fifteen- Sams quote
“Man may venture, like Kurtz, into the wilderness of his inner world, and from his own weakness…topple into madness to immoral behavior; or man may gaze, like Marlow, at the bestiality, and manage enough control over the turbulence to live a moral life.” -L. Sams
This essay was written in response to the above quote, which refers to The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Upon rereading this years later, after finding it in some folder on my computer, I remembered how hauntingly veracious that story is- and what impact it made on me when I read it.
What happened to Kurtz serves as a warning for all of us.
The Unphoenix
“Man may venture, like Kurtz, into the wilderness of his inner world, and from his own weakness…topple into madness to immoral behavior; or man may gaze, like Marlow, at the bestiality, and manage enough control over the turbulence to live a moral life.”
-L. Sams
Past the doldrums and beyond the edge of bizarre, lies ambiguous darkness. Shrouded away from the onerous manacles of society, exists a domain absent of all inhibition. Coils of unbridled power dangle from the rusty hinges of jagged machinery. Such a cataclysmic realm resides not in Africa, the cradle of life, but rather in the crevices of the human soul. This is the heart of darkness.
Kurtz descended deep in the heart of darkness, and he allowed himself to become submerged in the disturbing freedom that surrounded him. All barriers gone, he regressed, and the wild devoured him. Primal elements lay dormant like malignant tumors, coming to life when the walls of civilization erode. To say only the weak succumb to the mystique of absolute control would be deceiving. Many yield to the uncouth temptations that lie in the wake of the loss of domesticity. Unfortunately for Kurtz, he never returned from the spiraling vortex of darkness. The most horrifying aspect of ordeal was that, at least for a time, Kurtz was fully cognizant of his actions.
Macabre kingdoms do not reveal themselves only to the Kurtzs of the world. Men like Marlow stumble upon the darkness, also. The temptations are similar, but the man is fundamentally different. Marlow resisted the urge to put on the coarse mask of bestiality. He maintained the necessary restraints to keep himself from falling into the bottomless pit of the terrifying. His scruples remained intact, forming a glass wall around him. Marlow observed the destruction without participating. He kept the waves of madness and immorality at bay. He emerged strong, resisting desire. However, he retained caustic scars that would change his perception of humanity forever.
A person does not return from the heart of darkness completely unscathed. Whether the wounds penetrate the heart of go no further than the skin, the changes, visible and jarring, do not disappear with time. Following his rendezvous with darkness, Marlow came to witness humanity in all its vivid hypocrisy and brutal ugliness. He discovered that evil resides in all humans; it is only a matter of finding the right catalyst to make the reaction begin. For men like Kurtz, once the reaction started, it never ceased. It corroded the veneer and kept on going. It ate away layer after layer like a dangerous acid until all that survived was irreversible madness. Kurtz reveled in the god-like reverence bestowed upon him by the natives. All buckles and shoes loosened, his head, his heart and his soul retreated to the land of no return. Marlow encountered similar circumstances, but even with his shoes thrown overboard, he resisted the haunting call of the jungle.
The heart of darkness does not belong to the savages and those who live beyond the scope of the imagination. It burns quietly in the furnace of the heart. Ravaging flames only spread when not doused with an extinguisher in time. Unlike phoenixes, once burned on the pyre, humans do not rise from the ashes. They stay black and sooty, immoral and uncouth, mad and full of useless power.
I feel as though I haven't written in ages, and I'm hoping this sparks something in me.
This essay was written in response to the above quote, which refers to The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Upon rereading this years later, after finding it in some folder on my computer, I remembered how hauntingly veracious that story is- and what impact it made on me when I read it.
What happened to Kurtz serves as a warning for all of us.
The Unphoenix
“Man may venture, like Kurtz, into the wilderness of his inner world, and from his own weakness…topple into madness to immoral behavior; or man may gaze, like Marlow, at the bestiality, and manage enough control over the turbulence to live a moral life.”
-L. Sams
Past the doldrums and beyond the edge of bizarre, lies ambiguous darkness. Shrouded away from the onerous manacles of society, exists a domain absent of all inhibition. Coils of unbridled power dangle from the rusty hinges of jagged machinery. Such a cataclysmic realm resides not in Africa, the cradle of life, but rather in the crevices of the human soul. This is the heart of darkness.
Kurtz descended deep in the heart of darkness, and he allowed himself to become submerged in the disturbing freedom that surrounded him. All barriers gone, he regressed, and the wild devoured him. Primal elements lay dormant like malignant tumors, coming to life when the walls of civilization erode. To say only the weak succumb to the mystique of absolute control would be deceiving. Many yield to the uncouth temptations that lie in the wake of the loss of domesticity. Unfortunately for Kurtz, he never returned from the spiraling vortex of darkness. The most horrifying aspect of ordeal was that, at least for a time, Kurtz was fully cognizant of his actions.
Macabre kingdoms do not reveal themselves only to the Kurtzs of the world. Men like Marlow stumble upon the darkness, also. The temptations are similar, but the man is fundamentally different. Marlow resisted the urge to put on the coarse mask of bestiality. He maintained the necessary restraints to keep himself from falling into the bottomless pit of the terrifying. His scruples remained intact, forming a glass wall around him. Marlow observed the destruction without participating. He kept the waves of madness and immorality at bay. He emerged strong, resisting desire. However, he retained caustic scars that would change his perception of humanity forever.
A person does not return from the heart of darkness completely unscathed. Whether the wounds penetrate the heart of go no further than the skin, the changes, visible and jarring, do not disappear with time. Following his rendezvous with darkness, Marlow came to witness humanity in all its vivid hypocrisy and brutal ugliness. He discovered that evil resides in all humans; it is only a matter of finding the right catalyst to make the reaction begin. For men like Kurtz, once the reaction started, it never ceased. It corroded the veneer and kept on going. It ate away layer after layer like a dangerous acid until all that survived was irreversible madness. Kurtz reveled in the god-like reverence bestowed upon him by the natives. All buckles and shoes loosened, his head, his heart and his soul retreated to the land of no return. Marlow encountered similar circumstances, but even with his shoes thrown overboard, he resisted the haunting call of the jungle.
The heart of darkness does not belong to the savages and those who live beyond the scope of the imagination. It burns quietly in the furnace of the heart. Ravaging flames only spread when not doused with an extinguisher in time. Unlike phoenixes, once burned on the pyre, humans do not rise from the ashes. They stay black and sooty, immoral and uncouth, mad and full of useless power.
I feel as though I haven't written in ages, and I'm hoping this sparks something in me.