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Heart of Darkness Study Guide

by Joseph Conrad 

Short Summary

A group of men are aboard an English ship that is sitting on the Thames. The group includes a

Lawyer , an Accountant, a Company Director /Captain, and a man without a specific profession

who is named arlow. The narrator appears to be another unnamed guest on the ship. !hile

they are loitering about, waiting for the wind to pic" up so that they might resume their

#oyage, arlow begins to spea" about London and Europe as some of the dar"est places on

earth. The narrator and other guests do not seem to regard him with much respect. arlow is a

stationary man, #ery unusual for a seaman. The others do not understand him because he does

not fit into a neat category in the same manner that the others do. $e mentions coloni%ation

and says that car#ing the earth into pri%es or pieces is not something to e&amine too closely

 because it is an atrocity. $e then begins to narrate a personal e&perience in Africa, which led

him to become a freshwater sailor and ga#e him a terrible glimpse of coloni%ation. !ith thee&ception of two or three small paragraphs, the perspecti#e shifts to arlow, who becomes

the main narrator for the rest of the no#el.

arlow has always had a passion for tra#el and e&ploration. aps are an obsession of his.

arlow decides he wants nothing more than to be the s"ipper of a steamship that tra#els up

and down a ri#er in Africa. $is aunt has a connection in the Administration Department of a

seafaring and e&ploration company that gathers i#ory, and she manages to get arlow an

appointment. $e replaces a captain who was "illed in a s"irmish with the nati#es. !hen

arlow arri#es at the company office, the atmosphere is e&tremely dim and foreboding. $e

feels as if e#eryone is loo"ing at him pityingly. The doctor who performs his physical as"s if

there is a history of insanity in arlow's family. $e tells arlow that nothing could persuadehim to (oin the Company down in the Congo. This pu%%les arlow, but he does not thin"

much of it. The ne&t day he embar"s on a one)month (ourney to the primary Company station.

The African shores that he obser#es loo" anything but welcoming. They are dar" and rather

desolate, in spite of the flurry of human acti#ity around them. !hen he arri#es, arlow learns

that a company member recently committed suicide. There are multitudes of chain)gang

types, who all loo" at him with #acant e&pressions. A young boy approaches arlow, loo"ing

#ery empty. arlow can do nothing but offer him some ship biscuits. $e is #ery relie#ed to

lea#e the boy behind as he comes across a #ery well)dressed man who is the picture of

respectability and elegance. They introduce themsel#es* he is the Chief Accountant of the

Company. arlow befriends this man and fre+uently spends time in his hut while the

Accountant goes o#er the accounts. After ten days of obser#ing the Chief Accountant's illtemper, arlow departs for his --)mile (ourney into the interior of the Congo, where he will

wor" for a station run by a man named urt%.

The (ourney is arduous. arlow crosses many paths, sees deserted dwellings, and encounters

 blac" men wor"ing. arlow ne#er describes them as humans. Throughout the no#el, the

white characters refer to them in animalistic terms. arlow finally arri#es at a secondary

station, where he meets the anager , who for now will o#ersee his wor". t is a strange

meeting. The anager smiles in a manner that is #ery discomfiting. The ship on which

arlow is supposed to set sail is bro"en. !hile they await the deli#ery of the ri#ets needed to

fi& it, arlow spends his time on more mundane tas"s. $e fre+uently hears the name 0urt%0around the station. Clearly e#eryone "nows his future boss. t is rumored that he is ill. Soon

the entire crew will depart for a trip to urt%'s station.

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The anager's uncle arri#es with his own e&pedition. arlow o#erhears them saying that

they would li"e to see urt% and his assistant hanged so that their station could be eliminated

as i#ory competition. After a day of e&ploring, the e&pedition has lost all of their animals.

arlow sets out for urt%'s station with the 1ilgrims, the cannibal crew, and the anager.

