Narrative Structure In Heart Of Darkness, By Joseph Conrad

A frame narrative structure allows authors to incorporate their character’s reflection and their own opinions into a story. The novella Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, uses a frame structure to tell the story of Marlow, a European seaman, as he journeys into Africa to extract an ivory hoarder. However, in the frame of the story, the people who hear Marlow’s tale seem to be unmoved and do not take Marlow seriously. The lack of response from the group suggests they do not want to hear Marlow, yet Conrad also uses the men to relate them to the rest of Europe at the time of his writing. The nameless â€Å"I†, who creates the frame narrative, is the main character that Conrad uses to express his opinions he has about Europe via his commentary.†¦show more content†¦It was just like Marlow. It was accepted in silence. No one took the trouble to grunt even† (Conrad 6). The men on the boat have come to accept Marlow’s seemingly strange remarks a nd decide to ignore them. Finally, before Marlow begins to tell his story, the narrator states that the men on the boat know they are about to hear â€Å"one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences† (Conrad 8). This final remark before Marlow starts suggests that he has told many stories before; however, because Marlow speaks in such a way that the men cannot understand, the men believe that what Marlow tells of has no meaning. Due to the confusion Marlow causes in his story-telling, the desire of the men to be silent, and Marlow’s tendency to tell seemingly pointless stories, the men on the boat choose to ignore Marlow’s message about imperialism in Africa. Conrad uses these attributes about the men to directly compare them to other Europeans in that they do not care about the occurrences within Africa and do not wish to understand stories that require effort to find the deeper meaning. Marlow is not ignored the entire time though, and at the end of the boo k Conrad uses the narrator once again to connect what Marlow says to his current time. As the sun sets and the tide begins to disappear, the narrator states that â€Å"the offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermostShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness963 Words   |  4 Pagespeople. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, can be criticised through many different lenses. Though Natives are a large part of Conrad’s narrative of European atrocities in the Congo, his treatment of Congolese Natives throughout the book show them to be nothing more than props. Conrad skews Natives language, culture and intelligence to fit Europeans schema for Africa and Africans. 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