| Heart of Darkness is one of the masterpieces of Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), an important modern writer striding across the 19th and the 20th centuries in the history of British literature. It is a jungle story about a young man named Charles Marlow who traveled up the Congo River into the Inner Station of the Trade Company of Ivory, always cherishing his glorious dream of finding out the "blank" spot on the map that he had noticed since his childhood. But he was also accompanied with another aim set after his go-off, that is, to save a sick agent named Kurtz who was known for his eloquence as well as his capacity of collecting ivory. But what he saw and heard on the way and in his destination made his journey a lasting nightmare that brought him nothing but the moral disillusionment. Through the analysis, this thesis finds that the significance of the story lies not only in that it's a biographical record of Conrad's own Congo Journey in 1890, but also in that it's a "Journey Within" through which Marlow witnessed the "darkness" of "heart" and failed to find out his truth self at the end. This thesis is written with the focus on figuring out the dominant themes of the story by elaborating the symbolic meanings of "heart" that have not merely generated the "darkness" but also been ultimately swallowed by the "darkness".At the beginning, the thesis gives a brief introduction to the importance of Conrad and his works to the English literature as well as the world literature, and his great influence on his contemporaries around the early period of the 20th century. It also introduces his artistic ideas, with the progression d'effet being viewed as typically Conradian narrative. Besides, a brief sketch of his ten major works is also presented: The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim: A Tale, Youth: A Narrative and Two Other Stories, Typhoon And Other Stories, Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, "The Secret Sharer', Under Western Eyes and Chance. Apart from the above, the new development of Conrad's criticism is also investigated. Finally, the reasons for choosing the topic of this thesis are also clarified.Going through the illumination of the above items, we can see that Conrad's special identity as a man, his rich life experiences and his unique writing techniquesare the three main indicators viewed by many critics to distinguish him as a writer. First of all, his Polish origin and his identity as a British writer have made his works dualistically characteristic of imperialism and anti-imperialism, racism and anti-racism. Secondly, his early career as a seaman provided abundant resources for his writing and made the variety of his writing in subjects and themes possible. In addition, the modernity of his works is the fruit of his unique writing tact, such as "delayed decoding", the first-person narration, the third-person narration, thematic apposition, and so on. No wonder Conrad had been honored with so much recognition from various critics as: a romantic, a realist, an impressionist, a symbolist, a modernist, an existentialist, a nihilist, or even a romantic realist.Instead of verifying the precision of each honorable title crowned on Conrad, the thesis stresses more on the symbolic meanings of the "heart" in Heart of Darkness, utilizing three popular critical methods like sociology, psycho-analysis, and feminism. Enabling an all-round view of the emblematic meanings of "heart", this thesis reveals its darkness from four different angles as the following: geo-politically, "heart" is the badge of Dark Africa and the Inner Station. Ethically, it stands for the greedy hearts of the General Manager, the "pilgrims", and other Whites that Marlow met on the way. Psychologically, "heart" is also the embodiment of the Congo River viewed as the source of darkness by Marlow, and the psychological effects of Kurtz's covetous heart on Marlow. And social-aesthetically, it symbolizes the civilized but depraved capitalist society where wealth and fame are considered to be the standard of success, which ultimately made Kurtz a victim of evil desires. The thorough analysis does show that Kurtz was greedy, and he absurdly believed that everything that ran into his eyes belonged to him. But Marlow's experience during his journey reveals that the origin of Kurtz's tragedy was the darkness of the civilized but depraved capitalist society typified with her rapacity and cruelty. And Conrad intended to show us the inevitability of the bankrupt of colonization and the colonizing system, just as that of Kurtz's being swallowed by the "wilderness", no matter how strongly he believed that everything should have been at his disposal.Based on the above implication, Conrad didn't end the story with Kurtz's total loss. Instead, Kurtz's death left a constant nightmare for Marlow and led to his... |
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