Joseph Conrad Essay, Research Paper

A pictures is an abstract idea, brought into context to form something concrete. They are made up and created

to give off some sort of feeling or mood, that one can relate too. The atmosphere helps determine what kind of

mood the picture will take. Any author, of either a painting or piece of literature will set the mood by using their

atmosphere to enhance the theme of their creation. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses mood and

atmosphere to help create a portrait called, the journey into the soul. The journey to the soul is to find one’s self.

Atmosphere pervades the mood or spirit. The atmosphere aids in revealing the journey to find one’s soul. The

setting, “took in the forest, the creek, the mud, the river-seemed to beckon with a dishonoring flourish before

the sunlit face of land a treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of

its heart.” Conrad 54 Conrad does not even mention their exact location which is very peculiar. The main river

was described in the form a snake. A snake can be looked at from many points of views, mythological, biblical,

literal and metaphorically. The snake represents all the twists and turns and being able to find one’s inner-self is

very difficult and twisted. The snake represents some of the animal imagery in the novel. Perhaps this is a sign

that the jungle is something living and not just an ordinary jungle. Literature’s imagery helps to show the main

idea through a picture painted in one’s mind. Imagery is very insightful and in Conrad’s novel there is a lot of

animal and hell imagery that branches together to form the main theme of the novel, the journey in finding one’s

self; the soul. The snake as mentioned before is an image of evil. In biblical times the snake created the evil in

the story of Adam and Eve. The lion is an image that appears frequently. “He is crawling on all-fours,”Conrad

109 describes Kurtz as being the ominous, morbid man he is. On another level, it deals with how everyone has

a little bit of lion in them, but one must overcome this phenomenal and boundless force. This lets the reader

relate themselves to Kurtz and their own journey in finding themselves. Perhaps there is a little bit of Kurtz in all

of us. The characters in the Heart of Darkness, help depict the theme throughout their environment. There must

be something distinctive to relate the themes and storyline too, and the characters play that role. One uniqueness

in the novel is that there are only two specific names for all the characters, Kurtz and Marlow. The rest of the

characters in the novel follow under general names such as, the manager, the helmsman etc. This is very

interesting because its difficult to determine why Conrad would use this approach. Possibly Conrad takes this

approach to express the theme of lost identity. This proves that the journey to find one’s self, is one where not

everything appears to be what it seems. In this long process one can change very much. Kurtz is a great

example, he changed from being a painter and “essentially a great musician,”Conrad 122 to becoming corrupt

by being swept up and digested by the darkness. Kurtz went past the point of no return, he was to corrupted

to know he was being assaulted by the powers of darkness. Finding one’s self is a dangerous journey. There

are many distractions along the way that deal with temptation. These temptations’ are deadly and can lead to a

great deal of horror and suffering. This proves that the journey to the soul is not a pleasant journey. Marlow

“saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, no fear, yet struggling blindly with

itself.” Conrad 113 Anyone who read Heart of Darkness can go back and take a look at the character Kurtz

and relate themselves to a moment in their life that they had fallen into the binding grip of the darkness. The

mood of a story reflects the way the author makes the reader feel. In Heart of Darkness the reader

acknowledges three main moods while reading. These moods can be associated with the journey to the soul.

The first mood that the reader should acknowledge is the awareness of the unknown. The unknown is a very

frightful aberration, but to be aware of it’ makes it a morbid ambience. Marlow’s journey to find his soul, is

filled with danger and a foul smell, the stench of not knowing the area, the people or himself. The unknown is

“the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of its heart.” Conrad 54 Marlow begins his

journey by meeting the crew of the ship. He meets and becomes friends with them. “Going up that river was like

travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees

were kings.” Conrad 55 His experiences with them are significant in finding himself but no one really knows

where they are. The entrance into the enigmatical jungle is significant, because it demonstrates how one first

begins their journey, there is only the unknown which is present. One must face their unknown side to find

themselves and their soul. The gut feeling or instinct of being aware that something is approaching and not

knowing what it is creates a warning that makes one aware of the risks involved in searching for the soul. The

fear of the unknown is something everyone can relate to, especially at a young age. Youths, often when asked

to think of something scary, mention the Bogeyman or Freddy Cougar. Children really do not have a concept

of the unknown and it’s the same with adults. It is a formidable place, where anything can happen. It is a vast

void, filled with billions of possibilities, both negative and positive. The fear of the unknown represented in Heart

of Darkness deals with the journey into the unknown in search of the soul. “Kurtz who embarks on a harrowing

night journey’ into the savage heart of Africa, only finds his dark and evil soul.” “The wilderness had patted him

on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball-an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and lo! he had withered; it had

taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the

inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation.” Conrad 81 Marlow with his descriptions of the jungle,

probably thought the jungle was a living thing. “An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest.” The

fear of entering such a terrible place, but how could he know it was terrible unless he entered it? The answer is

simple, the only way Marlow can be scared is if he can already identify fear. Fear is unknown just like the soul

until it is found, and can be meddled with. The faint and entangled environs of the jungle create this fear of the

unknown in search of the soul. The fear of disappointment is another factor which involves the journey to the

soul, because one may not always like what they find. Marlow wants to see the great’ godlike Kurtz. but is he

really that great? Marlow’s quest was to find Kurtz and that he did, but by doing this he saw the horror and

managed to save himself and his soul. Marlow has already seen men go time and time through “the door of

Darkness,” and knows the esoteric circumstances that lay ahead for these ignorant, blind men. “Making a vain

attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity,

surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which

is of the very essence of dreams….” Conrad 44 Marlow realizes that in the end everything turned out for the

best. His experience will linger on with his life and the fear of disappointment would part. Finding one’s self in

Heart of Darkness is created by mood and atmosphere. The ideas and mood behind the atmosphere brush off

against the state of the reader. While reading the novel I was able to reflect on my own journey to the soul. Any

reader can reflect and realize the inevitable. The journey is not a pleasant one, it is a very difficult task, where

evil lurks in the smallest of places. These places could be anywhere including the soul and the soul is one of

man’s most unique qualities. It determines who we are and how we treat everyone surrounding our presence. In

this universe people live and die but a soul is immortal and will undertake an eternity.