HEART OF DARKNESS FREE

The captain protects the killer and eventually allows him to escape. The man turns out to have been a sailor on another ship who killed a crew-member during a storm. The story follows a ship captain who rescues someone from the waters and allows him to stay on his ship, hidden from the ships' crew. The Secret Sharer is a short-story included with some copies of Heart of Darkness.

If Conrad is not condemning imperialism, which is likely the case, then the novel ably portrays the underlying racism (and sexism, incidentally) in European thought during the time period. At the very least, it paints a stunning and painful portrait of the cruelty and inhumanity of imperialist activities. Despite all its ambiguities, the Heart of Darkness is an important novel. It is not even clear whether Conrad considers the Africans to be human. Although Conrad clearly criticizes the false claims of humanitarian motives in imperialism, he does not condemn the act of imperialism. Almost every aspect of Heart of Darkness is ambiguous. The novel is often mistakenly taught in schools as a great anti-Imperialism novel, but this is not quite accurate. As Marlow progressed further and further into the Congo, he confronts the growing darkness of mankind.

HEART OF DARKNESS FREE

Heart of Darkness chronicles the adventures of Charlie Marlow, a sailor and wanderer whose adventures lead him into the Congo Free State (under the control of Belgium) during the height of African Imperialism. Like many of his stories, Heart of Darkness is based on one of Conrad's own adventures (when he captained a steamboat down the Congo River). Although Conrad was born in Russia-controlled Poland and did not become fluent in English until he was 21 years old, he demonstrates a tremendous mastery of the English language. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a classic of British literature.

Heart of darkness