Heart of Darkness: Theme Analysis

Written as the memory of one man, Conrad's Heart of Darkness reads like a journey through one's nightmare. So many interesting but minor characters and scenes dart across the pages that it is

difficult to name all of Conrad's possible themes. However, two main themes prevail: journey and truth.

It is no coincidence that the narrator introduces the reader to Marlow while on a journey. The story Marlow weaves (tesse/racconta) also takes place on a journey both literally and metaphorically. Marlow's literal journey takes him from his childhood, as a boy dreaming of empty spaces on maps, to London to the middle of Africa. An internal drive (spinta/impulso) to understand the secrets of the undiscovered pushes Marlow down the coast of Africa and into the heart of darkness despite the ugliness and corruption that progressively disgusts Marlow. Like

Marlow, Kurtz also follows his wanderlust (desiderio di viaggiare)into the center of Africa.

Both men begin their journeys with what they believe are good intentions: to "civilize" and to bring commerce to the wild continent. They are, however, either alone in their good intentions or other white men hold different definitions of "civilize." Either way, Kurtz loses himself when faced with white man's corruption and the primal (primitivo) power of the jungle and its inhabitants.

Kurtz' journey up the Congo becomes a journey into himself. Both Kurtz and Marlow must face the darkness within themselves. What does it really mean to civilize? Who is really darker? The corrupt man who exploits other men in the name of progress, the man who imposes his beliefs on other men through fear, or the man who clings (si aggrappa/crede fermamente)to primitive beliefs and behaviors? Facing these questions, facing his darkness, drove Kurtz "to the edge." (al limite estremo)

Fortunately, Marlow leaves the "heart of darkness" as quickly as he arrives. He glimpses (intravede) the edge and knows that the edge is near but the ethic of the jungle does not penetrate Marlow. He takes away lessons, such as the humanity of his black helmsman (timoniere) and the corruption of his colleagues, but his spirit remains intact, most likely because he realizes early that the legend of Kurtz and Kurtz the man are both empty.(he -Kurtz- is a hollow man)

Kurtz' death is Marlow's salvation.Both Marlow and Kurtz seek truth. Before they commence their voyages both men believe that they know the truth. They know the truth about the need to civilize the "savages" of Africa, they know the truth about their good and moral intentions, and they believe that there is no other truth to consider. So when Marlow faces

white agents, the manager in particular, who lie and mistreat (trattar male)African natives in an effort to exploit rather than to civilize, he is disgusted and begins to turn away from his "civilized" white colleagues. At the same time the jungle begins to reveal its own truths—the drums, the wild humanity, the beginning of history, the freedom.

Both men, one entrenched in these truths and betrayed by the men who once shared his beliefs, and the other just uncovering the betrayal, must look inside themselves and question their own truths. Kurtz looks within and sees the depths of humanity ("the horror,the horror!). He sees a drive to murder and exterminate. He sees an ego longing to be deified. He sees lies. Marlow only begins to look within but he too sees lies and fallibility. He is man enough, he states, to admit that there are other truths in the world. Those truths, though, were dark; so

dark that he could not bring himself to express them to Kurtz.