The Major Themes of Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

The two major themes of Heart of Darkness are the conflict between â€Å"reality† and â€Å"darkness,† and the idea of restraint and whether or not it is necessary. Conrad’s passage describing the restraint of the hungry cannibals exemplifies both themes: It describes how reality shapes human behavior, and contrasts the characters of Kurtz and Marlow. â€Å"Reality,† as it is used here, is defined as â€Å"that which is civilized.† Conrad emphasizes the idea of what is real versus what is â€Å"dark,† what is civilized versus what is primitive, what colonizes versus what is colonized, repeatedly throughout Heart of Darkness. As stated above, â€Å"real,† in this case, contains all the implications of a civilized society: clothing which covers a person’s†¦show more content†¦Although not in the same passage, Conrad touches on this idea of â€Å"reality† much more thoroughly in Marlow’s description of his own desire to experience what is â€Å"primitive.† While gliding down â€Å"the river,† the passengers are met repeatedly with howls and â€Å"horrid faces† from the shore. Marlow says, â€Å"You wonder I didn’t go ashore for a howl and a dance? Well, no – I didn’t†¦I had no time. I had to mess about with white-lead and strips of woolen blanket helping to put bandages on those leaky steam-pipes.† Here, Marlow is obviously curious about these natural â€Å"primitive† ceremonial/religious/social orgies, but must tend to reality. He must tend to the only machine of civilization within perhaps hundreds of miles. He is ruled by the clock, just like the people of London and every major city. Reality, for him, is work, progress, efficiency, etc. Marlow is too devoted to his work and, although he may be curious, will never actually go ashore with the natives as long as duty beckons. Earlier he describes with contempt the â€Å"principles† which tame a man, and the luxuries he pretends to need. He describes men’s clothes as â€Å"pretty rags – rags that would fly off at the first good shake.† He questions the necessity of these petty items, but his accusation is hypocritical in that he will never stop wearingShow MoreRelatedComparing Shakespeares Othello with Conrads Heart of Darkness738 Words   |  3 PagesShakespeare’s Othello with Conr ad’s Heart of Darkness It is often that when we read great works of literature we come across similar themes. Authors use powerful ideas that they believe will move their readers and relate to them so they become engaged in the words written. 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