Pride Goes Before a Fall

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad

Instilled in each person, resides a quality that gives purpose to life and motivation to actions. Pride is the very reason people continue to live their lives each day and attempt to overcome obstacles. Without pride, people are merely hollowed shells with no heart, no mind, and no soul. Without these essentials, mankind loses its passion and vigor in life and becomes empty and useless, falling from the great peak it has risen to. Joseph Conrad, a believer that “pride goes before fall” clearly demonstrates this human weakness through his novel, Heart of Darkness. From first hearing of the inspiring character, Mr. Kurtz, near the beginning of the novel, Conrad’s readers are instantly charmed into discovering more about the powerful man, but as the story continues, Mr. Kurtz becomes tarnished and his pride is stripped from him, leaving him to fall from his pedestal, eventually leading to his death. By witnessing Mr. Kurtz’s failure, the reader witnesses the relationship between pride and success.

Upon arriving in Africa, Marlow, an adventurous seaman searching for mystery, hears of Mr. Kurtz, a powerful man that rakes in more ivory from the wild continent than any other. This man is proclaimed to be the Company’s most valuable employee and Marlow is instantly amazed by his accomplishments. After hearing more of Mr. Kurtz from a variety of people, Marlow begins to envision a strong, assertive man able to control and conquer his surroundings, the people around him, and most importantly, ivory and money. Setting off in a steamer on a wild African river, Marlow and a meager crew begin to search for the African idol.

Days pass and Natives attack leaving the crew wounded. Mr. Kurtz is not found, yet a Russian man who knew the treasured employee appears. Telling Marlow of the mystery man’s past life, Marlow discovers that Mr. Kurtz has been weakening from sickness and is no longer a valuable asset to the Company. Now a useless loose end, the Company wishes to be rid of the man. Marlow joins Mr. Kurtz, turning his back on the Company and becoming just as useless and inconvenient as his idol. Both ruined, Marlow and Mr. Kurtz grow closer from a lack of pride.

Through Mr. Kurtz’s final moments, he struggles with himself and who he has become. Horrified with how his life has turned out, he loses his pride and begins to fall apart internally. Weakness overcomes him and sickness cripples him. Marlow watches as the man he once imagined conquering Africa and controlling its people now lay before him, gasping for help. Once Mr. Kurtz had lost himself, once he had given up his hope and decided to cease his efforts, he had fallen. Sick, weakened, powerless, heartless, and with nothing to be proud of, Mr. Kurtz met the end of his life, the fallen fall.

Pride is an essential necessity that fuels the lives of many, granting them hope, self-esteem, and achievement. Without a purpose in life, one cannot discover his self or find success. While Mr. Kurtz utilized his abilities to overcome his conflicts, he obtained power and used it to conquer Africa, increase the ivory trade, and add to his profits. Once sickness began to take hold of him and he allowed the weakness to overcome him, pride was lost along with everything he had worked for. In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Mr. Kurtz finds himself lost in the heart of darkness with nothing left but failure. Without pride, there is no pedestal for one to stand upon, no ladder to climb, and no success to be found.

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Gloom, Brooding Thames

Book Cover

Flowing continuously with Marlow’s life and constantly reminding him of the great river deep in the heart of Africa, the Thames River plays an important role in Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness. Opening the story along its calm tide, it presents Marlow with the perfect situation to begin his reminiscence, and ending the book, it ties the two tales together, exposing the theme and adding literary value.

Throughout his novel, Joseph Conrad continues to use a pair of adjectives that he originally uses to describe the Thames setting before Marlow begins describing his flashbacks. Constantly describing Africa and its riverbanks as “gloom” and “brooding,” Conrad relates the opening setting with the mysterious and unexplored depths of the African jungle, allowing the reader to successfully comprehend one of the many themes of his writing. No matter where Marlow finds himself in life, he will always be a seaman, a man who travels the world and follows the waters. “Nothing is easier for a man who has, as the phrase goes, “followed the sea” with reverence and affection, than to evoke the great spirit of the past upon the lower reaches of the Thames.” (Page 3) Whether he’s venturing through the wild of Africa, or through the fog of England, Marlow finds himself on the tides, and the tides never let him forget who he is and who he once was.

“The sun sank low, and from glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat, as if about to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that gloom brooding.” (Page 3) Conrad’s novel opens on a pessimistic and somber tone, foreshadowing the unfortunate events to come. The Thames River is described both as an old, profound, and tranquil waterway, and as a motionless and mournful setting, creating a sort of paradox that prepares the reader for the rest of Conrad’s book. This opening setting not only paves a smooth introduction into Marlow’s story of the past, but also brings the stories together, ending the tale, and completing the novel.

