Heart of darkness setting. Heart of Darkness: Style 2022-12-11

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The setting of "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad is the Congo Free State in Africa during the late 1800s. The Congo Free State was a region in Central Africa that was claimed as a personal possession by King Leopold II of Belgium and was exploited for its natural resources, specifically rubber.

The novel follows the journey of the protagonist, Marlow, as he travels up the Congo River to find the enigmatic and mysterious European trader, Kurtz. Along the way, Marlow encounters various groups of people, including native tribes and European colonizers, who are all affected by the greed and brutality of the colonial enterprise in the Congo.

The setting of the Congo Free State is a crucial element of the novel as it serves as a backdrop for the themes of imperialism, exploitation, and the human condition. The lush and exotic landscape of the Congo is described as both beautiful and dangerous, with Marlow often remarking on the stunning beauty of the natural surroundings as well as the dangers that lurk within them.

The jungle is portrayed as a place that is both alluring and terrifying, with its dense foliage and dense humidity serving as a metaphor for the moral ambiguity and corruption that pervades the colonial enterprise in the Congo. The jungle also serves as a metaphor for the inner turmoil and darkness that consumes Kurtz, who becomes increasingly isolated and mad as he delves deeper into the heart of the jungle.

In addition to the natural setting of the Congo, the novel also explores the relationships between the various groups of people that inhabit the region. The native tribes are depicted as being at the mercy of the European colonizers, who view them as inferior and exploit them for their labor and resources.

The European characters, on the other hand, are shown to be equally corrupt and ruthless, with many of them being driven by greed and the desire for personal gain. The setting of the Congo serves as a microcosm for the larger issues of imperialism and exploitation that were prevalent during the time period in which the novel is set.

Overall, the setting of "Heart of Darkness" plays a crucial role in shaping the themes and characters of the novel. The exotic and dangerous jungle of the Congo serves as a backdrop for the corruption and brutality of imperialism, as well as the inner turmoil and madness that consumes the characters.

Setting in Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

heart of darkness setting

Africans become for Marlow a mere backdrop, a human screen against which he can play out his philosophical and existential struggles. They want to take what does not belong to them by using any brutal means necessary, which is a reflection of British colonialism. Time period is just one aspect of this connection. This invites the reader to compare the two and highlights the differences between them. It's almost as though—hint, this is SUPER important, Shmoopers—he's making Africa into a version of Europe's past.

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Heart of Darkness Setting

heart of darkness setting

When Marlow sees his company's station, he sees the fruits of this civilizing effort, running into: ". A good portion of the novel takes place on Marlow's steamer as it moves toward the Inner Station. But the wildness of the land means that it is symbolically dark. In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the author uses many different medians to display the contrast between good and evil. The ''Heart of Darkness'' Setting chapter of this ''Heart of Darkness'' Study Guide course is the most efficient way to study the importance and effect of setting within this novel.

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"""Heart of Darkness"" setting" crossword clue

heart of darkness setting

Yet he also suggests that the true heart of darkness lies in Europe, which has subdued the world. It is believed that the Heart of Darkness setting is in the late 1890's even though it is not clearly stated anywhere in the novel. Conrad's work was instrumental in this effort, particularly his experimentation with the use of time and non-chronological narratives. And exactly the word "dark" is the one that defines the setting throughout the whole of the nouvelle, varying only in shades. The setting of the Central Station serves its purpose too to the whole of the nouvelle. Joseph Conrad's novels reside in the transition period between Victorianism, with its strict conventions and focus on polite society, and Modernism, which sought to explode old conventions and invent new literary forms to convey human experience more fully. Students Will Review: This chapter summarizes the material students need to know about setting of Heart of Darkness for a standard literature course.

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Heart of Darkness at a Glance

heart of darkness setting

They were viewed as savages who needed to be brought under control, and certainly not as people. The accountant and his office is the island of salvation for Marlow when he wants to get away from the misery at the station. Last but not least the setting of the nouvelle has shown darkness, the heart of it. It is through his eyes, then, that we can experience the terrible situation the Europeans have created to strip the land for personal profit. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. Here particularly the word 'real' represents the civilized part of the world while dark is Africa.

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Heart of Darkness Study Guide

heart of darkness setting

This kind of dehumanization is harder to identify than colonial violence or open racism. The accountant Marlow meets at the Company Station provides another important example of contradiction. The novel begins in London, England with Marlow seeking adventure in Africa. Marlow indicates as much early in the novella: Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. The setting also reminds the reader through the character of Kurtz of Europe at the end of the Imperialism era.

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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

heart of darkness setting

The term allegory is best known as an extended symbolic narrative with a didactic purpose. In the Offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas, sharply peaked with gleams of varnished sprits. However, it packs quite a punch in its concise narrative. Authors do the same thing in their novels. Heart of Darkness primarily takes place in the late nineteenth century in the Belgian-controlled Congo Free State.

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Heart of Darkness Setting

heart of darkness setting

In other places Marlow sees men who can no longer move: they are slowly dying. Their existence and their exoticism enable his self-contemplation. The forest near it looks huge and calm to Marlow, the setting alone sends the feeling to all of the readers, misery and greatness fill their hearts. It is into this horrific situation that Marlow travels. One of the biggest ways he contrasts the two is in physical location.

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Heart of Darkness: Style

heart of darkness setting

Both rivers may be symbol of the tamed and untamed. The setting may be interpreted as an allusion to Dante's The Inferno, Marlow's journey looks like an expedition to the underworld, a journey through the circles of hell and Kurtz is the devil himself. Only the gloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more sombre every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun" 4. Such an image of civilization in the jungle—or of light in the darkness—represents another contradiction of the European civilizing mission. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish.

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Heart of Darkness: Setting

heart of darkness setting

He often writes sentences that compress a lot of information into a small amount of space. Marlow represents civilization on the edge while Kurtz represents civilization stepped over leading in the 'darkness'. The story, Heart of Darkness, is about a sailor named Charles Marlow and his expedition to find Kurtz deep in the interior of the Congo. Most of the action happens in Africa, but Heart of Darkness begins and ends in a boat on the River Thames, just outside of London. That makes the setting…the Congo. The setting allows for more realistic plot development, and as a result, more credible characters. Madness also functions to establish the necessity of social fictions.

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