The Major Themes of Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay -- Heart D

The two major themes of Heart of Darkness are the conflict between earth and darkness, and the idea of restraint and whether or not it is necessary. Conrads passage describing the restraint of the hungry basisnibals exemplifies both themes It describes how reality shapes human behavior, and contrasts the characters of Kurtz and Marlow. Reality, as it is used here, is defined as that which is civilized. Conrad emphasizes the idea of what is real versus what is dark, what is civilized versus what is primitive, what colonizes versus what is colonized, repeatedly throughout Heart of Darkness. As stated above, real, in this case, contains all the implications of a civilized society clothing which covers a persons sexual organs, restraint from gluttony, a constant reliance on clocks as dictators of action, etc. The cannibals in the aforementioned passage brass a horrendous conflict between what is real and what is dark, or, in their case, what is native and what must be restrained. Ma rlow cannot fathom how these big powerful men, with not much dexterity to weigh the consequences could restrain their desires to consume him and the pilgrims Restraint What possible restraint? Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear or some kind of primitive honor? No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out. The darkness these men restrain is the explode of every person that wants fulfillment, the Id in psychoanalytic terms, the part almost every orthodox religion looks down upon. Along with every civilized society, one which requires some form of government, the citizens are expected to restrain, to a true extent, their most canonic desires. This theme can be taken a step farther, and c... ...ssage describing the cannibals exemplifies both. The cannibals are practicing a sort of enigmatic restraint that keeps them from fulfilling a basic human need on a second level, they are facing the issue of what is reality (what is civilized) versus what is natural. Although there is no concrete evidence that these peoples are cannibalistic, the natural solution to their hunger is to eat, and they do not. Marlow, the character symbolic of the reality of civilization, practices this restraint, a sort of religious emulation of what he has seen of civilized peoples up to this point. Kurtz, on the otherwise hand, has abandoned his restraint, has stepped into the darkness so to speak. The horror The horror he utters on his deathbed, perhaps expressing contempt at his own actions, perhaps at all existence. peradventure at the reality and restraints of civilization.