truthhod Quest for Truth in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

The Quest for Truth in Heart of Darkness Conrads Heart of Darkness is set in Africas Congo region, and his descriptions of that take aim be stark yet full of the wonder of discovery as well as the shock that comes from uncovering ugly truths. Conrad was purposefully vague in his setting for Heart of Darkness he never actually named the destination to which Marlow journeyed. This may be because Heart of Darkness was more an inner journey than a journey between places. Conrad juxtaposed his protagonists inward quest with an outward journey through the wilderness of dark Africa. The novels climax was not comprised of actions, but of righteous discoveries and mind awakenings. A stylistic device utilized by Conrad throughout the novel is the highlighting of themes by setting certain symbolic elements in opposition to differentiate symbolic elements. In order to accomplish this, he relied heavily on metaphors. Metaphors only gain meaning, as they are associated in the readers mind with images or ideas that are beyond the intrinsic meanings of the words themselves (Searl 1979). In reference to the title Heart of Darkness, Ian Watt said . . . Both of Conrads nouns are densely charged with physical and moral suggestions freed from the restrictions of the article, they combine to generate a sense of puzzlement which prepares us for something beyond our usual expectations if the words do not name what we know, they must be petition us to know what has, as yet, no name (Watt 1963). Resonating throughout Heart of Darkness was the contrast between elements, which may be represented as being light, and elements, which may be characterized as being dark. Light carries with it the metaphorical meanings ... ...Cox, C. B. Conrad Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and Under Western Eyes. London Macmillan Education Ltd., 1987. Guetti, James. Heart of Darkness and the hardship of the Imagination, Sewanee Review LXXIII, No. 3 (Summer 1965), pp. 488-502. Ed. C. B. Cox. Ruthven, K. K. The Savage God Conrad and Lawrence, Critical Quarterly, x, nos 1& 2 (Spring and Summer 1968), pp. 41-6. Ed. C. B. Cox. Street, Brian V. The Savage in Literature. London Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1975. Thornton, A. P. The violet Idea and its Enemies. New York St. Martins Press, 1985. Watts, Cedric. A Preface to Conrad. Essex Longman Group UK Limited, 1993. Wiley, Paul L. Conrads Measure of Man. Madison The University of Wisconsin Press, 1954. Wynne-Davies, Marion. Ed. The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature. New York Prentice Hall General Reference, 1990.