Economics class at 8 a.m. is the best way to start the day! The teacher slogs through examples as the seconds creep by. The kid in the front row — the one who disproves the maxim “There’s no such thing as a stupid question” — asks which way the demand curve slopes. You’ve drawn the demand curve the same way for nine months. You groan inwardly, wishing the ceiling would collapse on this person, possibly impaling his bowels and spattering bloody innards across the walls of Conservation. Your heart of darkness is showing.
Heart of darkness? Yes, the little voice inside of every human being that spews ill wishes and malice. In his novel “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad explores this nasty side of human nature — the animated-devil-on-the-shoulder internalized. The theme of Conrad’s 20th century novel stretches seamlessly into today’s world. Many things have changed since 1902, but there’s still a demon in all of us.
Conrad’s novel, set during the British colonization of Africa, figuratively explores said internal demon. The story is told by Marlow, a veteran sailor who narrates events from his youth.
As a young lad, Marlow is consumed by a desire to tour the Congo. He finagles a position with a Belgian trading company there and sails to Africa ASAP.
Marlow intimates his journey brought him into the “heart of an immense darkness,” that his final destination felt evil from the start. Africa gave off bad vibes, if you will.
These vibes radiate from another man central to the story: Mr. Kurtz. A star agent for the company, Kurtz ships back more ivory from his isolated outpost than any other Belgian employee in Africa. Though his character looms large throughout the story, Conrad doesn’t introduce Kurtz until page 76 of 95. Marlow’s early and unwonted obsession with Kurtz baits the reader — anticipation builds until he _finally_ makes an appearance.
In the company, Kurtz’s reputation precedes him. He is enigmatic, charismatic and tireless. To hear him speak is to hear the words of a demigod. His loyal followers are sucked in by his way with words and compelling personality. Kurtz is all others aspire to be: leadership personified, intelligence given a name and face.
But the jungle has warped him. This man, once restrained and eloquent, now fastens severed enemy heads to stakes because he enjoys the view – their decomposing leers are clearly visible from his cozy cottage windows. He lords over the natives, wages wars with neighboring tribes and cuts down all opposition. The isolation has driven him mad.
It is a madness that showcases his heart of darkness. Formerly hidden, Kurtz now wears ill intentions on his sleeve. He’s disposed of the restraint that hallmarks sanity and bears his own personal demon for all to see — inhuman drive and bloodthirsty brutality too heinous to ignore.
Humans, it seems, develop a sick fascination with the evil and unhinged. Marlow recognizes greatness in Kurtz despite his insanity and chooses to defend Kurtz to the death. He firmly takes Kurtz’s side, acknowledging his own heart of darkness is aligned with Kurtz’s.
Interestingly, Conrad brands Marlow’s choice as the lesser of two evils. This, he implies, is life: choosing the better of two bad options. According to Conrad, we must listen to our hearts of darkness, otherwise we miss a dimension of our human selves. After all, how can we choose intelligently between evils if we’re blind to evil in the first place?
So listen to your heart of darkness. It’s going to say awful, venomous things — things you are ashamed to think. Things that hurt others (guilty). Things that paint you in a loathsome light (also guilty). It will make you wish a bus would flatten a certain teacher or that a meteor would crash into the person walking at a snail’s pace in front of you. Let it! It’s part of your humanity.
If you tune these things out, you remain ignorant to your dark side. Light can overcome only if you acknowledge the dark and rule it out. In Conrad’s words, live by the lesser of two evils. Maybe the ceiling doesn’t have to collapse on econ-question kid… perhaps a trip to the dentist instead?
This is the best we paltry humans can do.
