Heart of Darkness1 essays

Heart of Darkness1 essays Heart of Darkness is a novel of indescribable horrors and actions that lie outside the human mind. It describes a mans (Marlowe) voyage on a West African river to find an individual, Kurtz. The actual journey truly is towards the heart of darkness, where it takes Marlowe by evidence of European indignity towards the natives. Marlowe wants to see this land for himself, he does not quite believe in himself of what is indeed there. This story hints at horrors that Marlowe is incapable of describing, which in turn leaves the reader to imagine actions that are outside of normal, everyday life. The voyage that Marlowe has taken has been long and exhausting. Its an adventure for him; he has experienced a great deal of confrontation with the natives, jungle dangers, and brutal savagery. There is no interest of the humans who lie here, for they are extremely mistreated. Yet to them, this is normal human behavior; nothing has been done differently. Nowhere did we stop long enough to get a particularized impression, but the general sense of vague and oppressive wonder grew upon me. It was like a weary pilgrimage amongst This describes Marlowes voyage to the heart of darkness, the literal heart of darkness, Africa, so to speak. He was fully warned against, and well-aware of the evil he would encounter; however, he chose to ignore that aspect in efforts to satisfy his curiosity. Here, the author is also saying something about human nature in general. Human curiosity about an unknown place can make one cross the line of civilized human behavior and enter a world of "nightmares". Marlowe wanted to see it all for himself; but what made it most fascinating was this land was something he had never experienced before. He knew he would be a "weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares", but he wanted to prove s ...