In the eyes of Conrad and his European readers at the time, the African Congo must have been seen as the exact opposite of European society, a part of a completely different society. Savage versus civilized, dark versus light: the duality of these two worlds runs through Conrad's tale, Heart of Darkness. In this sense, a collision between worlds serves as a catalyst for all the "horrors" of the story. Conrad uses this dualism not only to illustrate the absurdity of “progressive imperialism” – the idea that Europeans can tame this wild and foreign environment, but also as a cautionary tale to demonstrate the danger that must follow when the products of two cultures completely in conflict they clash. From the beginning of the story we see characterizations of the African and European worlds as he drifts along the River Thames, which is described as calm and "almost calm", as one citizen describes the expedition. British along the Congo River as a "journey to a prehistoric land". The juxtaposition of the two rivers is significant because it establishes that Europe and Africa are two opposing cultures and paves the way for further comparisons. Likewise, Marlow presents most of the characters as accountants, doctors or lawyers, denoting them only by their occupation, because he sees them as anonymous products of the society that created them. When Marlow mentions the Pilgrims or the Cannibals, the reader is instinctively reminded of the world to which they belong. Their behavior ends up characterizing Europe and Africa as a whole. For the most part Europeans and Africans tend to stay in their respective societies, but when Marlow goes deeper into the Congo, he finds himself in... middle of paper... ..."" but makes no attempt to educate them. hmmmmMaybe Marlow's decision to lie to the Expected was a recognition that when the product of two completely different worlds collide, things start to fall apart. African ivory corrupts Europeans. The isolation of the wilderness removes all restraints from Kurtz. Throughout the narrative, Conrad also associates Europeans with being "in the dark" about the true nature of exploitation in Africa. Perhaps Marlow, recognizing this, realizes that the dark horrors of Africa have no place in European society. It is only by lying to the Fated One that Marlow prevents these two worlds from colliding once again, sparing her from a truth that would have been "too dark on the whole".Works CitedConrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Judith Boss and David Widger. Chapel Hill: Project Gutenberg, 2006. eBook.
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