The river plays a vital role in the novel, "Heart of Darkness". The river allows access into the interior of Africa, or more commonly known at this time as the 'dark continent'. The river also acts as a divider, keeping Marlow separated from the natives and the evil ways of Kurtz. The river allows Marlow to see both sides of the continent, but it also allows Marlow to see both sides of a situation.
The river is also very hard to travel up; because of its strong current it is continually pushing back Marlow and his crew, almost as it it is trying to expel them from the interior. The slow progress upstream allows Marlow to get a sense of what the Congo really is. It lets him get a taste of the horrors and contorting power of dark, dense, wilderness.
The color of the river is also important. The brown current is symbolic of the natives that live in the Congo, for as the river pushes back the steamboat back towards civilization, the natives try and chase Marlow out of the Congo. The trip downstream was also much faster and easier than the progress into the Congo, "The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress"(151). This makes it seem like the trip back towards civilization was inevitable, as the saying goes, 'what goes up must come down'.
The trip back home was also much easier for Marlow because making his way into the Congo, he had to fight off temptations and evil to choose the person that he wanted to be. The river reflected this because it also pushed back on Marlow, on his boat, and made progress slow and dangerous with its many sangs and traps along the way. While leaving the Congo, the river was much swifter, making travel much smoother and more rapid. This is the same for Marlow's thoughts because he had overcome the temptation and could leave the Congo knowing that he had just conquered his situation and made the right choice, sanity, over the choice of his famed colleague, Kurtz.
3 comments:
The river really was an important symbol in the novel. In addition to everything you said, I saw it as symbolizing something inside all humans. Conrad portrays his belief that an inner-evil lies within everyone, even if they appear to be angelic on the outside. This is just how on the coast, the colonies looked successful and were not looked down upon back in Europe. However, the river did not just pass through the colonies, but through the interior; through the heart of darkness. The river symbolizes the invisible thread that connects our good side with our bad side; just as it connected the good colonies with the evil interior.
I also agree that the color of the river is very important. Conrad chooses to make it a brown current flowing out of the heart of darkness. Brown is a color thats makes you think of the river as murky and contaminated. It is almost like when it ran through the heart of darkness, some of the darkness ran off into the river. Perhaps the river is moving so swift away from the interior is so that it can get away from the evil. The river is slow when going towards the interior because it does not want to be there any more than the people travelling the river do. The river portrays the hesitation of Marlow going into the heart of darkness and the speed of him wanting to flee it.
The river definitely is a major symbol in the novel mainly because it leads Marlow and the expedition, towards the interior; just as Marlow journerys deeper into his soul. I had never thought about how the current was a symbol trying to push Marlow out of the interior and back to civilization. Nice point.
I don't agree however, that it was inevitable that Marlow come back to civilization. If you look at how Marlow was trying to justify Kurtz's actions, and was becoming less disturbed and confused by what he saw, Marlow was really close to going over the edge. The fast trip back is more symbolic of Marlow being afraid of going over the edge, and trying to run from his fears; perhaps before it was too late.
Good job analyzing a tough subject.
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