Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Promp #14
Typically, light and dark are used to represent good and evil respectively. Being opposites of each other these two sides are often shown in equal combat. In Heart of Darkness, with its racial themes, it can logically follow the the black Africans represent evil (perhaps a lack of Christianity and a differing family structure) to one of the storytellers and white represents good (lots of Christianity and strong Victorian morals). However, in the overall story, that notion is constantly flipped about. One significant (or at least strongly brought to our attention) detail is the women knitting with black yarn. Later we do see examples of oppression over the black Africans--the groups walking in shackles, working in the mine, and receiving little food. It appears as though the supposedly good, white people are commiting more evil than those depicted as dark. There, light is more representative of oppression, and dark more representative of oppressed. The contrast between light and dark appears again when Marlow enters the dark jungle on a quest for glistening white ivory. It first appears as though the light is the one good thing to come out of the darkness, but wait. What's that! A white fog that has blinded the crew of this steamer! It appears as though the quest for good has blinded the Europeans from seeing the consequences of their action, when piloting their steaming and of the greater implications of the ivory trade on native Africans. Darkness appears again, and very prominently in the last line, "the heart of immense darkness." But where does this darkness come from? Were the black Africans the cause of the corruption? Is this the corruption of their souls? Or is this darkness uncertainty? Conrad blends the two colors together and uses them to represent similar ideas. Perhaps this works to show the uncertainty and constant doubts man has when determining the good or evil of an action. Perhaps he means to show the corruption of the soul. Perhaps he truly means to be rascist and the darkness is the darkness of their skin and souls. All of these ideas can be found within the work and having all these ideas present contributes greatly to the notion that the blending of the two extremes is meant to showcase our own doubt.
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I find it interesting how you used the light to represent whites (and therefore oppression), while the darkness represents the blacks ( and the oppressed). I hadn’t thought of it in this manner. In fact, the idea that the light was harmful--whether as fog, a negative concept, or even the damaging search for ivory--escaped me entirely. Yet, after reading your views, I can see how the classic associations of benevolence towards light and malevolence towards the darkness are somewhat inverted in the novel.
ReplyDeleteIn this context, I think the origin of the darkness you mention is really just the absence of the “light” of the British. The constant references to a “heart of darkness” increase as Marlow moves further from the company station. Perhaps the darkness is a refuge, the last hidden sanctuary of the blacks before the British extend their influence over them and oppress them with their light.
That’s quite a bit to think about.
Now I wish I had read a little bit closer. To be honest, I didn't think there was much to the light/darkness contrast, but I completely missed the point of the white fog that obscured the crew's vision. I mentioned in my post that, though the darkness of the Africans can be interpreted as their corruption, this idea doesn't fit with other ideas in the work. Seeing the darkness of their skin in light of the darkness used to describe the rest of Africa illuminates the idea that the African's darkness is simply how they're seen by the British. I mentioned that darkness can be a proxy for greed in the context of the novel. The Africans are part of the object of this greed. The White men use the Africans to fulfill their desire for ivory, or I could be completely wrong. The "blending of extremes" makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteJack, I agree with the fact that the contrast between light and dark can mean many things, and to say there is only one singular working interpretation of what “light” and what “darkness” do symbolize in the “Heart of Darkness” would be false. In truth it seems that some of Conrad’s descriptions of what is light and what is dark contradict each other at one point or another thus either the author wishes us to be confused as some think, or the concept of light and darkness do not represent simply one idea throughout the novella rather these two words are able to shift in their different connotations when necessary. For example, you mention that light and dark could represent the conflict between good versus evil, oppressors versus the oppressed, or corruption versus innocence. I say why can’t all of these at some point in the novella be true? The point you make about the women weaving black yarn is interesting because you point out that this seems to be a contradiction to the normal use of “dark” imagery. However, throughout the novella I encountered multiple passages where I began to wonder whether the “dark” diction was being used simply to identify things as either being, in a person’s place, ignorant or in an object or location’s place unknown. The “light” or whiteness would then represent being knowledgeable or something that is known and “proper” to civil life. It is also later mentioned how ignorant women are and this is one of the corresponding facts I base this conclusion off of.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of the contrast of light and dark in any way similar to this. Thinking back, the thought that white and light, in the reality of Conrad's novel, represent oppression while darkness and black symbolize more of a peaceful state that has been disturbed by the white/light oppression seems to fit well into the scope of the novel. I enjoy the irony between this view of the roles of light and dark and the typical associations of the two entities. On top of this, it seems that the bit of white light which comes from the African darkness is the corruptor which signals and draws in the greater mass of the corruption, giving reason to the Europeans to enter the darkness and attempt to tame it and shape it to serve them.
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