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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that argues that a significant feature of Romantic literature is the focus that it places on the individual and the conflict that arises between desires and viewpoints of characters and the social expectations that are imposed upon them. This conflict is particularly evident in Joseph Conrad’s complex psychological novel Heart of Darkness. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khconhod.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
characters and the social expectations that are imposed upon them. This conflict is particularly evident in Joseph Conrads complex psychological novel Heart of Darkness. While this novel is a
work of fiction, it presents many unpleasant truths-horrible truths, in fact-that call into question the rationalizations behind the European imperialism evident in Conrads era, and also the concept that savagery
lurks just beneath the veneer of civilized behavior (Mitchell 20). This particular "truth" is at the heart of the novel, as it presents the story of Kurtz, a company agent
sent into the deepest Congolese jungle to procure ivory. Prior to coming to Africa, Kurtz is described to the storys narrator, Marlow, as a man of considerable education, talents and
refinement. Kurtz comes to the Congo filled with ideals and with what he perceives as a humanitarian vision of bringing the benefits of civilization, in the form of European
culture and religion, to African savages. However, rather than finding that he can change the jungle, Kurtz finds that the jungle changes him. In Africa, Kurtz is away from
all of the restrictions that normally control behavior-no police, no courts, no neighbors to pass judgment. His civilized veneer erodes quickly and he establishes a jungle kingdom in which he
darkest impulses are given free reign. Through the eyes of Marlow, Conrad makes it clear that Kurtzs nineteenth century notions of European superiority did not prepare him emotionally or psychologically
for what he experienced in Africa. Freed from societal restrictions by geography, Conrad describes Kurtz as "hollow at the core" (Conrad 133). The experience of the unrestrained power that white
men could impose on African corrupted Kurtz, as it "whispered to him thing about himself which he could not know, things of which he had no conception till he took
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