The Truth To Be Found In "Heart Of Darkness"

Heart of Darkness is one of Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)'s celebrated novels. It was first serialized in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1899. Since its publication, Heart of Darkness has become progressively more influential during the following decades.The theme of this novel is the most controversial, since Heart of Darkness is a mixture of adventure story, psychological case study, political satire, black humor comedy, and skeptical meditation. In order to give a most justifiable analysis of the theme of this novel, it is better to know the author's tenet in literary creation first. In 1897, two years before Heart of Darkness was published, Conrad declared publicly in his famous "Preface" to The Nigger of the Narcissus that he believed that an artist's major concern should be revealing the truth. Therefore the theme of Heart of Darkness should be studied with the light of this declaration.The truth embedded in Heart of Darkness lies in two aspects. Firstly, this novel exposes the true nature of colonialism, discloses the atrocity and fraudulence in colonial activities, and questions the justifiability of commercialism. Secondly, it probes into the dark side of human being, the most primitive form of human existence, and the hidden meaning in the frenzy lives of trees, grass, black natives and white colonists that struggle against each other in the suffocating tropical climate. In his exploration into the latter aspect of truth, Conrad's philosophical inquiry shares a lot with the philosophy of Schopenhauer. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad reveals the enslavement of human beings by their own desire and external forces, and shows some solutions to free oneself from this enslavement: detachment from desire and external forces and compassion with others' suffering.In this thesis, I will take as completely as possible Conrad's major concerns when writing Heart of Darkness into consideration and try to make a comprehensive and justified discovery of what he finds and tries to convey to his readers. This thesis is equally concerned with the public side and the philosophical side of the truth conveyed in this novel. The second chapter is devoted to the analysis of the public side of the truth. The truthconcerning colonialism is studied in four aspects: the senseless and chaotic state of colonial activities, the brutal oppression on the African natives and human degradation, the beguiling nature of colonial process and the rapacity of colonists, and the incompatibility between imperialism and idealism. In the third chapter, I focus on the study of the philosophical side of the truth encompassed in Heart of Darkness. The third chapter discusses Conrad's affinity with Schopenhauer, Conrad's discovery of the enslavement of human beings by desire and external forces, and his solutions to free them from thisenslavement: detachment and compassion.I base my study of the truth conveyed in Heart of Darkness on the author's own perspective. Therefore the direct references I use in this thesis are mainly Conrad's own writings, the philosophy that influenced him most, his life experience, and the text of Heart of Darkness itself. With this approach, I hope I can bring to light what Conrad tried to convey to his readers as truth when he wrote this novel.