In contrast, Africa, whilst equated with darkness is nevertheless an essential darkness that allows for the possibility of progression, knowledge and hope. Marlow describes that “Going up that [Congo] river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world” and that there was “a dim suspicion of there being meaning in it” (Conrad 33, 36). Therefore, unlike his descriptions of Europe, Marlow implies it is Africa which has a meaning. This suggestion, though subtly expressed by Marlow, is a pivotal moment as it one of very few instances in the text where he concedes to finding meaning in the world around him. Marlow has found this meaning, not in the alleged civilised Western world but in the African wilderness which has been untouched by the technologies and industries of the modern age. Thus light and darkness is not only linked to modernity but also to epistemology as Marlow ultimately finds meaning in a nation untouched by technological progress.
Conrad further uses stylistic experimentation through his depiction of a subjective account of a male figure wherein we see him judge identity based on gender, race and class. Gender is a much criticised issue in Heart of Darkness, largely because many modern-day readers may understandably find the attitudes it displays towards women demeaning (Goonetilleke 42). This is seen early in the text when Marlow states “Then – would you believe it – I tried the women. I Charlie Marlow, set the women to work – to get a job!” (Conrad 8). Here women are demeaned by Marlow as though the very suggestion of setting women to work is incredulous. Marianne DeKoven argues female gender is largely a “suppressed preoccupation” in Heart of Darkness (DeKoven 85). Admittedly whilst women are not at the core of the text, the critic Jeremy Hawthorn nevertheless argues that the female gender “plays a significant role determining fate” in the text (Hawthorn 405). It is Marlow’s aunt who provides work for him in the Congo and it is the women who work in the Company’s office who declare Marlow fit for work. Thus women operate as agents of fate in the text, but are still are presented as or spoken of in demeaning or contrasting ways. For instance, there is a vast difference in the representation of British and African women. Marlow describes the British woman as “fair” and “gentle” and they are withdrawn from the main events of the text (Conrad 74-75). In contrast the African woman is represented as “savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent” (Conrad 60). Joseph Allen Boone argues that this striking contrast emphasizes the African woman’s sexual confidence and eroticism which British women do not have (64). This has led to critics linking female gender with imperialism in the text by “reinforcing patriarchal gender ideology” where colonisers keep women from the bleak reality that colonisation entails but also by establishing it as a man’s field of work (DeKoven 94). Because of this, British women inherit “stereotypical female roles” (Hawthorn 414). The British women in Heart of Darkness embody female ideals found in traditional Victorian representations of women, such as that in Coventry Patmore’s ‘The Angel of the House.’ However, the African woman is represented as bold, strong and sexualised. In creating this contrast Conrad makes readers aware of the existence of a new female ideal. Therefore, the representation of the British female is being undermined “by its exposure to a colonial otherness” (Childs 137).
Additionally, Marlow as narrator also reveals more about race and class. He refers to the black people as “red-eyed devils” and objectifies them. In one horrific scene he discovers a pit of black people who are emaciated and starving, left to die on the side of a road; “Black shapes lay crouched ... The black bones reclined … Near the same tree two more bundles of acute angles sat” (Conrad 16-17). Marlow deduces these people to objects and shapes thus stripping them of their humanity. This depiction of dying Africans sparked a heated debate amongst critics as to whether the text is overall a racist one. Chinua Achebe argues the text reveals Conrad’s “problem with niggers” (Achebe 345). Achebe argues Heart of Darkness is a racist text where black people are “dehumanized”, “degraded” and “denied speech” (Achebe 341-344). However other critics, such as Cedric Watts, disagree with Achebe. Watts accuses Acheb of confusing Marlow with Conrad therefore blurring the line between author and