APPLICATION OF MARXIST LITERARY

THEORY TO HEART OF DARKNESS

SAMI UL HAQ

M PHIL LITERATURE 1ST SEMESTER

LAHORE LEADS UNIVERSITY

MARXIST THEORY IN GENERAL theory based on an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

CHARACTERISTICS OF MARXIST THEORY

Materials condition Peoples

consciousness Social class View of history:

class struggle (evolving conflict between classes with opposing interests) structures each historical period

A sympathy for the working class

Source: www.barnesandnoble.com

MAIN IDEAS IN MARXISM Class

consciousness: The self-awareness of a social class and their capacity to act in its own rational interests

Ideology Exploitation Proletariat Bourgeoisie Hegemony

JOSEPH CONRAD Born 1857 Polish,

Ukrine Studied French and

German,in 1874 become sailor,left for Marceilles

His themes Lonliness and Seeking independence

He made several voyages to congo which provide stuff for ‘Heart of Darkness”

Died August 3,1924 due to heart attack.

Source: www.sothebys.com

HEART OF DARKNESS Heart of

Darkness' was first published as a three-part serial story in Blackwood’s Magazine

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blackwood's_Magazine_-_1899_cover.jpg

HEART OF DARKNESS

Author Joseph Conrad

CountryUnited

Kingdom

Language English

GenreFrame story,

Novella

PublisherBlackwood's

Magazine

Publication date February 1899

Media typ

ePrint (serial)

Source : http://flavorwire.com/423424/50-incredibly-tough-books-for-extreme-readers

HEART OF DARKNESS one man's

nightmarish journey into the interior of Africa

A Belgian trading company.(Ivory)

A civilization mission of Kurtz which leads him to brutality.

VIDEOSource : Poetry.rapgenius.com

MARXISM IN HEART OF DARKNESS

No traces are found that this novella is written with Marxist point of view but it have the element of Marxism in it. Source:thirdreichoc

culthistory.blogspot.com

“…just close to the chief accountant was laying a sick man . He was groaning but the accountant had no word of sympathy for him. He was all the time waiting for him to die, so that he could not get disturbed in his work.”

Source: aalisthoughts.blogspot.com

POWER OF THE BOURGEOISIE AND EXPLOITATION

EXPLOITATION (CONTD) “Six black men advanced in

a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking.”

Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery

CONRADS QUOTES AND ATROCITIES BY BELGIUM IMPERIALISM

''your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others'' - pg 10 penguin classics

Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery

SUPERIORITY AND INFERIORITY

"To the left a clump of trees made a shady spot, where dark things seemed to stir feebly. I blinked, the path was step"Many times throughout the text we see that Conrad describes Africans as "black things", giving the idea of an object and making them sound inferior.

Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery

CUNNINGNESS TO CONTROL NATIVE AFRICANS, KURTZ AS DEMI GOD AND

UNSPEAKABLE RIGHTS "They would

have been even more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house. Only one, the first I had made out, was facing my way"

Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery

JOSEPH CONRAD’S QUOTES

“I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men” (Conrad 52).

Source:newsletters.ventura-ca.parentclick.com

ENSLAVEMENT OF NATIVES

. “He (Kurtz) began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, ‘must necessarily appear to them (savages) in the nature of supernatural beings – we approach them with the might as of a deity… by the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded’” (Conrad 92).

Source: senseye00.deviantart.com

IVORY WAS A PASSION WITH HIM

“He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased. And it was true, too. I gave him the ivory. What did I care!” (Conrad 100).

Source: Indialeak.com

SELF CONFESSION OF BRUTALITY

Kurtz written a report “Suppression of savage customs” ,a note was added at the foot of the last page “Exterminates all the brutes”

“EXTERMINATE ALL THE BRUTES”

MATERIALISM IN KURTZ

“He was hungry of Ivory.Ivory was a passion with him” Kurtz deep

voice from behind the curtains:

“save me, save the ivory”

Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

CONCLUSION If we consider the roll of

Bourgeoisie(Imperialists) with respect to Proletariat(Native Africans), their abuse and exploitation of the natives, their desire for wealth, The native Africans were forced to work in their factories- we can easily termed Heart of Darkness as Marxist Novel, but it fails to arise natives to raise their voice against the imperialists, which is the important aspect of Marxist theory.

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

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