OBSCURITY  Darkness is defined as the inability to see and absence of moral values.

Darkness is all
around us, yet it is concealed and requires deep interpretation. In Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of
Darkness, one of his purposes is to inform people of the hidden darkness in our world. He uses many
aspects of the Congo at the time, as well as alluding to the issue in our own societies. Marlow, the main
character, provides a new perspective on this topic. Marlow sees his surroundings not only on a literal level,
but also as a more profound meaning of darkness. For example, Marlow ventures through the Congo on a
river for majority of the time, and is constantly surrounded by the river banks, forest walls, and murky
waters. One would perceive these surroundings as they see them instead of actually being concerned with
what they hide. In this case, the river banks and forest walls actually hide many calamities, such as the dying
natives of the Congo. When Marlow is looking for rocks, stones, and dead wood in the murky river, he says
“When you have to attend to things of that sort, to the mere incidents of the surface, the reality-the reality,
I tell you-fades. The inner truth is hidden-luckily, luckily.” (Conrad, 1998, p 183). He is relating to this idea of
misconception of deeper meanings through symbolism. The “incidents” of the “surface” is what we usually
interpret something as, and this keeps us misinformed of what it actually is or means. In our society, people
are unaware of the actual cost of diamonds. They see diamonds as expensive stones which can be worn as
flaunting jewellery. Although, diamonds are actually the modern day ivory of the Congo, and are obtained in
exchange of peoples lives in Africa. This leads me to question: How are we any less savage than the natives
in the Congo? But the assumption that all natives in the Congo are savage can be challenged. Marlow was
told by the headman of the cannibalistic tribe aboard his steamer “catch’im. Give’im to us…Eat ‘im!”
(Conrad, 1998, p 193). He was struck with a sudden realization of how hungry these “savage” people were.
Their rotten hippo meat was thrown overboard, which left them starving. Although, they possess the self
control that any other civilized person would have. Marlow was even more shocked and said “Why in the
name of all the gnawing devils of hunger they didn’t go for us-they were thirty to five-and have a good tuck
in for once, amazes me now when I think of it.” (Conrad, 1998, p 194). Linking into the obscurity of things,
people judge others, such as the cannibals on Marlow’s steamer, to be savage. It is not evident to them that
the cannibals are just like any other person, but have different traits and traditions. Our society continues to
make assumptions on how they see things. Ironically, they can’t see what they are actually doing within
their society. Conrad describes England as being cloaked in darkness even if the sun is shining bright. He is
metaphorically saying that we are blind to the fact that we cause mass amounts of destruction around the
world. Our large corporations raid continents, such as Africa, for their rich resources and deprive the
population of their rights. Almost everyone that supports the company by purchasing such goods, are
completely oblivious to the fact that these corrupt businesses ravage areas like the Congo. In addition, the
darkness is everywhere and all around us, but is inconceivable for our people to realize. We prioritize
observation, which makes it nearly impossible to penetrate to the interior of an idea in this world.