About eight miles from their destination, they stop for the night. There is tal" of an

approaching attac". 2umor has it that urt% may ha#e been "illed in a pre#ious one. Some of

the pilgrims go ashore to in#estigate. The whirring sound of arrows is heard3 an attac" isunderway. The 1ilgrims shoot bac" from the ship with rifles. The helmsman of the ship is

"illed, as is a nati#e ashore. arlow supposes that urt% has perished in the ine&plicable

attac". This upsets him greatly. 4#er the course of his tra#els, he has greatly loo"ed forward

to meeting this man. arlow shares urt%'s bac"ground* an English education, a woman at

home waiting for him. n spite of arlow's disappointment, the ship presses onward. A little

way down the ri#er, the crew spot urt%'s station, which they had supposed was lost. They

meet a 2ussian man who resembles a harle+uin. $e says that urt% is ali#e but somewhat ill.

The nati#es do not want urt% to lea#e because he has e&panded their minds. urt% does not

want to lea#e because he has essentially become part of the tribe.

After tal"ing for a while with the 2ussian, arlow has a #ery clear picture of the man whohas become his obsession. 5inally, he has the chance to tal" to urt%, who is ill and on his

deathbed. The nati#es surround his hut until he tells them to lea#e. !hile on watch, arlow

do%es off and reali%es that urt% is gone. $e chases him and finds urt% in the forest. $e does

not want to lea#e the station because his plans ha#e not been fully reali%ed. arlow manages

to ta"e him bac" to his bed. urt% entrusts arlow with all of his old files and papers. Among

these is a photograph of his sweetheart. The 2ussian escapes before the anager and others

can imprison him. The steamboat departs the ne&t day. urt% dies onboard a few days later,

arlow ha#ing attended him until the end.

arlow returns to England, but the memory of his friend haunts him. $e manages to find the

woman from the picture, and he pays her a #isit. She tal"s at length about his wonderful

 personal +ualities and about how guilty she feels that she was not with him at the last. arlow

lies and says that her name was the last word spo"en by urt%6the truth would be too dar" to

tell her.

About $eart of Dar"ness

A no#ella, $eart of Dar"ness is 7oseph Conrad8s most famous wor" and a foundational te&t on

the sub(ect of colonialism. $eart of Dar"ness is based in part on a trip that Conrad too"

through modern)day Congo during his years as a sailor. $e captained a ship that sailed down

the Congo 2i#er. Conrad ga#e up this mission because an illness forced him to return toEngland, where he wor"ed on his no#ella almost a decade later.

The presence of ill characters in the no#ella illustrates the fact that $eart of Dar"ness is, at

least in part, autobiographical. any speculations ha#e been made about the identity of

#arious characters, such as the anager, or urt%, most recently and perhaps most accurately

in Adam $ochschild8s ing Leopold8s 9host. :ut the geographical, as well as biographical,

#agueness of the no#el))which is one of its most artistic, haunting characteristics))ma"e it

almost impossible to pin down these details for sure.

$eart of Dar"ness first appeared in a three)part series in :lac"wood aga%ine in ;<==. t was

 published as a complete no#ella in ;=->. t has since been referred to by many authors and poets. ts most famous lines are both from urt%* ?e&terminate the brutes,@ and urt%'s

deathbed utterance, ?the horror The horror@

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5rancis 5ord Coppola directed the film #ersion, Apocalypse Bow, in which the action occurs

in ietnam in ;==.

a(or Themes

9roupthin" and Stoc" Characters

This no#ella is unusual in that the author does not name most of the characters in his boo",

other than assigning them titles that describe their larger organi%ational goals. t is not +uite an

allegory, while he does allow them some indi#idual characteristics of speech and dress, but

they are for the most part stand)ins for larger groups. The ob#ious e&ception is arlow, and

his reaction against the colonial structures supported by people with names li"e ?the

anager@ and ?the Lawyer@ place him slightly outside this system. 9roupthin" is e#ident in

named groups li"e the pilgrims and the nati#es. These groups ha#e a few outstanding

members, such as the nati#e woman of arresting beauty or the red)haired pilgrim drun" with

 bloodthirstiness, but they mostly mo#e together, ma"e the same decisions, and ha#e the same

intentions. Conrad criti+ues such patterns, in which indi#idual in a society thin" li"e other

members of their group without stopping to thin" for themsel#es. Although arlow is by nomeans a heroic character, Conrad does illustrate the need for indi#idual thought by singling

him out.

