At the heart of Heart of Darkness lies a psychological and physical odyssey into the profound and conflicting realities of colonialism. By constructing a complex narrative based on opposites: civilization versus savagery, a core of faith and belief versus emptiness, self-control and the lack thereof, Joseph Conrad reveals that behind the rhetoric of civilization lies an ironic hypocrisy in the pretense of colonial conquest to be the agent of progress. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Exactly, Marlow's journey down the river acts to undermine the position of the civilized, rendering them useless against the primitives. The image of a "warship" "shooting the bush" when "there wasn't even a shed" accentuates a sense of futility in the actions of the colonizers in their attempt at conquest and progress. The minutiae of "Pop" as opposed to the magnanimity of the "immensity of earth, sky and water" are encapsulated in a "sense of lugubrious buffoonery", which dwarfs the man-made in comparison to the primitive, which further exemplifies a sense of emptiness. and the inefficiency in the conquest of the colonial empire. The description of the “brown current” carrying the colonizers “seaward with twice the speed of [their] upward progress,” once again laments the machinery of the civilized, Western world, powerless and insignificant against the primordial. After all, the repetition of "nothing" in "nothing" occurred. Nothing could happen” brings out an indication of definitiveness and solidity in the ineffectiveness of colonial conquest, thus affirming the power of the primordial. The European's 'short fin of an arm' is also juxtaposed with the primordial landscape ['the forest, the stream, the mud, the river'], placing emphasis on the diminutive nature of the imperialist word against the backdrop of the primitive. Thus, Conrad creates an image that is both concrete and confusing, making the savage and primitive triumphant against the civilized. Furthermore, the narrative exposes colonial conquest as a system of neglect, where there is no recognition of a country's historical values. Village. As Marlow talks about how place names are considered "fakes", there is a sense of theatricality and ridiculousness laced with lies - the Congo has been reduced to nothing more than a "overheated catacomb", awaiting the death of the Europeans - the humiliating nature of The description leaves Congo without context and historical value, as if the country itself simply came into existence once the colonizers decided to set foot there. Furthermore, this denial of the individuality and history of the Congo and its natives is exemplified by the fact that "we did not stay long enough to gain a detailed impression." Instead, the country is summed up as a “vague” and “oppressive wonder”: an opaque entity, unfathomable and unrecognized by its “intruders,” which seemed to exist only to serve the purpose of a mundane “merry dance of death and commerce ”. '. The languid nature of the rounded vowels in “thickened mangrove” and “twisted mangrove” symbolizes the barrier faced by colonial agents as it literally slows down momentum within the lines, thus further constructing the pilgrimage as a rather unproductive and thoughtless process. As Marlow says the physical journey progresses, the psychological journey constructed by Conrad at the same time is much more revealing than the rhetoric of civilization. When Marlow refers to their pilgrimage as a 'fantastic invasion', the irony is not lost as it reminds us of Marlow's tale of when one of the pilgrims.