Sexist Attitude in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

Sexist Attitude in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness This paper will discuss the way Conrads novel Heart of Darkness relies, both thematically and formally, on values that could be called sexist. By sexism I mean the those cultural assumptions that make women be regarded, unjustly, as in different ways inferior to men: socially, intellectually and morally. Since Heart of Darkness has often been regarded as one of the best and profoundest discussions of morality in English literature, this issue is very important. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how the narrative itself is thought of as unsuitable for women. The narration takes place on a small sailing boat, waiting for the ebb of the Thames to bring it out to†¦show more content†¦The horror! to the Intended, letting her believe instead that his last words were her name. This manipulation of endings, with which Marlowe pretends to please Kurtzs bride-to-be, does not only change Conrads hard-boiled modern tragedy into a romance story, with a love-sick Kurtz longing to get back from the jungle to the arms of his beloved. Kurtz activities in the Congo are now to be seen as an adventure designed to bring him back to civilization as a morally and economically enriched being. This, Marlowes comrades are told (and by extension, the men who are reading the novel), is mere female bogus: just as the Romans who, Kurtz-like, entered a savage Britain two millenia ago, we (the male readers) have to be men enough to face the darkn ess. (Conrad 7) Just as the shaping of history, and History itself, as Chinua Achebe has pointed out, (Achebe 5) is an affair of white men only and not of prehistoric African men, history is also, we could say, shifting the emphasis a little bit, an affair of white men only. One of the minimally active female characters in the novel is Marlowes aunt, who manages to get him a position with the Company. She is, however, described as utterly innocent in terms of her knowledge of what the colonization of the Congo really is about, buying into the high-strung sentimentalist and morally righteous discourse of imperialism with striking naivety. Only men, Marlowes attitude towards his aunt reveals, can bear the realistShow MoreRelated The Role of Kurtz’s Intended in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness1580 Words   |  7 PagesThe Role of Kurtz’s Intended in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Very often in literature minor characters appear for only a short time in the story but carry a very heavy significance in the overall meaning of the book. Kurtz’s Intended, in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, is this kind of character. The unnamed woman only appears for a brief period at the end of the novel, but Conrad includes her for three very crucial reasons. 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