1rimiti#ism

As the crew ma"e their way up the ri#er, they are tra#eling into the ?heart of dar"ness.@ The

contradiction, howe#er, is that arlow also feels as if he were tra#eling bac" in time. !hen

Conrad wrote this story, scientists were learning that Africa is the seat of human ci#ili%ation,

and this "nowledge is reflected in the fact that the trees are almost prehistoricallyF enormous

on the route down the ri#er. The parado& of the no#el, howe#er, is that by tra#eling bac"wards

in time, the crew do not mo#e closer to the innocence and purity of the 0noble sa#age0 butfarther away from it. !ords li"e ?pestilent@ and ?sordid@ are used again and again to describe

the nati#es and their land. Conrad seems to claim that the Christian belief that prehistory was

untouched by obscurity or e#il is a fallacy. nstead, there is ?the horror.@ n contrast, it seems,

is the more ad#anced ci#ili%ation of the coloni%ers and #isitors.

Gncertainty

 Bothing in this no#ella is described in #ery concrete terms. Shores are ha%y. Land loo"s li"e a

spine stic"ing out from a man8s bac" but is not described in topographical terms. arlow is

obsessed with urt% before he e#en meets him, without a clear idea why. A sense of danger

 per#ades the entire trip, and it is mostly dictated by uncertainty. The nati#es do not seeminherently threatening. 4n one occasion, they let fly a series of arrows, but these e#en loo"

ineffectual to arlow. They are threatening because they might be poisoned. Similarly,

arlow has no clear idea of what the nati#es might do to him if urt% ga#e them free rein,

and it is possible that this uncertainty increases his fear. urt% himself is an uncertain figure,

ruled as he is by two separate impulses, the noble and the destructi#e. At the beginning of the

no#ella, the reader percei#es that the former is his dominant or onlyF characteristic. :ut with

#icious scrawlings on his manuscript and his ruthlessness in e&tracting i#ory from the land,

urt% pro#es himself the latter. arlow8s adherence to urt% until the end confuses the

matter3 one could (udge him one way or the other. The idea of 0dar"ness0 e&presses the theme

of uncertainty in the no#ella.

mperial Authority

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!hate#er the conditions in Africa may be, all of the characters agree that they are different

from those of Europe. There is a feeling of anything)goes #igilantism that shifts the balance of 

 power from the stewards in a ?ci#ili%ed@ state police, doctors, bureaucratsF to whoe#er is

most threatening. urt% is physically +uite a wea" man, but he maintains enormous sway o#er 

the nati#e population through his understanding of their language and his cultural and

communication s"ills. $e e&ploits their appreciation of him as an 4ther. arlow8s men use a

much more simple means of gaining authority, namely, firearms. This is the tragedy ofimperialism in that the arri#al of the white man heralds a new order, but in the creation of that

order, they retain the tools and the authority. :lac" men in this boo" first appear as members

of a chain gang, and they gain little power after that scene.

2eligion

Although there is contro#ersy o#er whether Conrad is criti+uing colonialism or not, it is clear

that he is criti+uing religion. The two groups in the no#el, the pilgrims and the nati#es, are

lin"ed by ha#ing religious beliefs, and the pilgrims seem at least as bloodthirsty as the nati#es.

The rite in the woods that arlow describes seems alien but certainly no more dangerous than

the ambush. 4ne of the seemingly admirable characteristics of urt%, as presented by Conrad,is that he seems (ust as compelled by African religion as by Christianity but seems beholden

to neither. arlow genuinely admires his ability to independently criti+ue religions. $e may

not agree with urt%8s e#aluation, but he respects urt%'s ability to ha#e his own opinions in

the face of the #arious religious traditions he encounters.

