Analysis reading: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.
The novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is an exploration of ambiguity, moral confusion and hypocrisy. It explores the idea of the choice between the two evils. In the novel, Marlow is an idealistic who is forced to align himself with the malicious and hypocritical colonial bureaucracy or Kurtz who is openly malevolent and rule defying. As the novel progresses, it is clear that judging either alternative is wrong. Evil versus good is brought out from the story as one of the major themes.
Marlow witnesses many situations which are part of a bigger problem like “the world going insane” as he views a lot of ridiculous situations. He saw different things such as a man trying to carry water in a bucket with a hole. He later sees native laborers blasting a hillside without a goal in mind. These unrealistic things he witnesses involve life-or-death issues and insignificant silliness. This shows moral confusion in the society with the mundane and the serious being treated similarly. It is also of concern that homicidal megalomania from Kurtz's and the leaky bucket proved a similar reaction from Marlow.
The book by Joseph Conrad gives a unique perspective to the nature of evil which is present in the mind and hearts of men. The novel shows the struggle the narrator goes through to keep his sense of justice and morality as he continues to discover the dark secrets of Kurtz and the conspiracies that the trading company was part of. The story shows the perception of the narrator on good and evil continue to blur. It later makes him result to futile efforts so that he could do good deeds.
The person telling the story in the novel comes to discover that there are places where good does not exist. The only option left is a variety of lesser evils. As he travels into the “heart of darkness” in the African continent, he finds it hard to differentiate between wickedness and benevolence. The narrator is different from other characters as he successfully escapes the malevolence that consumed the minds and heart of men. The narrator was able to identify in the end that Kurtz unjustifiable brutality and was what made him go down the path of darkness. The narrator also realizes in the end that light is not symbolic of good in people as it can often change to darkness.
In the beginning of the hgarrowing journey, the narrator assumes that evil comes from the atrocities which men are capable of. The narrator views and describes other Europeans. He says:“I've seen the devil of violence, the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but by all the stars! These men were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men - men, I tell you.”
He uses this statement to describe the people who had taken the African-Americans as slaves as devils. This is the ultimate manifest...