Heart of Darkness - Summary Essay -- essays research papers

Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is based on Conrads firsthand experience of the Congo region of West Africa. Conrad was in truth sent up the Congo River to an inner station to rescue a company agent who died a few days later alongside ship. The story is told by a seaman named Charlie Marlow and is rearranged through the thoughts of an unidentified earreach narrator. This story, on level, is simply about a voyage into the heart of the Congo. On another level, it is about the journey into the soul of mankind.      On a sauceboat anchored in the Thames River outside London, a sailor named Marlow remarks to his friends that the land theyre standing(a) on was once a place of darkness and an uncivilized wilderness. This expression leads him to remember an incident in his past when he commanded a steamboat on the Congo River. When retelling his story, Marlow is a young man anxious to see the undiscovered African jungles. An influential aunt in obtains an position a s maitre d of a Congo steamer for Marlow. But when he arrives at the Companys satellite put up in Africa, hes faced with a horrible display of ghastly slavery and white greed and hostility.      In a shady orchard he discovers a crew of sickly African workers that have crawled outside to die. He also meets the Companys chief accountant, who mentions a man named Kurtz who is a rare agent that has sent more ivory from the jungle than the other agents combined. Marlows bet is perked in Kurtz and will eventually grow into an unhealthy obsession and constitute the focus of the story. After a difficult journey, Marlow arrives at the Companys Central Station where he learns that the steamer he was supposed to command has been destroyed in a wreck. He meets the local manager, who mentions Kurtz and says that Kurtz is assumed to be ill at his station up the river and that its necessary to get to him as quickly as humanly possible.      One nigh t Marlow talks with oneness of the agents at the station, who speaks of Kurtz with great(p) esteem and admiration however also with resentment at the talents that organise him a likely candidate for a job promotion. He says that Kurtz is one of those types of men that have come to Africa not only to gain wealth, but with the notion of spreading enlightenment to the uneducated people. On another occasion, patch na... ...ach his minions camp. Marlow and Kurtz make an intense departure the next day, surrounded by warriors who seem ready to attack under the leadership of a uncivilised looking woman. But Marlow, again, sounds the whistle and frightens them away. As they sail back hatful the river on the vessel, Kurtzs spiritedness slowly slips away and on his deathbed he has a moment of enlightenment or a vision, and he cries out, "The crime The horror" before he dies.      Marlow is also stricken by the fever that claimed Kurtz life and nearly dies. He survives the fever and returns to Brussels. Upon arriving in Brussels, he decides to visit Kurtzs fiance to inform her of her intendeds passing. In mourning, she is heartbreakingly devoted to the retrospection of Kurtz, whom she thinks was noble and generous until the end of his life. She pleads with Marlow to relay to her Kurtzs be address and Marlow simply cannot bear to tell her of Kurtzs true nature or what really happened. And so, sparing her emotions and not finding it within himself to shatter her illusions "The last word he pronounced was- your name," he says to her and she shrieks and collapses in tears.