7ewelry

7ewelry is a ma(or presence in $eart of Dar"eness. To begin with, it is the main reason for the

 presence of the colonists in Africa* they are there to strip the country of its i#ory. There is a

 play on colors between the blac" people and this white #aluable good. The most prestigious

member of the African community and one of the only characters to be afforded indi#idual

characteristics by Conrad is the woman who is presumably urt%8s mistress. $er first

appearance is impressi#e3 she is co#ered in bangles and other ?barbarous ornaments.@ $er

aspect has both attracti#eness and ferocity, and she is the only character in the no#ella who

wears (ewelry. Despite it being the raison d8Htre of the no#ella, the other characters ha#e little

interest in (ewelry, showing an almost ar&ist detachment from the good they har#est.

llness

llness is a ma(or factor in this no#ella. t appears in physical and mental forms. arlow is

hired to replace a man who committed suicide, and another instance of suicide is announced

 by a somber Swedish man. The first thing that arlow does upon being hired is go to the

doctor, who chec"s both his mental and physical health and pro#ides a #ery gloomy prognosis. The specter of ill health, or of one8s body not standing up to the conditions, is a

constant specter in the no#ella. The mental health issue is particular to $eart of Dar"ness,

while the issue of wider health continues in the tradition of ictorian no#els, in which men

often tra#el to Africa only to come down with e&otic diseases. n the end, it seems that

arlow is more mentally than physically ta&ed, while urt% is clearly both.

A 2acist Bo#ellaI

Throughout its long history as a seminal te&t in the English canon, there has been a strenuous

debate o#er whether $eart of Dar"ness is itself a racist boo". That is, does the boo" itself,

+uite apart from the indi#iduals in it, e&press racismI 4r does any racism in the boo" e&pressan opinion of Conrad8sI The first ma(or wor" on colonialism, the no#ella is clearly written

from the perspecti#e of a foreign white man on a boat in a strange country. This in itself

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creates problems for many readers, who see Conrad8s effort to write about Africa and Africans

as presumption or e#en racism in itself. 4n the other hand, this perspecti#e would taint e#ery

attempt to e&press what one has learned about another culture. A better +uestion is whether

$eart of Dar"ness leads the reader to support rather than to critici%e the e&pressions of racism

or colonialism that one can find in the no#ella.

The most famous accusation that Conrad is a racist comes from the Bigerian no#elist ChenuaAchebe. n his essay ?An mage of Africa,@ Achebe wrote, ?Clearly Conrad has a problem

with niggers J his inordinate lo#e of that word itself should be of interest to psychoanalysts.@

Achebe also refers to the famous scenes where arlow describes disembodied ?blac" arms@

wa#ing in the bush, and Achebe as"s ironically, should the reader e&pect them to be whiteI

Although this minor detail is hardly enough on which to hang an argument, one certainly

should note that Conrad8s fascination with the group mo#ement of the blac" nati#es

establishes these indi#iduals as 4thers. t is unclear whether this is a function of racism or

simply the wonder with which someone obser#es unfamiliar group acti#ities. Conrad does not

assign any personal will or agency to these characters as a group, yet this is not an uncommon

way of describing any group.

A non)African critic, Cedric !atts, ta"es issue with the characteri%ation of Conrad as a racist.

$e argues that Conrad presents both the rapacious imperialists and the mute but always

threatening nati#es with such cartoonishness that he must be lampooning the whole situation.

!atts argues that $eart of Dar"ness is written with a guiding blac" irony* those who appear

ci#ili%ed are not actually ci#ili%ed at all.

Since $eart of Dar"ness remains a signal wor" of the !estern canon, this debate is ongoing.

Again, it seems that the central issue is the distance of Conrad from arlow. The story of

arlow corresponds so neatly with Conrad8s own biography that it is easy to assume that

arlow registers Conrad8 own perspecti#e, including his pre(udices and perhaps racism. :ut

on the basis of the no#ella alone, it is impossible to determine whether Conrad e&presses hisown #iews by simple transference or, as one might credit a great writer with doing, by

lampooning the imperialists. Although the nati#es are often incomprehensible in the tale, they

also are more innocent. To ma"e one8s own decision about this issue, one should consider the

o#erall themes of the wor" and how this issue relates to them6but also how Conrad would

ha#e e&pected his contemporary audiences, themsel#es of #arying opinions about race and

colonialism, to read his boo".