While the vast majority of my last blog was nothing more than mad ramblings clumsily assembled to masquerade as a coherent thought about the darkness within the book. So in this blog post after many hours of careful deliberation I have decided to ramble to myself (and Neri) about the importance of light within the small portion of the book I read. Now what motivated my apathetic ass to look deeper in to this subject is the fact that in most non-Heart of Darkness stories light is customarily represent purity and infoulablity, but in this story it seems to represent the illusion the white people try to create of having a perfect benevolent utopia. The first piece of evidence for this thought has to be the disheveled supply room at company station. Marlow points out the light that seems to illuminate the room as though it were an object of beauty and something to be venerated, but in reality the room is loathsome and [expletive deleted]y. But still kind of relevant to my light shenanigans, are my mad thoughts on how light relates to the dark thought the book. Aside from seeing as how light points out flaws I also see as representing that is known and tangible. We should know by know that absolutely nothing on this planet is “perfect” and the light reflects reality. But back to the point I am sloppily trying to make, because the dark represents complete flawless mystery but the light show the fundamental flaws of our own shallow reality.
Dear Mr. Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your flawless observations on the strategies within the uses of "darkness" and "light." After reading your analysis of the assortment of the supply room and the light that illuminates it, I completely agree with your opinions surrounding the purpose of that light. The light is used as a false representation of purity as it conceals the evil behind the white man's intentions. I had not seen this specific connection until I read your post so I thank you immensely for that. You are both a gentleman and a scholar. Keep up the good work.