Heart of Darkness Part 3 Journal

           
Reflect upon Heart of Darkness as a whole. Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist? What is actually the Heart of Darkness? (hint: Europeans and colonialism? Africa? Africans? Some other thing?)

This book, although confusing, was pretty interesting to read. We got to explore the labyrinths of detail, multiple interpretable meanings, and symbolisms that this book has to offer; all the while dealing with the subject of  cultural equality through 19th- century racism. I think that the protagonist of this book is still Marlow, as I said in my other journal about protagonists and antagonists. It is his trials, errors and experiences that are mainly focused on, not Kurtz's or the manager's. My view on the main antagonist of the book, although, has changed. Instead of the manager or the brickmaker, I would say the main antagonist is the jungle/Africa/the unknown (I mean those all to be one and not separate antagonists, the three names are just interchangeable ways of describing a presence in the book). It intimidates Marlow, scaring him through the possibilities of what could exist in the darkness, what the strange noises from that area could be from, etc, etc. This paranoia isn't exclusive to him, and the rest of the pilgrims fear it too. It leads to his mental problems that remain even after he gets back to Belgium, and his physical ones he almost dies from near the end of the book. It prevents him from having a clear idea of where he is going, as in the fog. The land he is affected by is the antagonist, simply from what it does to Marlow and others' conditions both mentally and physically.

I thought that Africa was the actual heart of darkness in this book. When I think of a place where people know where they are going and what they are doing, I think of someplace that is well known and commonly travelled through. There are lights to lead the way through the area, and a distinct path to follow. It is safe and regulated. Africa, at that time (and to the Europeans specifically), was the complete opposite of that. Mostly uncharted and unexplored, the possibilities of what lied there were endless to those new explorers. It was unknown, intimidating, and frightening; It could drive a man to insanity or plague him with an incurable disease. If someone were to describe that place to me, I would very much agree with the term 'heart of darkness'.