Heart Of Darkness Analytical Essay

Many believe that the essence of a person, his or her moral values and behaviors, are shaped by their surroundings and the people they encounter. There are three main ways our world molds us into who we ultimately become, the culture we are submersed into, the physical sensations we experience, and the geographical location of ourselves. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the main character, Marlow, goes on a journey where he leaves his old life behind and engrosses himself in a new and exciting world. Entering this new culture causes him to redefine his moral standards, and discover that civilization is a dastardly mask used to shade us from seeing how the world actually is.
Women and Men are viewed quite differently in different cultures. When Marlow is still in Europe he views women as less valuable than men, and cannot believe he asks his aunt for help when trying to get a job. He exclaims, “‘I was not used to get things that way…would you believe it? – I tried the women’” (60). Marlow obviously sees women as less competent than men. After Marlow reaches the Congo, he sees how women are viewed there, like “magnificent” (132) beings. He sees a woman and thinks of her as “a wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman” …show more content…
In Europe, the men that travel to the Congo are “pilgrims” (80), they are even emissaries “of light, something like a lower sort of apostle” (65). The ‘civilized’ people think that all the men who travel to the Congo are going to convert poor lost souls. But not Marlow; Marlow – because of his trip – realizes that the men are merely “hunters for gold or pursuers of fame … greatness had not floated on the ebb off [the Congo River] into the mystery of an unknown” (55). After seeing how people are really treated in the Congo – slaves made from “nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation” (72) – Marlow can now conclude that civilized men, are ironically, not civilized at

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