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A critical essay on the marginalization of social groups in

Heart of Darkness.
Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, is a novella which centres around
Charles Marlow, an introspective man who is a sailor, and his voyage, presumably
up the Congo river. The narrator is Marlow, a British sailor, and together with an
African ivory trader named Kurtz, they are the main characters in the book. This
book is known for trying to create a parallel between London and the Congo Free
State as places of darkness which already makes the reader think of the meaning
behind the title. Conrads main point was to illustrate that there are few
differences between the civilized people, the Europeans, and the people who are
being described as savages, the Africans. But what makes this book so
mysterious is the fact that the only people in the book who have a name are
Marlow and Kurtz, while there are plenty other important characters. Throughout
the book Heart of Darkness the three main social groups are in fact being
marginalized.
Of all the social groups in Heart of Darkness, especially the women are being
marginalized. None of the female characters have a name and are simply
referred to with a title. For example:; the knitting woman or the mistress. In
order to know why Conrad chose to do this we first have to look into the
character or Marlow. Charles Marlow is seen as an alter ego of Joseph Conrad.
The trading world the novella is all about certainly revolves mainly about men
and not many women are featured in the stories. Actually Marlow thinks women
live in a totally different realm. For example, on page 18 he says: Its queer how
out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there
has never been anything like it, and never can be. Further down in the book
Marlow again talks about that beautiful world of their own (p. 79), and he refers
back to the women. The points that Marlow make in the book look like he thinks
women do not have any intellect and he is in fact looking down on them. Since
this is the way Marlow is thinking it is likely Conrad feels the same way and has
the same views and therefore he choose to not give them a name and let it look
like they have less social status.
In the book every person, other than Kurtz and Marlow, are only referred to by
their profession, or just by a title instead of a regular name. For example, we
have the brickmaker and the aunt. In this case race or gender does not matter,
which is interesting. In this case Conrad did not use it directly to define social
status but more as a literary device to put the focus of Marlow and Kurtz. As a
reader you remember names easier than an accountant, and since there are
only two names in the book Conrad really shows how important they actually are
for the story. Since the story is about the parallels between Europe and Africa,
Conrad chose to give only two characters a name, to emphasize that idea.
Finally, Conrad also depicts the natives as unsophisticated. Just like the women in
the book, the natives are being marginalized and represented as if they are

barbaric. The natives are being dehumanized. For example, Marlow is more
interested in an accountant who keeps his books in apple pie order (p. 27) than
a black man who is dying. Another good example is when Marlow encounters a
black man who was shot and ended up dead, but found an agent who was not
doing his job properly more horrifying than the dead man. Marlow makes it look
like the natives do not talk and he describes their form of communication as
growing murmur and violent babble of uncouth sounds (p 28). Conrad literally
makes them voiceless. Also, Africa is often associated with darkness and Conrad
uses imagery that associates the natives with that darkness. In the book, the
natives are being described as non-human things, such as black shapes (p.25) ,
a whirl of black limbs (p.57). Another example is: A black figure stood up,
strode on long black legs, waving long black arms, across the glow. It had horns
antelope horns, I thinkon its head. Some sorcerer, some witch-man, no doubt: it
looked fiendlike enough. (p. 109). It is as if they are wicked and supernatural.
To conclude is Heart of Darkness actually a misogynistic book and Joseph Conrad
marginalizes many characters. Not all of them in a very horrible way but this is
the reason why so many critics call this book and the writer racist. Conrad does
seem to belittle women and native Africans especially, but we cannot be sure if
this was his intention since Joseph Conrad is not alive any more in the present
day. Even though this book is at least a century old, the book is still open for
discussion today and it is a book that keeps all of us thinking.

Outline

The prescribed question: Which social groups are being marginalized,


excluded or silenced within the text?
The title of the text the written task will be based on: Heart of Darkness
(by Joseph Conrad)
Part of the course to which the written task refers: Part 4, critical study:
literature
The thesis statement: Throughout the book Heart of Darkness the three
main social groups are being marginalized.
Topic sentence 1: In Heart of Darkness especially the women are being
marginalized.
Evidence: The women don't have a name and go by a title and therefore
they have less social status in the book and are portrayed as less
significant.
Topic sentence 2: The natives in Heart of Darkness are also being
marginalized.
Evidence: The natives also dont have a name and go by a title and they
are being portrayed in the book as non-human beings and as evil
creatures.
Topic sentence 3: Every person in the book, except for Kurtz and Marlow,
are being called by a title or by their profession instead of by a name.
Evidence: Self analysis
Word count: 843

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