A Modern Day Heart of Darkness
Using Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a foundation, examine, analyze, and compare a modern day “heart of darkness.” Please consider the following:
1.) Note the reason/ desire to engage in the activity.
2.) Disover the conditions within a new environment that contribute to the behavorial change.
3.) Internal and External chnages an individual experiences as a result of the chnage.
4.) The overall repercussions/consequences of a modern day “heart of darkness.”
5.) Intervention, rehabilitation, incarceration, or other solution available to regain stability, understanding or insight into life and “darkness.” Objective: Study of human perception/reality: a Modern Day Heart of Darkness.
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A Modern Day Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a story about a man who is sent to Africa on a business trip. Marlow recounts his story of how he went to Africa as agent for a Belgium ivory trading firm. Through his journey Marlow is shocked to see what the European traders have done to the African natives. In his search for ivory he gets to encounter firsthand the brutality between the African natives and the colonizers. While in his pursuit he comes across Kurtz who he describes as a mad agent. The only drawback being that Kurtz is being held captive by the native African communities. Marlow then chooses a bad career move by abandoning his work and trying to rescue Kurtz from the African natives. His attempt is successful but meaningless as he gets to watch Kurtz suffer from madness disease and finally death.
This story seeks to explore and question the various beliefs that people have held regarding a civilized society and a barbaric society. This is best explained through the native Africans depicting the barbaric society and the European traders and colonizers as the civilized society. He seeks to explore the after effects of the European traders on the natives of the African continent. He observes that the traders and colonizers left only devastation in their wake.
The novel employs a few themes which the author intends to pass messages through. The theme that comes out most strongly is the theme of colonialism. Right from the start we are introduced to scenarios which depict the Europeans as being superior to the native African tribes. This prompts the theme of colonialism. The Europeans were colonizing the African natives in a bid to make them more civilized. This they wished to achieve through education and Christianity. But all this came at an expense, which was during that colonial period, the Europeans took advantage of the huge mineral deposits and raw materials and used for their own. This theme also addresses the fact that the Africans were taken as slaves to retrieve the mineral deposits and the raw materials.
Another theme that emerges quite strongly is the theme of racism. There was a lot of racism in the sense that the Europeans considered themselves superior and thus treated the Africans as dirt. Racism is prejudice and discrimination based on social and biological differences between people. The biological difference between the Africans and the Europeans made the Europeans to consider themselves as superior.
The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, and was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse. By Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.” This quote was used to symbolize Marlow’s impression of the central station. The term ivory in this quote is not only used to symbolize the actual tusk of an elephant but also the economic and social freedom of the people who worked to gather the ivory.
The second quote that was used in the novel is: In a few days the Eldorado Expedition went into the patient wilderness that closed upon it as the sea closes over a diver. Long afterwards the news came that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals. They, no doubt, like the rest of us, found what they deserved. I did not inquire.” The significance of this quote is to show Marlow’s reaction after receiving the report. By then Marlow had come to view the white men as less valuable animals.
Thirdly, this quote seeks to show their encounter with the African native tribes. This is symbolized by Marlow explaining that while they were in the boat heading to the inner station they could hear chants drums and howls emanating from deep in the forests. It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—the suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend. And why not?”
The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth… Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire. What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth!…The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealth, the germs of empires.”
The fourth quote seeks to show their experiences while in the river. The river Marlow says is the only thing separating them with the African interior. The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time. . . . I saw the time approaching when I would be left alone of the party of ‘unsound method.’”
The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare in detail between the Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and a modern day incident that comparable in some aspects to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. For this academic paper, I choose to use the recent Russia invasion into Ukraine.
In the past most of political relations with Ukraine were heavily dependent on Russia. But with the current turmoil Russia risks losing a lot more and that’s why it’s taking drastic measures to ensure that the opposition does not take power. Russia has been invading Ukraine in a bid to make Ukraine to uphold its sovereignty. Russia does not want the opposition to take power in Ukraine because it might jeopardize its position in the post soviet European Union. It also does not want Ukraine to adopt any western policies. In the case that the opposition in Ukraine would lose it would mean that Ukraine would adopt very strong democratic institutions that would greatly undermine Russia’s political regime.
Russia has been benefiting economically at the expense of Ukraine. This is expressed in figures as the GDP of Ukraine has been falling continuously. This has made payment for the gas that they get from Russia to be delayed. To lose this economic advantage would mean major loses for Russia. Russia motive is not to make Ukraine to go to war with them, rather all they want is full domination of the country. Russia’s aim is that if the political tension will reduce, then their goal would be to return Ukraine to the parliamentary presidential system from its current state of presidential system. Russia would benefit even more were Ukraine to become a federal state, but it would have very serious implications to the Ukraine country.
Russia has chosen a non diplomatic method of trying to resolve the conflict. Russia has chosen a method whose effect will be felt more strongly. The decision to invade Ukraine will by all means divert the attention of both parties as they seek to gain leadership.
At the time, Russia is facing a lot of criticism because of attacking a country that is not internally stable. This has forced Russia to employ other tactics to try and gain a hold on Ukraine. These tactics include attacking in stealth and using other strategies such as economic, soft power, political and other strategies.
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness. 1899.” Hg. v. Robert Kimbrough 3 (1988).
Hawkins, Hunt. “Conrad’s Critique of Imperialism in Heart of Darkness.”Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (1979): 286-299.
Kubicek, Paul. “Civil society, trade unions and post-soviet democratisation: Evidence from Russia and Ukraine.” Europe-Asia Studies 54.4 (2002): 603-624.
Larrabee, F. Stephen. “Russia, Ukraine, and Central Europe: the return of geopolitics.” Journal of international affairs 63.2 (2010): 33.
Rumer, Eugene, and Angela Stent. “Russia and the West.” Survival 51.2 (2009): 91-104.
Watts, Cedric. “Heart of Darkness.” Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations: Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness–New Edition (2008): 19-36.
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