Heart of Darkness - An Essay on the Theme of Darkness and Oppression

Running head: HEART OF DARKNESS - AN ESSAY
HEART OF DARKNESS - AN ESSAY
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Author Note

1HEART OF DARKNESS - AN ESSAY
Joseph Conrad is one of the most celebrated Polish-British writers who is well known for
his writings in English language. The author is known for the depiction of the non-English
sensibility into the written English language. The majority of the stories that were penned down
by the eminent novelist bore the themes of trials that had been present within the universe that is
faced by the concerned human beings who have been residing within the universe. The various
situations that are related to the novels and the other writeups that are provided by the eminent
writer portray him as a prose poet who might be said to have been belonging to the highest order.
The following essay deals with the death scene as presented by the author in one of his famous
novels, the Heart of Darkness and further proceeds to provide a discussion on the theme of the
darkness as depicted by the celebrated author.
The Heart of Darkness a novel by the celebrated novelist, majorly deals with the themes
of darkness and the oppression that were faced by the various members of the African tribes who
were often treated as inferiors to the colonizers in the area. The concerned imperial members of
the various countries that have been colonizing in the various states of the African continent. The
novel sketches the story that was narrated by the one of the members who had been sailing on a
boat that was carrying he passengers upstream the Congo River to the Congo Free State located
at the heart of Africa. The story narrated by the Charles Marlow depicts the obsession of the
concerned narrator with the ivory trader, Kurtz, a central character to the novel of Conrad. The
concerned extracted passage that is being discussed in the essay deals with the conditions that
depict the death of one of the central characters of the novel, Kurtz. The death of the ivory trader
is described by the narrator in a very vivid manner that states that the death of the trader had
occurred with the darkness haunting him in a grave manner. The description as provided by the

2HEART OF DARKNESS - AN ESSAY
narrator states that the trader had been reflecting on the various brutal and tyrannical acts that
were implemented by him on the native residents of the Congo Basin.
‘He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a
cry that was no more than a breath: “‘The horror! The horror!”’
(Conrad, p. 71)
The statement of the narrator, implements that the concerned trader had been reflecting
on the huge amounts of the tyranny that he had implemented on the concerned population of the
Congo Free State and had been realizing the effect that was faced by the concerned residents of
the area. The narrator further explains that the concerned trader in discussion had succumbed to
the corruption and had along with his other comrades taken to the implementation of the brutality
towards the concerned locals and had also explained these brutalities to be the measures that
would help in bring about the progress and the civilization in the concerned area. The narrative
in this stage of the novel is observed to have come to an end and deals with the return of the
narrator as well as the ivory trader from the uncivilized condition of the Congo Free State to the
civilized world that was present in the state of England. The ivory trader being seriously ill fails
to make it to the mainland of England and breathes his last on the boat itself. The last words of
the ivory trader, Kurtz “‘The horror! The horror!” depicts the fact that the trader had in his
heart of hearts known the fact the acts of brutality that were inflicted upon the concerned people
of the Congo Free State were the manifestations of the evils that were deep-rooted in the minds
of the apparently civilized people of England.
The major theme that has been discussed by the celebrated author in the concerned novel,
Heart of Darkness, is the theme of darkness that exists within the minds of the concerned people