Heart Of Darkness Part 1 Blog

It is easier to follow orders and to go with the flow, than to stand up for what is right and be rejected for it. When the British Empire reached it’s peek in the modern era and colonialism was extremely common among European nations, there was a believe that the “uncivilized” people, of nations outside Europe and USA, needed to be colonized in order for them to progress. Of course the colonizing nations would benefit from this “help” they were providing. In spite of this being the popular believe in England, there were-as in all oppressive regimes-certain people that did not share the view of the Empire. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Marlow is one of those people. How he reacts to his environment and his time period shows us his confusion towards the issue, and towards himself.

Marlow rejects the idea of colonization, he in fact mentions he “can´t bear a lie” ironically he is participating actively in a great lie of human history: The affirmation that some people are superior to others and therefore have the moral obligation to colonize them-this of course is just a justification for all the exploitation of raw materials and people. He also sees the horrors of colonization and describes the black workers as “nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom”. He is clearly loathes the idea of colonization and human exploitation but he is still there working for who he thinks are the villains. One could argue that Marlow is not against the atrocities being committed in the Congo per se, instead he thinks that it is no use for the Europeans to be there and that the job they are carrying out in the jungle is ineffective. He doesn’t react in any abrupt manner to the violence and the misery being perpetrated there.

This confusion towards the image in front of him, reveals a lot about him, how his confusion is not only external but also internal. This book presents a dichotomy of good and evil. The dichotomy might be clear now but the line that separated good and evil wasn’t always so clear. At a time when there was a moral duty to colonize-according to the beliefs of the powerful countries-Marlow finds himself in the middle of his own personal dichotomy. According to the rulers of said countries, colonizing is not only right but a moral duty of the white man. Marlow-being a member of the British Empire, a seaman who travels the world-is drifting between his moral code of what is right and the doctrine of his nation and his culture. We see him drift in and out of both sides of the spectrum but he always tends to lean more with his ethics. Although sometimes for reasons that aren’t apparent, he despises colonization but yet doesn’t act on his hate towards oppression. Perhaps further on the book he will do something that confirms his feelings and makes them more than a mere reflection of what he sees.