In the context of this statement darkness represents the experiences of Marlow in the Congo and the horrors that he encountered. ... This direct reference to the title implies that the heart of the jungle is a place of darkness, a center of evil. ... This also shows that imperialism is closely linked to the title as a symbol of darkness and evil. ... This additional reference to darkness shows that the Company, and more importantly the imperialism it represents are seen as being unfavorable and evil. ... His heart was full of the corruption and the evil of imperialism. ...

• Word Count: 937
• Approx Pages: 4

Marlow symbolizes the positiveness of Imperialism but realizes the evil that the negative Imperialism has caused and decides that it's unnecessary to go through so much evilness. ... The reality of the colonialism is represented in the form of the District Manager, a real imperialist, taking advantage of his position and also the colony's position. ... His terminal illness represents the eventual death of imperialism due to the inability to adapt and respect the culture, religion and people of the country that is being invaded. This means that he symbolizes Europe towards the end of...

• Word Count: 878
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Russian describes that Kurtz opened his eyes and "enlarged his mind " which in Marlow's case, it opened his eyes to the true evil and "darkness " of humanity. ... Being a novel published in the late 19th century, Conrad has embarked and achieved an understanding of evil which is why he is capable to writing it. ... Kurtz witnessed the exploitation of Africa, the evil within the heart of humans, his own crumbling sanity and the illusion of hope and understanding. The horror can be referring to his own dark deeds which he has done while being away from society and civilisation for too l...

• Word Count: 1417
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Some of the symbols that make this story come alive are: the presence of fog, the painting that Kurtz painted of the blindfolded girl, the mysterious and evil jungle itself, the rushing waters of the Thames and Congo river, and most importantly the darkness. In most stories and novels black is the symbolic color of death or sadness, loneliness or greed, but the color that represents those words in Heart of Darkness is white. The fog in this novel is in a sense evil and indecipherable. ... It represents the ignorance of man. ... Darkness is death, loneliness, sickness, curiosity, and evil...

• Word Count: 923
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

This theme is very much reflected by the books" setting, plot structure and characterization, we all have the potential to be evil because evil exists within all of us. It shows how individuals can slowly deteriorate because of the evil lying within themselves. The evil of these books is the evil created by one's self and thrusted upon one's self. ... (Wilde 107) Dorian's lifestyle can be paralleled to the Congo in that it is similarly used to represent the absence of restraint and order. ... The evil that lies within all of us has a third and final way of showing itself. ...

• Word Count: 1170
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the novel, the darkness is a metaphor for evil, hatred, and fear as well as wild, elemental power. ... He is able to overcome his darkness, representing fear and hatred of the natives, by coming to understand the cannibals. ... Every little aspect of Kurtz is "consumed- by the evil, including his blood, tissues, cells, and flesh. ... The wilderness has taken charge now and evil has given it its human qualities. ... This darkness is evil, hatred, and fear or wild, elemental power. ...

• Word Count: 770
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The boys fall from innocence represents the loss of innocence of all mankind that Golding saw during the war. ... At the same time, it also reinforces the theme of the story, that because man is evil inside, he cannot help but release that evil. ... Golding uses the Lord of the Flies to symbolize the theme of man's inner evil. ... It is therefore not the same Satan, who tempted Christ, but rather a much more primitive, vile form of evil found inside all humans. (Dick, Bernard F. page 28) This is Golding's goal, to present mankind's evil in its primal form, in existence even befo...

• Word Count: 4223
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

Another important aspect of the paragraph is the use of the word, "knight- representing nobility accomplished during the flicker of civilization. ... The second river is the Congo River, which represents the ill of the uncivilized. Right away as the reader is able to visualize both settings of each river, they are able to decipher Conrad's metaphor of civilization, representing goodness and light and the uncivilized representing evil and darkness. ... This represents a time lapse that occurred while Marlow was going back into his mind and even farther within himself to remember the darkne...

• Word Count: 4389
• Approx Pages: 18
• Grade Level: High School

At the beginning of the story one feels that the jungle is evil and the civilized Europeans, represented by the Company, are more in tune to the right way a descent life should be lived. ... Surely the Company is wholly evil, but what virtues can be found in the sinister jungle? ... This novel is perhaps the best depiction of good and evil I have ever read. In the end, one feels evil lies more in our joke of civilization than in the unhindered jungle. ... Any evil the lion commits is part of its nature. ...

• Word Count: 1567
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Later in Marlow's tale, silence serves to represent mystifying grandness. ... He uses silence to signify the meaningful bond between the crewmen of the Nellie, to represent the grandeur of the African wilderness, and to connote the deep-seated propensity for evil common to all men. ...

• Word Count: 530
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This once again proves just how dark and evil the Congo is. ... " As a fourth point of similarity, the evil nature of mankind was very well emphasized in the book as well as the movie. ... In the book, the evilness of mankind is more so seen through Kurtz and his behavior. ... By the same token, in "Apocalypse Now" Kurtz is the main character that displays the evilness of mankind, except that since the storyline takes place in Vietnam we are able to see how evil our society is as a whole, for example in the movie Kurtz says to his men: "Kill without feeling or passion, wi...

• Word Count: 2231
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Without a protective civilized society, Kurtz represents what every man will become if left to his own desires. ... Darkness is related to savagery and Marlow represents the civilized soul, which has not been drawn by a dark force. ... These stations represent symbolic stages in Marlow's journey of self-discovery. ... Marlow's trip from Europe to the outer then the central station already tests his capacity to differentiate between good and evil. ... The "hollow man," whose evil is the evil of vacancy will succumb. ...

• Word Count: 2429
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Kurtz resembles the archetypal "evil genius": the highly gifted but ultimately degenerate individual whose fall is the stuff of legend. ... Kurtz can be criticized in the same terms that Heart of Darkness is sometimes criticized: style entirely overrules substance, providing a justification for amorality and evil. ... His perverse honesty leads to his downfall, as his success threatens to expose the evil practices behind European activity in Africa. ...

• Word Count: 3088
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Each journey up the tropical river is symbolic of a voyage of discovery into the dark heart of man, and an encounter with his capacity for evil. ... This narrowing of space symbolically represents that these men are trapped within this valley, with no chance of escaping from the many horrors they face. ...

• Word Count: 750
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Heart of Darkness opens on a boat called "Nellie." Marlow and his shipmates, including the narrator whose descriptions of the scene fill the few breaks in Marlow's stories, loll on the deck waiting for the tides of the Thames River to change. To entertain his compatriots, Marlow begins to talk about his philosophies on colonization, his personal history, and his voyage up the Congo River into the heart of Africa. Like many storytellers, Marlow speaks in a stream of consciousness, skipping forward and backward in time without warning. The reader is left to infer from symboli...

• Word Count: 4309
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, is a complex narrative that challenges the reader on several levels. On one level, this book can be read as a story about Charlie Marlow's (the novel's protagonist) journey to discover his inner self, or as a commentary on human identity in general. To become fully aware individuals, our identity must be open to all forms of alteration, even if this deviates from our social conditioning. The journey that Marlow embarks upon after he was charmed by the snake' is psychological as well as physical. On his voyage up the Congo River, Marlow is...

• Word Count: 4081
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School