marlow's time in Congo the name mr. Kurtz is often whispered, so he's really drawn to this character, he needs to discover who he is, and his ambition in setting out along this journey is just to have a conversation with this man. Conrad places mr. Kurtz as the center of gravity in his novella, even if we don't really understand what it is about him which is so enchanting. As we advance along the river, our impression of Kurtz is gradually fleshed out, we hear a lot about his eloquence; he is an inspiring speaker who was able to expand men's minds with ideas of truth, justice and civilization. Yet, as we reach the station, it's revealed to us that Kurtz is not in fact to be admired for his goodness; but for his pure evil. Kurtz imposed himself upon the natives as some kind of God, he forced them to worship him. He threatened them with violence and death, just in order to obtain ivory. He was, according to Marlow, a hollow figure; yet, still he is seen as great. Marlow admires Kurtz for his vacuity and for his darkness. The climax of the book comes when mr. Kurtz makes his final words. These final words, as he dies upon the steamboat, are very simple: he gasps “The horror, the horror!” but Marlow isn't impressed with these words because they are profound, but because they are real; they are the most real words he's ever heard in his entire life. “This is the reason why I affirmed that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to say. He said it.” Marlow finds Kurtz so remarkable because even in his last moments he is able to speak truthfully and with conviction, because his beliefs do not falter even in the weakest moment. Kurtz’s last words, “The horror! The horror!” have been widely debated by critics and could have multiple meanings. On the surface, it seems that he is referring to the horrors he has witnessed during his time working in the Congo. He is horrified with imperialism and the exploitation of African people and resources. From the beginning of the novel, Marlow hints at the psychological changes that take place in a person when they travel into the “heart of darkness”. Therefore, it could also be that he is horrified with himself and what he has become. Moreover these words could refer to the madness he had reached because of his experience in the Congo. INTERPRETATIONS Some feel the novel offers a scathing attack on colonialist ideology, others feel the novel celebrates and defends colonialization and racism. Heart of Darkness is preoccupied with general questions about the nature of good and evil, or civilization and savagery. In fact, moral ambiguity is a central concept in the novel. Some see Kurtz as the embodiment of all the evil and horror of capitalist society. In fact, Heart of Darkness can be considered as a portrait of, and an attack upon, colonialism in general, and, more specifically, the brutal form of colonialism took in the Belgian Congo. In fact, we can find many examples inside the book confirming this idea: - the mistreatment of the Africans - the grove of death which Marlow stumbles upon - the importance of ivory to the economics of the system. Others view it as a portrayal of one man’s journey into the primitive unconscious where one must confront one’s own inner darkness. Conrad goes out of his way to suggest that in some sense Marlow's journey is like a dream or a return to our primitive past an exploration of the dark recesses of the human mind. Still others see it as a modern journey quest, perhaps with an anti-hero rather than a hero. Irony is also deeply embedded in the novel. • At one level, it shows the hypocrisy of the Europeans’ “moral” purpose of invading Africa, when their motive is really only commercial. • At another level, it shows how these European emissaries, instead of 'suppressing savage customs,' actually become savages themselves.