Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance: The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, esp. as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

Doubtfulness prevails as the main idea of the second part in Heart of Darkness. Marlow experiences a constant cognitive dissonance, as defined above, when he understands that the Indians are human beings just like him, yet is expected to treat them as peasants. The novel has an unexpected change of heart. This dissonance will drill further on into Marlow’s moral, affecting aspects of his expedition drastically.

                Marlow was convinced before leaving London that he would be exposed to tropical atrocities. He was prepared for the worst. “It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman”, Marlow claims. Europeans had created a connotation between the unconquered and the savages. It was all the same to them, their only goal was to exploit ivory. When the resource was over they would simply move on.

                Only few like Marlow were able to see that: “Well, you know, that was the worst of it –this suspicion of them not being inhuman.” In the novel, Kurtz is the first one to notice this, and for that he is seen as an idol, for both Indians and his fellow expedition. Marlow comes in and notices the same pattern, he is confused. He will have to choose whether to defy what is expected of him by the Company back home. Or on the other hand stick to what he is feeling and better off seeing.

 It took a whole expedition for only one person to notice the savages were not uncivilized. Later throughout the novel, Marlow will have to solve his cognitive dissonance. Either he will have to change his ideas to suit what he is supposed to do, or change his actions to meet with the same ideals he is now experiencing. 

Coexist

Stories matter, they can be used to empower and humanized and repair broken dignities.

•           “Show people as only and one thing over and over again and that is what they will become.” I live in pretty similar conditions as Mexicans do. Yet, I sometimes ignore that fact and imply they are as the rest of the world picture them.
• “Stereotypes are not untrue but they are incomplete.” We as Colombia suffer the same single story idea.
• “America has no single story.” Therefore it is not judged that commonly
• “People tend to insist on only negative stories that form them” As Chimamanda Adichie said, writers insist you need to have a tragic life to be a good writer, but it is good to share both sides of the story.
• “Single stories rob people from their identity.” They believe their country is that way and stop caring which is the real reality
• “It emphasizes on how we are different and not on how we are similar” If the world as one would try to link each other through similar aspects, instead of overwhelming themselves with differences that separate them, we would all coexist.

When there is no story about a single place we regain a kind of paradise.

Darkness of the Soul

What is darkness?

Indeed, it is implicit in the title that the novel will contain some kind of darkness. Gathering erroneous conclusion one may think of it in a cliché way, as a treacherous love that will darken the hearts of the characters. Yet, in the novel the darkness is different; it is one that consumes the sole with hatred against the conquered Indians. Conrad will mention darkness in various aspects such as: setting, character description, color, race or a state.

“I thought of these two guarding the door of Darkness knitting black wool as for a warm pall…” (Pg. 74)

The above quote talks about Darkness as a setting. The doors represent the entrance to the new world he came to explore, the entrance to the darkness of the Congo.

“…Too dull even to know you are being assaulted by the power of Darkness.” (pg. 122)

In this case darkness is the Indians of the Congo. They will be referred to as the bronze people throughout the novel. Marlow will later understand they are the same color, all humans.

“…A treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound Darkness of its heart.” (pg. 102)

            This is the precise moment when Marlow notices that his heart is filled with darkness towards something that has been created in his mind. A hatred that is not malleable, yet it has been drilled into his mind since he set sail to the Congo.

            Throughout the novel we see the development of Marlow’s ideas. As we notice in the first quote he believes he is going to encounter a place full of darkness, were the uncivilized reigns. As he comes in contact with such evil at a glance they seem bronze. All that surrounds them seems brought up from hell. Finally he notices that the darkness is not what he believes so to be. The darkness is a state of mind, his state of mind. When he notices this he recalls it being “the profound darkness of its heart”.