The enigma of adventure literature and hyper-masculine prose is revealed when the protagonist or a subordinate character cowers in the face of darkness. The unknown strikes the heart of man and satisfies his inner desire to meet a force greater than himself. The darkness, which is not frightening in itself, is frightening because it hides what lies within its folds. In his short story Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad explores common human questions through the exploration of his narrator, Marlow. Conrad addresses the question “why is man afraid of darkness” on a metaphysical level. Conrad stokes humanity's fear of the unknown, bringing such a construct out of darkness, with his intentional use of the contrast between light and dark and unintentional employment of hyper-masculine tones. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Conrad's short story tells the story of a captain, Marlow, who also serves as the narrator of the short story. At the beginning of the story, Marlow sits on a yawl and recounts the nature of his trip to the African Congo. Marlow informs his acquaintances that he has already accepted a job at a trading company referred to simply as "Company" and has met a man named Mr. Kurtz. This encounter enlightens his mind on the true nature of the world and of man. While working for the company, Marlow witnesses savage acts by the native inhabitants and observes the genius and barbarity of Mr. Kurtz. Marlow, sent by the company to collect a very ill Mr. Kurtz - whom the company considers a great asset - fails to bring Kurtz back to Europe. Over a series of months, Marlow travels up the Congo River, finds Kurtz, witnesses his death, and returns to Europe a different man. Marlow's story ends with Mr. Kurtz's last words, "The horror, the horror" and Marlow's final journey to tell Kurtz's fiancé of Kurtz's death (Conrad 91). Marlow chooses not to let the trip to Africa be a wasted expense, but draws from it great enigmatic lessons about human nature and a new cynicism that he considers realism towards society. Darkness, the most frequent symbol in Conrad's short story, has an omnipresent force. In Heart of Darkness Short Story Criticism, various scholars conclude: “To demonstrate the uncertainty of this world and of life in general, Conrad constantly modifies common symbolic conceptions of light and darkness” (Palmisano 3). The primal instinct that darkness represents a greater evil permeates the human mind from childhood to adulthood. A child does not fear the darkness of an ominous closet because the lack of light is inherently frightening; on the contrary, darkness is undesirable because it threatens to hide what man feels he has an innate right to know. This reality of “unknowing” threatens the dominant position that man has conquered in the natural order of things. Conrad understands that this darkness makes man angry and uses this understanding in his writing. When Marlow explains the nature of Belgian imperialism to his friends aboard the yawl at the start of the novella, he remarks: "It was simply violent robbery, aggravated murder on a large scale and men going about it blindly – ​​as very well becomes those who attack darkness” (Conrad 21). The question arises as to what darkness is being addressed or, more precisely, what unknown arena are the characters afraid of? As Dr. Thomas C. Foster says, "No one has studied the human soul longer anddeeper than Conrad, who found the truth in extreme situations and alien landscapes.” In Heart of Darkness, Africa as a continent, the afterlife, the reality of the Other, and the wilderness of the jungle all present an unfamiliar dilemma for Marlow and other subordinate characters. Africa as a largely unexplored continent adopts the pseudonym of darkness. Congo lies in the heart of Africa and beats like the heart of darkness. Shortly before gaining a status acquainted with the nature of Africa, Marlow flocked to the continent for nothing other than the allure of its sheer mystery – its undeniable characterization through the lack of known features. Marlow remembers: “When I was little, I had a passion for maps. At that time there were many empty spaces on earth, there was still one – the biggest, the emptiest, so to speak – that I craved” (Conrad 22). Africa, for Marlow, is nothing more than an unknown province whose mystery tugs at his inner hyper-masculine desire to extinguish his own ignorance. The famous literary critic Chinua Achebe argues that Conrad describes "Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of any recognizable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril." Marlow makes his adoption of this view of Africa evident shortly after his arrival. The troubled vision of Africa – outside of Marlow – permeates the novella. There are others who describe Africa as a bland, savage darkness. Shortly after arriving in Africa, Marlow witnesses a strange event: “We came upon a warship anchored off the coast. There wasn't even a hangar there and he was bombing the bush... Into the empty vastness of the earth. , sky and water, it was there, incomprehensible, pulling on a continent. A projectile let out a faint cry – and nothing happened. There was a touch of madness in this process, someone on board sincerely