Heart Of Darkness :: essays research papers

Every earthly concern, or wo domain --to be politically and socially acceptable-- has buried, within himself, beneath centuries of societal norms and restrictions, a no-good side, a savage side. When a man is taken out of confederation, and left(p) to create his accept norms, he must rediscover those primordial instincts which mystify sustained his species since the beginning of its existence. Survival of the fittest, physically and intellectually, cliqued as it may be, is the tooshie of these archaic yet prevalent instincts. Persons who dominate one or galore(postnominal) through mental or physical prowess develop a sense of superiority. This feeling, if fostered by the environment, and intensified to the extreme, produces a sense of having god-like powers. A man believing himself to be a or the God is put one overn, by the society from which he was taken out of, as a monster. Since monsters can not be allowed to roam the civilized world, someone must be direct to break it. To find the monster, the individual selected must take the same passage as the monster. This path is a journey into one&8217s own mind, soul, or true-self. The person on this path will never see evil so singularly personified as in the face spirit back at him. In taking this path, the person runs the risk of befitting the very thing he is trying to destroy. In Joseph Conrad&8217s inexorable story Heart of Darkness, the protagonist represents the person selected to seek out and destroy the monster. Conrad uses many techniques to bring the reader into the darkness archetype, symbolism, and foreshadowing. The theme of this classic tale is succinctly made through the words of the western philosopher Nietzsche when fighting monsters the person fighting should be careful not to become one, and when looking into a void the person must be aware that the void similarly looks into him. The readers are first introduced to the protagonist, Marlow, as he is being commissioned --by the &8220Company-- to capture down the monster, Kurtz, who is considered by some to be the main character. Marlow, a ride captain, almost nomadic in his need to travel, is also a man of simple morals, simple to the point of religious, the most prevalent commandment seen in his character is &8220thou shall not lie. Marlow, after spending a exact time in London, embarks on his journey. The purpose of this journey is to find Kurtz, a man who is also employed by the &8220Company --which is in the ivory business, and has its grasping hand spread over Africa like a malignant neoplasm (Gatten).