Sound Asleep

As Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness progresses, my interest dwindles. It is not that the novel lacks quality, the problem is the way it translates into words. Take movies, for example. An action film maintains our interest as it manages to inscribe purpose into every second of the plot. There are moments where blinking may represent the absence of a bullet breaking through a human skull, where even the sound of gunpowder burning in the cannon calls for attention. But not everything may be high-tech warfare, for there must be something for romantics. If I ask you to recall one of such films, I bet the visual memory is not nearly as detailed. This is because, at least to my simple mind, there is no amusement in the picking of a flower, the waiting for a train or the entrance to a restaurant. But I would be wrong in arguing that the crushed skull represents a wider portion of human emotion than the message embedded in a rose. This same situation is staged in my reading of Conrad’s novel. The meaning is clearly there, but where’s the action?

There’s no doubt that European colonization was packed with action. Imagine how many rounds where fired, how many battles fought, how many succumbed to illness. Conrad is satisfied with the isolated effects. We stumble across a body “with a bullet-hole in the forehead” but have no access to the action that led to it (34). I am not insensible in my thirst for action. I clearly understand the message the lies inscribed in a dead body after a description of the ill treat towards black slaves, but it fails to welcome the reader into a story. When we become part of what is being said, when we understand the causes and implications, the effects mean so much more.

Pages display empty conversations and alienated descriptions. Many words go by between any two intriguing events, and when these appear, they are always a consequence of cruelty and punishment. Even if we have no exact location, it is evident the story takes place upon wild and unknown lands. What better context for mystery and adventure. Hidden in descriptions we find “beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight” (45). What a waste of opportunity. Why wouldn’t Conrad take advantage of the suspense related to a mysterious forest? But he is so immersed in describing interactions between characters whichever those may be that he fails to provide the action.

Heart of Darkness vividly describes a hierarchy and a mission crucial in the understanding of a historical context. Through Conrad’s writing we learn much about European colonization and their relation with native peoples. Many things can be inferred from the text, especially concerning the questionable side of human spirit. However, the novel fails to maintain my attention for long. The pages lack the action that keeps you awake at times where a nap can easily seduce the mind.