Heart of Darkness - How Do We Encounter Ourselves in the...

While I was reading the short story â€Å"Heart of Darkness,† by Joseph Conrad, I recalled an essay I read back in Korea, titled â€Å"Why Do We Read Novels.† The writer of the essay states that the most common reason why we, as people, read novels is that it makes us ask ourselves how the justice or injustice of the real world relates to that of the author’s words. In this way, the short story â€Å"Heart of Darkness† portrays the experiences and thoughts of Conrad through the tale of two important characters, Marlow and Mr. Kurtz. His work forces the reader to ponder questions of the morality, humanity, and insanity which takes place in our human lives. The story is a record of Marlow’s journey to meeting Mr. Kurtz, a morally corrupted being who is a†¦show more content†¦While Marlow was going up in the Congo River, he heard many words that implied something different than what he had previously expected of Mr. Kurtz. At one of the stations, The Russian man told Marlow how he is a dedicated follower of Mr. Kurtz, which made Marlow realize that Kurtz’s moral doctrine might just be an outward appearance. All the while, Kurtz had been acting as a god among the natives, exploiting all their ivory, sending it back to Belgium. He had been subjugated by the wilderness of the jungle, and thus lost some of his sanity. After Marlow realized that anyone can fall prey to the erosion of the mind that the jungle inflicts on people, he discovers that in an environment where there is no self-restraint and is filled with solitude, Kurtz is rather honest and straightforward with himself. The face that Kurtz makes at the moment of his decease enables Marlow to presume that Kurtz had finally discovered the meaning of his life. â€Å"I understand better the meaning of his stare, that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness. He had summed up -- he had judged. The horror! He was a remarkable man. After all, this was the expression of some sort of belief†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (p.313) As shown above, MarlowShow MoreRelatedGender Stereotypes In The Disney Film Moana1918 Words   |  8 Pagesbecome the moth. It is said that most of the decisions that we make in our lifetime are made unconsciously. Whether we’d like to admit it or not, the characters we grew up laughing, crying, hating, and falling in love with have shaped who we are and how we look at the world today. 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