After finishing part III, I believe that Kurtz was just a human representation of imperialism/colonialism. Before meeting him, Marlow is fascinated by the legend of Kurtz; he has heard stories of all the good he has done, and all of the positive influence he has. This is very similar to imperialism. One country goes into the next and supposedly betters the life of an oppressed people, or helps a struggling nation to develop, as defined in Heart of Darkness itself. From the outside, everything looks good. It's not until you get to the "interior" when you find out what is actually going on. For a man held in such high esteem, Kurtz, to me, was more than a disappointment. I felt I had been lied to about him over the course of the entire book. According to the Russian trader, Kurtz did all the talking, everyone else listened, and the "rebels" were beheaded. Just like when the outside outside country is oppressing the people in a worse way than they were being oppressed before. When Marlow meets Kurtz, he is in bad shape, and is being carried out of thick of the jungle on a makeshift stretcher. For a man so powerful, he seems rather pathetic. And as Kurtz was taken away on the steamer, Conrad writes, " The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down with twice the speed of our upward progress;" The invading country has realized that it has overstayed its welcome and is in bad shape; after staining the land (blood stains brown), the imperialists high-tail it out of there, and their purposed is finally revealed: "live rightly, die, die...for the furthering of my ideas. It's a duty."
Just a thought, sorry if it was hard to follow.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely get what you are saying, that's what I thought at some point in the book. I figured that Kurtz alone can't be all that important so maybe what he represents is the important thing and you got it exactly. I really have nothing else to say you said it all excellently, great observations :)
ReplyDeleteI saw the same connection between Kurtz and imperialism. I felt like Kurtz embodied all the things that imperialism stands for. They are both seen as something/someone great to others, but in reality they are terrible things/people.
ReplyDeleteI like how you made the explained the connection between imperialism and the way Marlow sees Kurtz. Hearing is not the same as seeing. I agree that meeting Kurtz was kind of a disappointment, but then again we have to admire him. He was able to have such influence on everyone around him, the natives, the Russian, his wife and even Marlow. He did fall to the darkness, but it would've been so easy for the natives to get rid of him if they saw him as trouble. He had some kind of aura that we can't see or feel through the book.
ReplyDeletei completely agree with you that kurtz represents imperialism and it's consequences in this book. i agree that imperialist nations really comes into contries to exploit their resourses and to benefit themselves, but they try to justify their actions by saying that it is their duty to "civilize" the people and to make them happy.
ReplyDelete