Heart Of Darkness

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horror! The horror!" right before he died (Conrad, 85). These words cried out by Kurtz as he died created the most important passages in . The way this one passage is interpreted determines how the book is interpreted.
One interpretation is that the "horror" is death and Kurtz is realizing he is dying. Kurtz is horrified at the thought of dying and is crying out in pain of the realization. Kurtz may be afraid to die in the . Kurtz may be afraid to die knowing that he will never see his intended again and he may feel guilty for leaving his intended for his savage life. This interpretation shows a book about lost love and guilt for finding a new life. This interpretation is one of the less complex and uninteresting interpretations.
Now here is a more interesting and complex interpretation. Some view as a racist book. This interpretation comes from the view that the "horror" Kurtz is identifying is his being brought "down" to the ...

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1). When someone is taken out of civilization they are unbounded by civilization when this happens, the inner human soul lets out its natural evilness. This interpretation suggest that humans are naturally evil and evil is in the heart of our souls. Civilization just keeps that "evil" at bay and once someone is unbounded by civilization the evil comes out. This interpretation shows us that Conrad’s novel is essentially a psychological novel. The heart of darkness is the darkness in the human soul and Conrad’s novel is telling the story of someone finding the inner darkness. That person is Kurtz and when Kurtz cries out "The horror!" he has found the ...

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