Heart Of Darkness Quotes

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Heart of Darkness “Men! The only animal in the world to fear” (Lawrence). D.H Lawrence makes a statement with this quote by saying man should ultimately fear themselves. It shows that a person doesn’t have to be a psychopath to abandon morals. Moreover, in Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, he shows that man can lose all of his humanity by being taken out of society. Conrad uses the literary elements of conflict, characterization, and symbolism to illustrate the theme that when humans are surrounded by darkness it is hard to see the truth. Conflict is used to convey both a positive and negative light on the characters in novel. One of the main conflicts that happen throughout the book is Marlow versus himself. He goes between doing what…show more content…
The most used characterization in the novel is Kurtz and the growth of his greed. Kurtz’s greed grows the longer he stays in the jungle. Kurtz says, “My intended, my ivory, my station, my river…” (Conrad 29). This quote shows that Kurtz thinks everything is his but in fact Kurtz owns nothing and his greed has blinded him to the real truth. As we continue through the book we see more of Kurtz development. When Marlow gets there Kurtz is very sick and they have to take him home. As Kurtz starts down the river his health gets worse and one night Marlow goes to see him and he sees Kurtz’s humanity come back. Kurtz whispers, “The horror! The horror” (Conrad 64), right before he dies.. As the darkness leaves him Kurtz sees the evil he has committed and realizes what he has done in the jungle. Through Kurtz’s character you see how a man can be blind to the truth when surround incomplete…show more content…
One thing that has major symbolism in the novel is the white sepulcher. The white sepulcher symbolizes hypocrisy in the company. The company looks good on the outside but inside they are taking advantage of the natives and tearing a country apart (Conrad). Another piece of symbolism and it is the painting of the women. The painting symbolizes how the Europeans are blind to the truth. Again the Europeans are destroying the Congo but they don’t seem to care. “And there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids, a head that seemed to sleep at the top of the pole” (Conrad 52), Kurtz beheaded the natives just because he wanted to. This ties in perfectly with the theme because it shows that Europeans are so blinded by the greed of ivory that they don’t notice everyone dying around them and their actions towards the
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