Dr.

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Binary Oppositions in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

This is the “Yin-Yang” symbol from ancient Chinese philosophy. It is usually interpreted as representing a
harmonious balance of opposing forces, such as Dark/Light; Matter/Spirit; Earth/Heavens; Female/Male;
Passive/Active; Water/Fire; Death/Life, etc. In each of these oppositions, the first element is the “Yin”
element and the second the “Yang” element.

As I discussed before we started reading Heart of Darkness, the novella can be interpreted as being
concerned with a series of contrasts or dualisms, beginning with the dualism “Darkness/Light.” A
dualism consisting of two opposed elements is called a “Binary Opposition.”

We can apply this “Binary Opposition” idea to the list above by aligning each one of the Yin elements
with its corresponding Yang element, creating a list of positive or negative associations. Since the
ultimate opposition is Death/Life, humans will always “privilege” the latter e lement (Yang) over the
former (Yin). That’s because, as living creatures, we would prefer to be alive rather than dead!

In this model, Kurtz would be the Yin energy and Marlow would be the Yang energy; the African Mistress
would be the Yin, and the Intended would be the Yang; Africa would be Yin and Europe would be Yang;
women are Yin and men are Yang; “primitive Africa” would be the Yin and “civilized Europe” would be
the Yang. Note that in Conrad’s society, one of these paired elements is clearly “privileged” over the
other. Hence, “Men” are privileged over “Women” (men are “realists” while women live in a fantasy
world); Europe is obviously privileged over Africa because it is supposedly more “civilized” and
“advanced” evolutionarily, etc. You may have noticed that Marlow shows a concern about “being a
man” and what it takes to “be a man.”

Note in the Yin-Yang symbol that each side of the circle contains a “seed” of its opposite, or “Other.”
What does this suggest? Why is it there? What do you think this means? Consider also that the behavior
of the “civilized” Europeans in Africa is savage indeed . . .

According to “deconstructive” philosophy (called “deconstruction”) Binary Oppositions do not stand up

to close scrutiny because they are not a reflection of reality but a way of engendering or constructing
reality. That is, Binary Oppositions reflect not the real world, but the wishes and even the sometimes
irrational desires of those who create and subscribe to them.

Again, according to this model, Binary Oppositions do not “describe” an already existing reality, but
rather take reality and divide it up into easy-to-grasp models based on a series of two simple
 Dr. Simon 2

perspectives, such as: Evil/Good; Sinner/Saint; Death/Life; Animal/Man; Woman/Man; Savage/Civilized,

Nature/Culture, etc. A phrase that sums this up would be, “Either you are with us or you are against us!”
You can’t have it both ways; you are supposed to choose.

According to the deconstructive perspective, such “things” (“Animal/Man,” “Woman/Man,”

“Nature/Culture”) do not really exist, but are human-made concepts that we pretend we did not create
so that we can believe in them as “common sense,” or “just the way things are.” Our “reality” is made
up of concepts and thoughts and ways of understanding ourselves and the world. But concepts and
thoughts can only exist because of language!

In this view, language does much more than allow us to communicate and express ourselves; language
literally (pun intended) creates our “world” and enables us to live comfortably within this
understanding. The problem is that there are and have been thousands of languages throughout human
history and each one differs from the others for reasons of geography and history. Since there is no
“single,” “original,” “best,” or “correct” language, all languages fail to account fully for the universe
(reality). Faced with this dilemma, humans choose to believe in their models of reality, which they hold
very dear.

For deconstructive philosophers, language tries to capture a non-human universe by using a man-made
system (symbols, words) that changes constantly over time. Twenty years ago no one knew what “Wi-Fi”
or an emoji was; a hundred years ago there was no concept of “gender.”

Let’s take this paradigm and use it to look at Kurtz and Marlow. Marlow seems to see himself as an
honest man, a realist, who sees through hypocrisy and possesses a wry, ironic, and cynical perspective
on human behavior. But Marlow also seems mesmerized and obsessed by Kurtz, even before they meet.
Marlow acknowledges Kurtz’s brutal savagery and yet admires his eloquence and “ideals.” Marlow
seems simultaneously seduced and sickened by Kurtz. What’s with this?

Considering what I’ve covered above, work alone or in groups of two to find textual evidence to support
the following thesis:

Kurtz and Marlow represent two aspects of a divided and conflicted European consciousness. This
consciousness functions by separating two key elements to make a Binary Opposition: “Civilized Man”
vs. “Primitive Savage.” The opposition only works by keeping these two elements completely
separated. Heart of Darkness is a meditation on the difficulty of maintaining this Binary Opposition
and its corresponding belief about the European Man’s place in the world. (Define “corresponding”)

Though you may work in pairs, each student will write and turn in his or her own separate response
essay (with parenthetical citations for quotes, paraphrases, or summaries of material from the book).
The essay will use evidence from the novella to support the thesis above. For our purposes, write as if
you agree with the thesis and need to find evidence to support it.

You may complete the essay at home and turn it in during our next class meeting. You are not allowed
to use internet sources to research this question and I will give an F for inclusion of any material taken
from online sources. I want your ideas! Essays can be typed or handwritten (typed is preferred); in
either case, please double-space between lines. Use MLA style. No need to create a Works Cited page.
Gaze deeply into the Heart of Darkness for your response, if you dare!