Restraint in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay -- Heart Darkness

Restraint I would have just as soon expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battle, comments Marlow as he questions why the hungry send awaynibals aboard his steamer hadnt gone for the white crew members (Conrad 43). The glimpse of the steamboat . . . filled those savages with unrestrained grief, Marlow explains after recalling the cries of the natives seeing the steamer amidst a skeleton fog lift (Conrad 44). Poor fool He had no restraint, no restraint . . .a tree swayed by the wind, speaks Marlow of a slain helmsman amidst an attack by tribal savages (Conrad 52). Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, says Marlow a few moments after he tells of his first glimpse of severed human heads fixed atop posts at the Inner Station (Conrad 58). Restraint. The word is used time and time again throughout the text. Acknowledging restraint and the lack thereof in characters as the twaddle progresses in Joseph Conrads subject matter o f Darkness is paramount to any understanding of the work. The storyteller Marlow first believes that restraint is what separates civilization from chaos and society from savagery. As his journey into the partiality of darkness progresses, however, he learns that such a conclusion is rash, and that there is far more to the matter than simply that. Literary critic Cedric Watts comments upon the ambiguity of the title of Heart of Darkness. In Watts view, the phrase can mean both the center of a dark and the heart which has the quality of being dark (54). This question regarding the titles meaning can have an answer when one considers restraint. Restraint goes hand in hand with rationality, which is associated with the brain. Lack of restraint can, ... .... New York Penguin, 1999. Print.DAvanzo, Mario. Conrads Motley as an Organizing Metaphor. Heart of Darkness. Edited by Robert Kimbrough. New York Norton & Company, Inc., 1971. 251-253. Henrikson, Bruce. Heart of Darkness and the Gnos tic Myth. Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Modern Critical Interpretations. Edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 45-56. Joseph Conrad. 2012. Web 6 Nov. 2013.http//www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jconrad.htm.Ong,Walter J. right in Conrads Darkness. Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and The hole-and-corner(a) Sharer. Edited by Harold Bloom. Broomall Chelsea House Publishers, 1996. 59-62. Watts, Cedric. Conrads Heart of Darkness A Critical and Contextual Discussion. Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer. Edited by Harold Bloom. Broomall Chelsea House Publishers, 1996. 54-56.