assured that there was a. camp of natives—he called them enemies—hidden somewhere out of sight” (Conrad 29). Africa is under physical cannon attack. Fear torments the men, who have gone mad, aboard the warship. The mystery of Africa threatens the white man who feels in his veins the right path given by God to know and control all things. The immensity and uncontrollability of Africa are a scorned laugh in the face of the rights of the white man. This realization fuels the frustration of those aboard the warship at the idea of ​​unleashing a tangible attack on a continent, on Africa, on the Darkness. A more targeted fear manifests itself in the African jungle. One of the scariest sections of the novella occurs when Marlow is steering a steamboat down the Congo River. In this section, dense fog covers the surrounding area, blinding the boat's passengers. This blinding fog covers a once bright and shining river whose waters reflected the sunlight. Marlow notes the sudden change from light to darkness: “When the sun rose there was a white fog more restrictive than the night. A cry, a very loud cry, like that of infinite desolation, rose slowly in the opaque air, it seemed as if the fog itself had cried out” (Conrad 55). Walter E. Anderson, in his thesis, points out that “Conrad so overwhelms us with images of darkness that we risk missing the light.” The sharp and sudden contrast between the rising of the sun and the falling of the fog is essential to this scene. The light of the rising sun illuminates the secrets of the wilderness, leaving the men on board the boat with a sense of control and ease. The wilderness robs sailors of their growing knowledge of the jungle bydraping the river in thick fog. The piercing scream that seems to come from the "mist itself" never materializes as a concrete threat. Maybe the scream really comes from the mist. Perhaps the men aboard the boat are painting their own scenario of danger, spurred by the new fear of the unknown created by the mist. This seemingly dangerous scene is the only one in which a piercing scream, typically a premonition of a native attack, never develops into subsequent danger. Another fear develops in Marlow's heart. A fear that is born from the fear of the jungle is extrapolated onto the women in Conrad's short story. Conrad intentionally uses the contrast between light and dark to illuminate the ecstasy of knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge. However, the tone of misogyny present in the literature is not intentional and actualizes Conrad's own fear of the unknown - the mystery of women - present in his subconscious. Kaplan explains: “Marlow emphasizes the distinction between truth and lies, between men and women; between civilization and savagery, this consciousness offered by the text escapes Marlow because, entangled in his own culture, he would find this consciousness “too dark – too dark altogether””. Characterized by a “wild and superb, wild-eyed” appearance, the Congo woman in Conrad’s short story represents “the desert itself.” Johanna Smith, professor of women's and gender studies and English, says: “In this symbology, Marlow distances the woman's body by confusing her with the jungle; as the jungle takes shape, the woman becomes the image of the soul of the jungle. By symbolizing woman and personifying the jungle, Marlow strives to contain and control both. » Conrad generalizes "the strangeness of women's disconnection from the truth" when he speaks of Marlow's aunt. This oddity – or strangeness, even mystery – presents a dilemma of “unknowing” for Conrad and his narrator Marlow. Thus, the frustration of not knowing the implications of the woman – or the Other – creates fear in the hearts of Marlow and Conrad. Kaplan notes: "the 'wild' woman is not aimless – and therefore her 'half-struggle-like determination' is all the more threatening because it is unknowable." Kaplan provides additional insight: “Throughout the text, Marlow emphasizes the distinction. . . between Self and Others. . . in psychological terms, the Other is only a territory unknown to the Self.” Furthermore, when alluding to the African continent, named Darkness, Marlow notes with hyper-masculinity: “They were men enough to face the darkness” (Conrad 20). Ironically, this hyper-masculine attitude stems strictly from fear and recognition that man doesn't know everything. The mystery of Africa and women – deep and invincible – can never be truly explored by ignorant minds. Additionally, the images of light and darkness regarding the afterlife reinforce the theme of humanity's fear of the unknown. The infamous Mr. Kurtz, with Marlow in attendance, lies very ill in his cabin near the end of the novella. Marlow listens to Kurtz's last words then blows out a candle: “'The horror! The horror! I blew out the candle and left the cabin. Kurtz…is dead” (Conrad 86-87). The candle in this scene lights the room where Kurtz lies "here in the dark, waiting for death." His presence in the room resembles the false grip on certainty that Marlow and Kurtz seem to have over reality. With Kurtz's passing, Kurtz enters a realm of an unknown nature. Kaplan states, “As the room darkens as Kurtz’s death approaches, the darkness symbolizes another unknown: the afterlife.” " With.. 169-184.