Us and Them

"I turned to the wilderness really, not to Mr. Kurtz, who, I was ready to admit, was as good as buried. And for a moment it seemed to me as if I also was buried in a vast grave full of unspeakable secrets. I felt an intolerable weight oppressing my breast, the smell of the damp earth, the unseen presence of victorious corruption, the darkness of an impenetrable night."
- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

When reading the novel, I can certainly see where Conrad is coming from with the idea of the perpetual darkness at the core of man and nature. Not necessarily true evil, but the inability or lack of desire to understand another person or to form a sympathetic connection with an individual. Because the African people were not even seen as so much as people, the colonizers found no trouble in taking over them. Conrad attempted to show the British reader of 1910 the wrongs of colonization. That reader’s context comes from a place of having experienced the times of the African colonization. The British reader of 1910 views the passage with a greater experience of colonization than I do, so Conrad’s message could’ve had a more applicable, straightforward effect to them. They could see the above passage as expressing the evil of colonization, but my context of the story is different. Although I can see the point of the Imperialism stuff, I can’t exactly apply it so easily to my situation.

Since I have been a bit of an outcast throughout life, I naturally relate the passage to modern society. I look all around and see Conrad’s “victorious corruption” in the hearts of so many, not only in the politicians and bigwigs, but also the people I see around me every day. I feel like the lack of desire to understand another permeates society. Through reading the story, I see myself and others that have been discounted for this or that. I see people attempting to “colonize” the differences of others.

I would say that it is extremely difficult to explain the exact context through which anyone views the world. My current perception has been molded by not only every single experience of my lifetime, but also by some amount of inherited personality. It’s hard to say, “Those people saw it that way, and people here and now see it this way.”

Colorful "Context" Lenses

"But there was in it one river especially, a might big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. " -Marlow, Heart of Darkness

With the many years since this books release, the mystery in the Congo has lessened a considerable degree, thanks in much part to people like Marlow. However, that leads to a change in the context of this passage. Hindsight being what it is, it is easy to look back and think that those pioneers were just superstitious and that really just wanted to stay home and be comfortable. Whereas people might have seen this passage as a deep and thought provoking statement when the book came out, I see it as more of an old mans fears of the unknown being something he is now intimately familiar with.

Something is only a mystery as long as people decide that they would rather not know anything about it. When someone finally moves towards the unknown they are seen as foolish. Thanks to these fools humans found the Americas after years of thinking that there was nothing there, we have discovered the power of flight, and we have generally been the inquisitive creatures that we have been made to be. With the many years of such things, my lenses are scientific in nature, lending to a disbelief in the mystery a river could hold. This detracts from the statements power and the foreshadowing that it implies.

This science lens affects more than just a story and its context. It lends itself in may ways to how I act to MOST things, though not all.

When Heart of Darkness was published, the Congo was being discovered and people still thought of Africa and its inhabitants and savage and in dire need of taming and domestication. The land and the ivory were worth than the people who rightfully owned the land. People who read this passage might have thought, "Conrad is quite ahead of his time. All those extra adjectives aren't a bore at all!" I'm sure that this was a very ominous thing to say and it lended an atmosphere of anticipation that made the reader want to continue with his exploration of the land with Marlow.

Being biased as I am (there's no other word or it) takes away the wow factor any older books might have had on people who read those same books at my age one hundred years ago, and it usually tends to ruin the story for me as well. Without that sense of amazement, the enjoyment such a book could give me is minimal. Those extra adjective don't help either.