Use of Light and Darkness in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essa

Use of Light and Darkness in Joseph Conrads purport of Darkness Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness contrasts barge and drearyness, to fight down the civilize and uncivilized sides of the world. Conrad uses light to represent the civilized side of humanity objet dart contrasting the dark with the uncivilized and savage. Throughout the thematic stages of the falsehood, that is the Thames river London, the companys office in Belgium, the journey to the heart of darkness and the conclusion, light and dark is apply to represent these sides of humanity, but on a deeper level many assumptions of darkness and light argon challenged, with the appearance of light and dark, and in turn good and hatred contrasting with the reality. From the initial setting, the Thames river, London, on the cruising yawl the Nellie, light and darkness argon used to symbolize the good and evil side of humanity. Marlows tale of the congou is where light and darkness is used to represent the civilized and u ncivilized. Marlow talks of the lights that are reflected in the water, creating the idea that the members of the Nellie are civilized. The lights of London are again used represent the civilized nature of the society, with connotations of good coming from the bright lights of civilization. nevertheless this is then contrasted with the juxtaposition of the light, with Marlow saying - And this also has been one of the dark places of the Earth. By saying this Marlow is portraying London as a city with once the same darkness of civilization, of which the civilized Romans brought light to. This plaque of light representing the civilized demonstrates the dominant assumptions of the white society, later in the legend it is demonstrated that civilized does no... ...story. However Conrad also challenges many assumptions of darkness beingness solely associated with evil, and light being solely associated with good, as throughout the novel the light of the white society is critiqued, rep resenting the evil side of humanity. Works Cited and Consulted Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Middlesex, England Penguin Publishers, 1983. Gillon, Adam. (1982). Joseph Conrad. Twaynes English Author Series Number 333. Kinley E. Roby, ed. Boston Twayne. Joseph Conrad. The Encarta 1998 Encyclopedia Online. Microsoft, 1998. Kunitz, Stanley J. Joseph Conrad. twentieth Century Authors Vol. T. New York H.W. Wilson Company, 1942. 307-9 Stape, J.H.. The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Cambridge Cambridge University Press. Taylor, Derek. Conrads Heart of Darkness. The Explicator. No.4 Summer 1998 195-8.