Literary+Movement

=﻿Modernism= //Heart of Darkness// is an example of the literary movement known as Modernism. Key elements of this literary == movement include the idea that there are no absolutes in life, alienation from others, and rebellion of the individual from the group. All of these play important parts in the novel. Uncertainty comes up just because there is never a surefire answer to the conflicts going on. Marlow, and every other man in the novel faces an almost constant struggle for survival, never knowing who will come out alive. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a frame story the reader could have been afraid that Marlow would die. Near his narrative's end, after Kurtz' death Marlow himself almost succumbed to death. It was an uncertainty of whether or not the characters would make it through the next difficulty thrown at them.

Additionally, women are portrayed as innocent beings of morality, yet they rarely appear in the novel. This serves to create the idea of civilization as a hypocritical idea that doesn't actually exist. Everyone in the novella thinks that the natives of Africa are savages, but the Europeans are no more civil than they are; they would do anything in order to gain power or money.

Alienation is an obvious idea of modernism that appears the most frequently of any of the others. Kurtz is portrayed as this amazing man who is proficient at every art and talent known to man. Despite his amazing prowess at recovering ivory and his progress through the company's ranks, Kurtz isolates himself from the company, and all the other employees begin to detest him and view him as a monster. As in modernism, the more original a person, the more isolated they are from other humans. In addition to Kurtz, Marlow also becomes isolated from the company. After defending Kurtz and saying that he's still a remarkable man despite his fall from grace, the rest of the company shuns him as a mad man. When Marlow returns to England he cannot relate to people anymore and sees them as stupid and having no real purpose. They hadn't seen the things that Marlow had, and didn't know the truth of the world in his, which further displays his alienation from society.

This very same idea of Marlow sticking up for Kurtz leads into the common idea of rebellion. Knowing full well that his superiors and the others in the company would not like it, Marlow saw something redeeming in Kurtz and stood up for him. Marlow knew he wouldn't be accepted by them after that, but he didn't care, because he saw them as the corrupted individuals they really were.