Conrads Heart Of Darknesss :: essays research papers

Quinn on Heart of DarknessWe cannot read Quinns Ishmael without re-evaluating ourselves. Quinn confronts us with powerful revelations about mankind. According to Quinn, if we continue to live in our taker livelinessstyles, we will eventually destroy ourselves. Conrads Heart of Darkness illustrates a real life manifestation of Quinns insights. Written nearly a century ago, Conrads tale of early English imperialistic taker lifestyle calm down resembles present day taker lifestyle. We still try to rule other lands and people. We still have the attitude that everything centers on man. We still exhaust Earths resources and kill its creations. Above all, we still do all this with ignorance.With Ishmael as a guide, we can better understand how Conrads more intricate story critiques taker lifestyle. Laying out the major(ip) issues in Ishmael will reveal insight to the imagery and symbolism in Heart of Darkness.Quinn states that man believes that the leaver community to be a military post of lawless chaos and savage, relentless competition, where every creature goes in terror of its life (Quinn 117). Not until takers conquer these places of lawless chaos can these lands be paradise for man (222). Until then, these lands and its inhabitants are wrenched and in the unconventional. Conrad establishes this mentality at the beginning of Heart of Darkness. We are instantly aware of the imagery of dark and descend. Traditionally, dark represents evil and light represents good. Conrad begins with associating savagery with darkness and civilization with light. Conrads protagonist, Marlow, explains his version of the origin of England. He asserts to his shipmates, When the Romans first came here, nineteen hundred years ago Light came out of this river Thames since. only if darkness was here yesterday (Conrad 3). Takers demand that everyone and everything must be civilized. To takers, civilize means living by their beliefs and their lifestyle. Like gods, takers believe the y know what is right and what is wrong to do, and what theyre doing is right (Quinn 167). Everything and everyone is to live the taker lifestyle because that lifestyle is the right way to live. Oddly enough, the taker culture actually performs the exact opposite results from what it attempts to accomplish. As Ishmael preaches, everything was in good order. It was the Takers who introduced disorder into the world (146). When man thought he was not exempt from the laws of nature, he and everything was fine.