What is savagery in Heart of Darkness?

The native population in Heart of Darkness are represented as savages who are criminals and enemies. The natives described as cannibals are poorly treated and only fed hippopotamus meat, refused food by the Europeans.

What is the main theme of Heart of Darkness?

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a fascinating tale of a journey down the Congo River during the times of colonialism. Its themes of imperialism, greed, hypocrisy, uncertainty, racism, isolation, sanity, and morality make it one of the most important books of the 20th century.

What are three themes in Heart of Darkness?

Themes

• The Hypocrisy of Imperialism. Heart of Darkness explores the issues surrounding imperialism in complicated ways.
• Madness as a Result of Imperialism. Madness is closely linked to imperialism in this book.
• The Absurdity of Evil.
• Futility.
• Contradiction and Ambivalence.
• Hollowness.

How does Conrad define civilization?

Portrayal of “Civilization” in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. To be civilized, according to the dictionary is to be, “educated in the usages of organized society”, but in Heart of Darkness Conrad compares an image of Africa with the view of Europeans in order to establish their superiority as a “civilized” nation.

What does the Congo symbolize in Heart of Darkness?

Because of this movement, when rivers appear in literature, they often symbolize movement. This is true for the Congo River in Heart of Darkness. The Congo symbolizes movement and helps the characters and the plot keep going forward.

How did Kurtz treat the natives?

However, over the course of his stay in Africa, Kurtz becomes corrupted. He takes his pamphlet and scribbles in, at the very end, the words “Exterminate all the brutes!” He induces the natives to worship him, setting up rituals and venerations worthy of a tyrant.

What is the lesson of Heart of Darkness?

A lesson about Heart of Darkness must stress how the details of the story—the barbaric treatment of the native inhabitants, the Company’s greed, the truth about Kurtz—reflect Conrad’s anger toward the imperialistic movement.

What does Heart of Darkness represent?

Here, “heart of darkness” is a shorthand for European stereotypes of Africa, which Conrad’s novel did its part to reinforce. Hamid’s line plays on racist anxieties about immigration: the idea that certain places and peoples are primitive, exotic, dangerous.

What is the moral of Heart of Darkness?

The novella, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has a strong theme of morality. Conrad’s goal using morality is moral confusion. The main character Charlie Marlow sets out on a journey with the European Ivory Trade to Africa. During this journey he discovers a dark dilemma of moral ethics.

What does darkness symbolize in Heart of Darkness?

Darkness becomes a symbol of hatred, fear and symbol of the power of evil. Marlow begins his story believing that these elements exists within the jungle, then with the natives and finally makes the realization that darkness lives within the heart of each man, even himself.

What is the central question in Heart of Darkness?

The central question in “Heart of Darkness” is, “What is the effect of imperialism on both groups?” , and the book gives several answers that help the reader understand the work as a whole. The answer to “what is the effect of imperialism” on the victimized group is explained in the novel as suffering.

What is Marlow’s attitude towards the natives?

Conrad’s character Marlow describes the natives as having “a wild vitality” and their “faces like grotesque masks.” These remarks demonstrate his fear and reinforces the distinction between himself and the natives. others by assuming that they may be inferior, evil or harmful.

What does Africa symbolize in Heart of Darkness?

Throughout Heart of Darkness Conrad uses images of darkness to represent Africa. Darkness is everything that is unknown, primitive, evil, and impenetrable. To Conrad, Africa is the very representation of darkness.

Does Kurtz become a savage?

Kurtz was known as a high-class agent, but later become a savage due to the power he gained by manipulating the Africans. Kurtz allows greed to get in the way of his hunt.

Why Kurtz say the horror the horror?

And now for those famous final words: “The horror! The horror!” (3.43). Marlow interprets this for us, saying that these words are the moment Kurtz realizes exactly how depraved human nature is—that his inability to exert even a shred of self-control is the same darkness in every human heart.

Why is Heart of Darkness taught?

In teaching Heart of Darkness, it is also important to provide historical context for the time period in which the novel is set: the Age of Imperialism, specifically the Scramble for Africa (1880-1900), during which Africa had been viciously divided and placed under the rule of various imperial powers.

Who is the antagonist in Heart of Darkness?

Kurtz
The primary antagonist in Heart of Darkness is Kurtz, whose descent into madness makes him the clearest embodiment of corruption and evil in the novella, and ultimately the character that fully disillusions Marlow in regard to European conquests.

What is the central question of Heart of Darkness?