Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Apocalypse Now exemplify the cruel and unforgiving nature of humankind through the actions of Mr. Kurtz. Before Kurtz is introduced in each story, the narrator creates an image of the man in his head that is...

The modernist movement of the early twentieth century drastically changed the way that art and literature were perceived in western culture. The themes expressed in modernism are perhaps some of the most diverse, disturbing and difficult to...

Throughout his narrative in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Charlie Marlow characterizes events, ideas, and locations that he encounters in terms of light or darkness. Embedded in Marlow's parlance is an ongoing metaphor equating light with...

The journey in Heart of Darkness traverses not only the capricious waters spanning our physical world, but also the paradoxical ocean which exists in the heart of man and all of mankind. Through Marlow's somewhat fanatical eyes we view the enigma...

'You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie' (Marlow). Examine the significance of this comment in the novel as a whole.

On first inspection this comment seems rather straightforward; a reflection of the protagonist's honest and open...

In Heart of Darkness, Marlow, in explaining his motivations for venturing into the Belgian Congo, first, almost by way of an apology, draws on the common spirit of adventure shared by boyhood readers of adventure novels; he names a childhood...

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the narrator is obsessed with a search for the meaning of everything he sees. Marlow, thrust into a new continent, is overwhelmed by its foreignness and his inability to understand his surroundings. The...

The most nefarious villains are those who understand the evil they commit but pay no heed. In Heart of Darkness, however, the major villain, Kurtz, is not one of these characters. More than anything, he is depicted as being helpless in the face of...

In his novel, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad comments on man's capacity for evil. Through this tale of European imperialism, Conrad takes the reader from the streets of London to the jungles of Africa, contrasting the civilized, outer world and...

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, and "Hollow Men," by T.S. Eliot have several comparative themes, though each author has an entirely separate way of conveying them. Each work displays a darkened and dismal mood, separation, and obscurity,...

In Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, Mr. Kurtz's chilling final words reveal his epiphany about the true nature of man. He has come to realize that the flickering light of his own morals could not overcome the darkness of his human nature. By...

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a novel about European imperialism and its far-reaching aims, methods, and effects. The author, Conrad, presents his own personal opinions through his central character, Marlow, who learns a great deal about...

"THE DARKNESS FOUND HIM OUT"

Conrad's Heart of Darkness in a New Light

Vituperative, unwavering, and fiercely intent on drawing conclusions, Chinua Achebe asks in reference to Conrad's Heart of Darkness: "the question is whether a novel which...

The Two Halves of Racism: Was Marlow a Racist?

To consider the charge that Marlow in Conrad's Heart of Darkness is racist, racism must first be defined. Racism has two components - a belief in the inherent superiority of one race over another, and...

It is fair to say, that late 19th Century Europe is not remembered for its progressive and humanistic values. Indeed, European society at this time could probably be described as racist and sexist, with colonialism and 'empire building' national...

Constructing a narrative to impose order on an unfamiliar idea or place is a natural human impulse. Designed to change ÃÂÂRaw realities...from free-floating objects into units of knowledgeÃÂ? (Said 67), narratives about the strange, the ÃÂÂ...

Based on a close reading of the conclusion to Conrad's Heart of Darkness, explain Marlow's reaction to the death of Kurtz.

Several dramatic shifts in perspective characterise Marlow's changing reaction to the death of Kurtz in Conrad's Heart of...

In Joseph Conrad's classic novella, Heart of Darkness, the identity of Kurtz is unknown for most of the story. For the majority of the story, Marlow's image of Kurtz is based solely on hearsay from other Europeans. He is a seemingly extraordinary...

In Conrad's Heart of Darkness Africa is described as the "dark continent" not merely because its inhabitants are dark of complexion, but because it is a place regarded as trapped in primordial darkness. In search of Mr. Kurtz, the character of...

When freed from the moral manacles of society, humans must embrace moderate, disciplined lifestyles in order to avoid a fatal plunge into barbarism. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, marooned schoolboys exchange the confines of civility for...

"Heart of Darkness" is about a man's journey into a darkness both physical and metaphorical: he travels to both the inner depths of the Belgian Congo and to the deepest regions of the human heart. In the novel, the shadowy world of Africa has been...

Throughout history, women have often been relegated to trivial and demeaning roles. From one standpoint, women in Heart of Darkness appear to have much more power than traditional roles have allowed. For example, Marlow's aunt has significant...

In his essay "Conrad's Darkness and Mine," V.S. Naipaul uses Joseph Conrad's short stories and novels as a basis for articulating his own views on narrative construction and the decline of the novel form. Naipaul states that Conrad was "the first...

It has been said that in writing his novella Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad set out to create a difficult work; exceedingly difficult, in fact, to his contemporary Victorian audience, for whom a thin veneer of "surface-truths" constituted the...