Resumo de Heart Of Darkness

Ambiguity in Conrad?s Heart Of Darkness

If one tries to perform the outrageous effort of summing up
the ?meaning? of Conrad?s novella ?Heart of Darkness? in a
word it would be ambiguity.

To achieve the ambiguity Conrad applies various literary &
psychological techniques like delayed decoding, combined
use of Impressionism & Symbolism, the framed narrative and
the thematic concern of Colonialism adds to this. The term
delayed decoding was coined by Ian Watt in which identifies
Conrad?s technique of hinting at an event or thing but
avoiding naming or explaining it then & there and doing it
when the same surfaces later in the text. This technique
teases the imagination of the reader and makes him/her
guess at possibilities which are various and sometimes
contradictory. Thus the ambiguity remains until it is
disclosed by Conrad later.

Another important device which lends to the text
its ?opaline haze? is the combined use of Impressionism &
Symbolism by the author. Ian Watt sees ?Heart of Darkness?
as impressionist in a very special way. He says that the
novella calls for individual subjective interpretations and
because the understanding expected is of an experiential
kind, it is subjective. He calls this ?subjective moral
impressionism?. Impressionism is also present in Conrad?s
approach to the visual in the text. Things are often
obscured by ?layers of mist and fog? and the reader is
required to look through it.
Conrad has often been seen by critics as related to French
Symbolists. Heart of Darkness is highly symbolist in its
use of ?darkness? signifying savagery, pre-civilization
Africa; ?darkness? as a symbol of negative energies
and ?white, fair? as signifying the ?cultured, pure
Europe?. But these categories and symbols are often
questioned, inverted and their conventional meanings
displaced- another cause whose effect is ambiguity.

Conrad?s novella is also an example of a framed narrative-
Marlow dictating a story to the un-named narrator who
dictates it to us. As readers we are both made confidantes
to the experience and once removed from it. This method
creates an atmosphere which is conducive for receiving a
bizarre tale of Marlow?s journey but there remains a doubt
about its authenticity due to the story-telling.

A discussion of the ?ambiguity? of the text leads us to the
reason behind it. The text clearly resists and complicates
a simple, unilateral reading of it. Various approaches need
to be combine din order to obtain the meaning or
the ?truth? of the text and while trying to reach that
meaning there is an overwhelming sense of- does the meaning
or truth even matter?
Conrad?s theme-Colonialism is an experience which is
constituted by the opposing forces of civilizing and
plundering. Kurtz?s painting of the blindfolded woman
holding a lighted torch aptly represents the ?civilizing?
mission of Europe with the torch of religion and
Christianity in the hand of Colonialism who themselves
are ?blind? to its meaning and missionary ?blinded? by
greed and pride of discovery.
To express this theme of Colonialism with a ?torch and a
sword?, Conrad could not give us a clear meaning of the
experience which he wanted us to feel and think about, not
pass judgments on or rather not only pass judgments on.

To look at it materially, the times when Conrad was writing
in where they themselves were perplexed with the effects
and purpose of the ?Empire?. The civilizing mission was
being debated Conrad was insightful enough to see
the ?horror? of the Empire and its activities in the
colonies; we should not expect him to give us a clear
comprehension of this very horror.

The ?layers of mist? which take in Kurtz and Marlow, the
reader and the unnamed narrator; therefore, hold the
meaning of the text- not in the kernel but in the haze that
surrounds the glow.
Thus the correct way of approaching ?Heart of Darkness? is
to find meaning of the text in the process of implication
itself. It would be useless to look for the meaning in
the ?implied?.

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