Quinn On Heart Of Darkness Essays - Ishmael, Heart Of Darkness

Quinn On Heart Of Darkness Quinn on Heart of Darkness We cannot read Quinn's Ishmael without re-evaluating ourselves. Quinn confronts us with powerful revelations about mankind. According to Quinn, if we continue to live in our taker lifestyles, we will eventually destroy ourselves. Conrad's Heart of Darkness illustrates a real life manifestation of Quinn's insights. Written nearly a century ago, Conrad's tale of early English imperialistic taker lifestyle still resembles present day taker lifestyle. We still try to rule other lands and people. We still have the attitude that everything centers on man. We still exhaust Earth's resources and kill its creations. Above all, we still do all this with ignorance. With Ishmael as a guide, we can better understand how Conrad's more intricate story critiques taker lifestyle. Laying out the major issues in Ishmael will reveal insight to the imagery and symbolism in Heart of Darkness. Quinn states that man believes that the leaver community to be ?a place of lawless chaos and savage, relentless competition, where every creature goes in terror of its life? (Quinn 117). Not until takers conquer these places of ?lawless chaos? can these lands be ?paradise for man? (222). Until then, these lands and its inhabitants are wrenched and in the wrong. Conrad establishes this mentality at the beginning of Heart of Darkness. We are instantly aware of the imagery of dark and light. Traditionally, dark represents evil and light represents good. Conrad begins with associating savagery with darkness and civilization with light. Conrad's protagonist, Marlow, explains his version of the origin of England. He asserts to his shipmates, ?[W]hen the Romans first came here, nineteen hundred years ago? Light came out of this river [Thames] since?. But darkness was here yesterday? (Conrad 3). Takers demand that everyone and everything must be civilized. To takers, ?civilize? means living by their beliefs and their lifestyle. Like gods, takers believe ?they know what is right and what is wrong to do, and what they're doing is right? (Quinn 167). Everything and everyone is to live the taker lifestyle because that lifestyle is the right way to live. Oddly enough, the taker culture actually performs the exact opposite results from what it attempts to accomplish. As Ishmael preaches, ?everything was in good order. It was the Takers who introduced disorder into the world? (146). When man thought he was not exempt from the laws of nature, he and everything was fine. When man decided that he was exempt from the laws of nature, he introduced chaos. Ishmael indicates to his pupil that takers do not wish to realize their destructive ways. To them, ignorance is bliss. If takers actually gave up their lifestyle, ?it would mean that all along they'd been wrong. It would mean that they never known how to rule the world. It would mean?relinquishing their pretensions to godhood? (Quinn 168). Takers' ignorance is evident in Heart of Darkness. When Marlow visits Kurtz's fianc?e, she is still in mourning over Kurtz. She has been dressed for mourning for over a year. And yet, her devotion is not actually to Kurtz himself, but rather to his image. She is wholly devoted to the seemingly noble purpose of Kurtz's mission to Africa. Like takers, she desires to believe in the greatness of men like Kurtz and their ideas without realizing that it is wrong and harmful. Her loyalty to his image is so dedicated that Marlow must lie to her. Marlow does not admit that Kurtz deserted his ideas of civilizing the African culture and that his last words we re ?The horror! The horror!? Instead, he tells her that Kurtz's last words were her name. The only purpose this serves is letting her cling to her false impressions, strengthening the belief that takers are right. Another example of this blindness is visible in the imagery of Kurtz's painting. Marlow sees the painting on the wall of the Brickmaker's room. It depicts a woman blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch. Traditionally, we think of such an image as representing justice or liberty. Kurtz's painting is deceiving. She exemplifies the Company, willingly blinds itself to the horrors of its destruction in the name of civilizing. Ishmael points out that the only way to end the vicious