Almost the entire setting of Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, takes place on the tides. Relating the wild, primitive actions of Africa’s Natives with the isolation and greed of European civilization encroaching upon their lands, taking their ivory, Conrad uses the Thames River to aware the reader of the connection. While man desperately tries to overcome his weaknesses and escape from the madness of the world, he always falls back into places. The river only leads in one direction, and man will always reach the end one way or another. Although Marlow was able to escape the gloom, brooding of the African river, he has found himself traveling the gloom, brooding of the Thames River, forever venturing the tides, forever battling his past, and forever discovering himself.

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Dictating Civilization

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad

With each new step, society marches forward, progressing, imposing, and overcoming. Marching through the heart of Africa, European society encroached upon the Natives and changed the continent for marketing and cultural purposes. From the pages of his novel, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad expresses his own personal views on the march of civilization, carefully selecting details and meticulously constructing his diction to clearly illustrate his thoughts.

Repetition, repetition, repetition. A march involves placing one foot after the other in a continuous motion, repeating, and repeating. Conrad clearly demonstrates this action through his sentence structure and word choices. Phrases are repeated and thoughts are restated, reminding the reader of the constant presence and never-ending pressure the Europeans enforced on the Natives of Africa. Over and over they came, enslaved, and stole the people and riches from the land. Africa was changing, “death skulking in the air, in the water, in the bush.”

This change in the unexplored world had become a common event and an ancient story heard time and time again. To capture this, Conrad continues to write his novel in first person, Marlow telling the story as if he was sitting beside the reader, his mind lost in memories. Seaman dialect is thrown in to give character, personality, and charm, and to remind the reader of the reality. “What d’ye call ‘em?” Marlow asked, involving his listeners with his storytelling, keeping the reader interested and aware.

Insuring that the readers understand how the Europeans invaded, and how civilization spread throughout Africa, Conrad installed many similes and metaphors throughout his book. “It is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds,” the way the Europeans came. With this imagery in his head and an understandable comparison to relate to, the reader is well informed and not left confused. Complex ideas are made more simple, and foreign scenes become familiar.

By manipulating his words, his sentence structures, and his meanings, Joseph Conrad was able to convey his own thoughts and views across his pages and into the minds of others. Through his skilled hand, words flowed, creating images of encroaching cultures and opinions on the situation. Through his novel, Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad revealed the march of the Europeans and the progression and extinction of civilizations.

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Sailing to a New Future

Stock© Maximilian Weisbecker, Some Rights Reserved, Unsplash

Resting along the western shoreline of Europe, sit Spain and Portugal, juxtaposing against the enormous blue of the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to 1521, the massive body of water was a mystery, a hope, and an opportunity to explore and expand. At first, the countries were unsure of what they would discover once venturing into the unknown. Wishing for trade, riches, and new lands, they funded explorers to set sail and follow the ocean currents. Fortunately, Spain and Portugal were among the first countries to benefit from overseas exploration.

Beginning exploration in 1418, Portuguese began the sailing trend. After Christopher Columbus made his first voyage in 1492, Portugal was pleased to find an entire continent hiding across the waves. Soon, other countries were interested in sharing in the wealth of the “New World.”

Upon discovering North America, Columbus began to create new trades with the Natives. “Their Highnesses may see that I shall give them all the gold they enquire, if they will give me a little assistance; spices also, and cotton,…and mastic…I think also I have found rhubarb and cinnamon, and I shall find a thousand other valuable things,” Columbus wrote, recalling the trades he had transacted and the valuable resources he had brought back to Europe. Soon the Columbian Exchange was created and goods were constantly sailing the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and the Americas.

Unfortunately, the Columbian Exchange did not only spread valuable resources and goods, but also unpleasant nuisances. Upon viewing Aztec drawings, one can view the diseases, plagues, and illnesses that struck the Indians, coming from the foreign countries across the sea. Aztecs were covered with spots from diseases such as small pox, as they were sick to their stomachs. Many became ill, and some did not survive the epidemic.

With new equipment such as astrolabes that determined the latitude of ships, and rudders that were used to steer through the ocean, explorers were able to journey all over the world. In 1497, Vasco da Gama made his first voyage to India, opening the portal between the Western World and the Eastern World. New knowledge was shared, along with trade, resources, and inventions. In 1519, Magellan Elcano sailed around the entire world, proving the Earth’s roundness and revealing unexplored waterways. After Spain and Portugal began overseas expeditions, the world began to grow more connected.

Mankind is constantly changing and striving to progress and with the vast unknown sprawled before Spain and Portugal, overseas expeditions were born. Upon finding new land, Europe began to expand and benefit from new trades, resources, and goods. Even the Natives of the Americas were affected, if not always in a fortunate manner. Prior to 1521, Portuguese and Spanish sailors left a lasting impact on England, the Americas, Asia, and the entire world.

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