I can’t say I particularly liked this book. I am not sure what it was in particular that I found difficult in reading it- perhaps it was following the plot line, perhaps in trying to understand the trajectory of the story. However, I think it was this mysteriousness of the apparent ambiguity that kept me intrigued and reading. Interestingly, I found myself easily swayed by Marlow’s feelings and opinions of Mr. Kurtz, and found myself very intrigued with this mysterious character. I suppose this an aspect of the book that kept me reading on.
One aspect of the dark realistic nature of this book that strikes me particularly is the depths to which greed can possess a person. Kurtz’s only mission in life was to amass treasures of ivory. This dream he pursued relentlessly, though it cost him his health, his marriage, and ultimately his life. He died without satisfaction, and was buried in the heart of Africa, in what Marlow describes as the heart of darkness. Others of the Company, in the same pursuits, get caught up in the same darkness. The Russian in particular, appears to be going mad in the same pursuits as Kurtz, the man who has become his idol.
Marlow, throughout his trip upriver to meet this infamous Kurtz, descends further into the darkness he feels pressing in around him. From the moment he moved in from the coast, he began to see the darkness descending. There is a progression or deepening of the darkness the closer he gets to his final destination. Although he by day he is often in the sunlight, he still is captivated by the darkness around him.
In the retelling of his story, Marlow seems to be personally drawn into this darkness. There are fears, uncertainties, anxieties, and unknowns that accompany him along the journey. The worst of fears seem to some to a head when they come under attack by the natives. While the darkness of fear seems to close in around Marlow, the greater darkness lies in his captivation- not the captivation of the wealth gained through ivory like Kurtz, but of this ideal of a man himself. However, there comes a point at which he realizes that this obsession about Kurtz that he also is falling prey to is only a dark obsession and not a reality. However, at some point Marlow escapes the darkness, as it were, and moves outside of it. From this new perspective, Marlow is moved to pity, and even hate Kurtz and the Russian, and also seems to pity Kurtz’s widow- who is depicted as dressed all in black, in her own dark obsession over her late husband- with whom he converses upon his return to his homeland.
Dark images and metaphors pervade this story. The tale is grim, though seemingly overwhelming only for the characters in the story, and not for the storyteller or the listeners. The story does, however, fit into the darkness that is described as creeping in around the sailors listening to this ill-fated tale.
As one who has never felt such darkness closing in, I can image the hopelessness of those who battle through such an oppressive existence. I know of people who suffer from anxieties and fears, as well as deep depression. The way for them may be as black as moving steadily forward into the very heart of darkness. However, there always shines a ray of hope.
Marlow does not ultimately get sucked into the depths of the darkness that he tastes, sees, hears, smells and feels. He comes through it, not unaffected, but through it he does come. In this, perhaps Marlow can be seen as a Christological figure.
Christ Himself endured the greatest darkness on the cross. Not only was the world plunged into darkness as the sun was veiled, but He endured the agonies of hell, suffered the full wrath of God against sin, and entered into the blackness of death- AND ROSE FROM THE DEAD! He is light, as John says, and in Him is no darkness at all! Praise God that we have a Savior who is so holy, pure, and true, and who is accessible to us, that those who believe in Him can be delivered from their darkness. Perhaps this will not happened in full in this lifetime, but the fulfillment will surely come on the other side of death. Those who have come to see Christ can rejoice with Isaiah who proclaimed, “Those who dwelt in darkness have seen a great light; those who have dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined”!
No comments:
Post a Comment