Symbolism Of The River In Joseph Conrads Heart Of Darkness

â€Å"No man ever steps into the same river twice, for its not the same river, and he’s not the same man† -Heraclitus. This quote accurately depicts the protagonist, Charles Marlow in the novella Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness is read from the narration of Marlow, an ivory transporter who travels down the Congo. Throughout his journey, Marlow develops an intense interest in the famous ivory trader Kurtz, who is portrayed as a powerful, sage, and evil man. The story is based on Marlows experiences with the encounters hes faced with and his ability to be fickle based in these encounterments. In Heart of Darkness, we see Conrad use the river to symbolize movement throughout the novella. Throughout the†¦show more content†¦Kurtz, being a high end ivory trader, is very powerful and which readers don’t learn until the end is mad. After being informed the truth about Kurtz, he starts to open his eyes about reality. Marlow describ es the natives as â€Å" an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a vengeful aspect† (102). In this quote, Marlow is talking about the natives while passing them in the ship. He mentions their look of a sense seeming as they were used as objects instead of people.Lastly,readers see the novella come to an end when he finishes up his narration along with the story. He finishes with â€Å"the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky- seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness† (117). Marlow finally realized the effect the river has and anything that goes into it, will indeed have a different look on life and will never look back. In other words, Conrad uses the river to represent the movement of Marlow and the further he travels from civilization. Not only does the symbolism of movement contributes to the theme of what you dont know cant harm you but the symbol of movement emphasizes the drastic change of Marlow throughout the story. In the beginning on the novella, Marlow is an man of travel as that being his only passion since he was a young boy. 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