Heart of Darkness: Narration as Storytelling - Essay Example

and Number Heart of Darkness: Narration as Storytelling “...the utter savagery, had closed round him,--all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. Theres no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable. And it has a fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination-you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate." Marlow, as the main the main character in Heart of Darkness, tells the story of his voyage up the Congo River which he took as a young man. Marlow’s tale is framed by a larger narrative guided by the above quote, which turns him into a kind of storyteller in that he enhances the story with his own perceptions. His narrative is also framed by another narrative, a second unnamed narrator [one of the four listening to his story] who provides a broader view of the story being told through the eyes of the other listeners—all of whom hold his conventional and positive view of Britain’s role as an imperialist nation. Because Marlow is the storyteller who actually experienced the events he describes, as a self-described romantic since childhood, the telling of it, while possibly reliable in basic detail, may be unreliable in terms of the perceptions he weaves throughout the story and attempts to convey. This latter part of the thesis is what the narrator reinforces in his portrayal of Marlow as an outsider with views inconsistent with mainstream British thinking at the time. “The worst that could be said of him was that he did not represent his class,” (Conrad 48),“...a Buddha preaching in European clothes” (Conrad 50). The narrator, who colors our thinking regarding the story, is obviously uncomfortable with its critical tone. “I listened on the watch for the sentence, for the word, that would give me the clue to the faint uneasiness inspired by this narrative...” (Conrad 83). Admitting that seaman like Marlow are more apt to explore the intricacies of cultures and situations they encounter, he casts subtle doubt upon the reliability of his story as enhanced and ephemeral. “...to him [Marlow] the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine” (Conrad 48). While insisting his only interest is in telling the story, and “not what happened to me personally” (Conrad 51), Marlow admits he wants to share with the group his experiences so that they will “understand the effect of it on me” (Conrad 51). In other words, much of the reason he is telling the story is to reinforce the affect [perceptual] his travels on the river, his observances of the ills of British colonialism, and his relationship with Kurtz, the Russian, and other characters within the colonial environment had on him. Right there we might question how these perceptions he offers color the reality and reliability of events. Ought we, since the art of storytelling is also the art of embellishment, necessarily accept the story as completely reliable and “true.” His admission that he leads a young African to believe he has power back in Europe is the first sign that his integrity may be questionable and the reliability of the story as well. Regarding Kurtz evil practices and ultimate end, Marlow tells Kurtz cohorts, “Mr. Kurtzs reputation is safe with me. I did not know how truly I spoke” (Conrad 139). In terms of storytelling, he has, however, maintained dedication to the art. He isn’t sure at one point and questions the narrator regarding whether he has imparted an accurate enough description of Kurtz and the general environment. He asks the narrator: “Do you see him? Do you see the story?...It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream...” (Conrad 82). It is important to him that his story is both sufficiently descriptive and that the listener [narrator] believes it is credible. Ironically, later in the story he feels the need to explain to the narrator the truth of what he is telling him about Kurtz’s last hours and the violent words exchanged between them. He knows the account must sound unreliable given Kurtz is dying and Marlow supposedly admires him, as we discover later. “They [Kurtz’s words] had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares” (Conrad 144). Upon hearing of Kurtz’s death, he once again refers to dreams. “I remained to dream the nightmare out to the end” (Conrad 150). Dreams are hardly reality. He portrays Kurtz as an essentially good man if deluded, created and corrupted by the colonialist system. Despite everything negative he has learned about Kurtz from the young Russian and senses from his interaction with the natives and others, Marlow maintains a mysterious connection with Kurtz on a basic adavistic level. One wonders how much of the story has been created to support the reasonableness of that connection with a person undoubtedly evil. Describing Kurtz’s last moments, he writes, “I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror” (Conrad 149). It is simply difficult to believe, or for the narrator to believe, that all elements of the story are true, yet the copious detail in the story is hard to resist in that respect. Without break the action moves hurriedly from one event to the next, giving the reader the impression that Marlow is making it up as he goes along. Even when he turns over Kurtz papers to his Intended the conversation moves from one untruth to the next, as Marlow acknowledges everything she says is true pertaining to Krutz as somewhat of a Renaissance man. He does not tell her what he has discovered about him, and in the process, discovered about himself. Conclusion Maintstream society in Britain at the time viewed as positive Britain’s colonialist role and would hardly have accepted the events told in the story as true or reliable. If they did, they would certainly think the events were necessary reactions to primitive threats against legitimate authority of colonial rule. Readers can hardly believe that the narrator--true to the notion that Britain’s forays into colonialism were positive—would want to believe the story as truthful from beginning to end. For the previous reasons given Marlow might possibly have embellished the story to prove his point about the nature of man as dark and primitive despite his outward pretensions to civility. Like many a storyteller, “Marlow showing[ed] in this remark the weakness of many tellers of tales who seem so often unaware of what their audience would best like to hear...” (Conrad 51). As such, the likelihood of his listeners believing everything he said would be remote. No European of that day would want to face the reality of the brutality wrought by colonial imperialism. Work Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. London: Publisher: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1946 Read More