Heart of Darkness Classic 20th-Century Penguin读后感精选

《Heart of Darkness Classic 20th-Century Penguin》是一本由Conrad, Joseph/ Hampson, R. G.著作，Penguin USA出版的Pap图书，本书定价：7.95，页数：166，特精心收集的读后感，希望对大家能有帮助。

《Heart of Darkness Classic 20th-Century Penguin》读后感(一)：为什么康拉德出生在乌克兰，而用英语写作？

据Wiki，Konrad1857年12月3日出生于乌克兰Berdichev市一个贵族爱国者家庭，他的父亲Apollo是位政治题材的剧作家并且精于翻译法文和英文作品。1861年，Apollo由于涉嫌从事1863-64年一月起义的准备活动，被俄国皇家机构逮捕，流放到莫斯科东北480km的城市沃洛格达。四岁的Konrad跟着父母一起去流放了，1865年，在一家人迁去切尔尼格夫后不久，体弱多病的母亲Ewelina死于肺结核。四年后，父亲在克拉科夫去世，年仅11岁的Konrad成为孤儿，舅舅Bobrowski来照看他。16岁，为躲避参军，加之申请加入奥匈国籍被拒，Konrad来到法国马赛，成为一名水手。

《Heart of Darkness Classic 20th-Century Penguin》读后感(二)：黑暗寓言

Heart of Darkness]是第一人称叙事，很口语化。一个海员到非洲刚果一个贸易公司去做跑船，带领一群人开着破船去河流的上游找一个神奇的同事，一个非常有能力的连土著人都佩服他的 kurtz 先生。他们费劲力气找到先生后却发现他完全不是想象中的样子，而是做了土著人的神，压根不想回公司把自己找到的很多象牙交出去，那位先生是个（天才）疯子。疯子先生病死了他们则返回了河口。所谓“黑暗之心”说的就是非洲黑暗的丛林和比丛林更黑暗的人心，无须赘述。而这本书和[Lord Jim]之所以那么出名，除了Lord Jim的写作手法和资本主义的殖民问题，最吸引人的地方当然还是其航海主题。[Heart of Darkness]比较不纯粹是航海，不过也穿插着各种对海的感想。

当年罗马士兵开船去英国，“ lose in wilderness..have been dying like flies.” 正如英国人两千年后开拓非洲大陆。 “going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine.” 同样的所谓 civilized man开拓蛮荒，有时沿着 a mighty big river, 迷失在丛林里死去。殖民者很可怜，混的好谁去追求危险的富贵呢。

“Land in a swamp, march through the woods, and in some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him—all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable. And it has a fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination—you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate.”

全书笼罩着黑色不详的气氛。在这样的气氛中生活如噩梦般不真实却被迫相信着。“ we live, as we dream, alone”。书中的寻找 kurtz先生也失去了原先的意义， “I can’t forget him, though I am not prepared to affirm the fellow was exactly worth the life we lost in getting to him.” Kurtz 先生找象牙好像也没啥实际意义，如果运不出去。

除了叙述者是中性人物，没有一个好人，包括丛林里的 kurtz先生。尽管他的天才并不讨厌。全书让我有兴趣的是两点，第一是丛林里的先生，为什么他是这样 ,这个问题涉及到非洲贸易公司各种可鄙的愚笨的人和天才先生的反差，尽管所有人都有着黑暗的心；第二是（康拉德被人批评的）所谓对黑人或黑奴的歧视（ “While I stood horror-struck, one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees, and went off on all fours towards the river to drink.” “well, you know, that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being inhuman.” ),如果不那么描述的话，怎么表述 --如何对待落后民族。第二个问题涉及到殖民的所谓工作是赚钱 (“to make money, of course. What do you think？” he said, scornfully.”“the only real feeling was a desire to get appointed to a trading-post where ivory was to be had, so that they could earn percentages) 还是开化落后民族 .

1

康拉德把刚果丛林描述为黑暗的(魔法)森林，住着人一样的原始生物。和童话中擅闯此地的人一样，殖民者利欲熏心而猥琐胆小，唯一两个例外是 kurtz先生和叙述者，一个利欲熏心却精神强大的驯服了土著并且让他们具备了“攻击”的能力（所以他并不算是守财奴的堕落），叙述者也许不是故事中真实存在的人物，而是一只眼睛。整个故事真的很黑色童话。一个正直的骑士进入黑森林变堕落，或者干脆变成了魔王，用象牙诱惑贪婪的人类，当他们受尽折磨找来时他却死去了；或者说贪婪的人为了象牙进入森林却被下了咒语，堕落成财宝的奴隶了等等。

之所以觉得是童话是因为我尚无法接受他的疯狂仅仅是因为贪婪和为钱的不择手段。不如说是因为他在欧洲不得志而来处女地开疆扩土，却被愚蠢的贸易公司和陌生的丛林整垮了。但是这个答案听起来也不好。

对于 kurz, 书里是这么说的，“ All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz; and by and by I learned that, most appropriately, the international society for the suppression of savage customs had entrusted him with the making of a report for its future guidance. And he had written it, too…..but this must have been before his—let us say—nerves, went wrong. Kurtz 自己的攻略是， “the white must necessarily appear to them[savages] in the nature of supernatural beings—we approach them with the might as of a deity.” 他成功了。这么看他确实可以作为贪婪野心殖民者的极致，代表他们强力的一面，对比于其他殖民者的无力的一面。可是 “I went a little farther, then till a little farther, till I had gone so far that I don’t know how I’ll ever get back.” 不敢说这一定是对英国殖民 pointlessness的质疑，或者作者只是觉得人只会被环境改变，而不是相反。作者觉得这是一种悲哀或许，无论如何一群可怜人为了追求一些东西，伤害了自己和别人，最后也不是想要的结果。

除了kurtz先生，船上其他的人当然也拥有黑暗之心，不过平庸些罢了。 The banality of evil. 对这种 evil叙述者说了两点，第一是说谎“ you know I hate, detest, and can’t bear a lie. Not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appals me. There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies—which is exactly I have and detest in the world—what I want to forget.” 说谎和死亡连在一起。第二点是人在困境中表达出的恶劣品质。 Lack of restraint from lingering starvation. “catch’im….eat’im!” “Say! We must have made a glorious slaughter of them in the bush, Eh？ What do you think？ Say？” 平凡人的屠杀并不建立在野心引起的恨上，甚至可以说野心本身是不导致恨的。平凡人因为害怕而恨，是自卫，但是自卫听起来很不霸气。

当然也可以说丛林就是一棵巨大的黑暗之心，炼狱，大怪兽，etc.哈哈哈

2

康拉德对土著的描写杜绝了很多读者同情的可能性，如果真的接受他的描写的话。与其说土著是一个文化或者社会，不如说他们是刚果丛林的生物，至少那个时代人的定义尚且争议，他们除了体型和最基本的思维别的也不大像人。和印第安土著不一样，（至少在书里）他们的心是空的，眼神也是空的，对陌生有本能的害怕，没有攻击性的弱小的不文明生物。 “the action was very far from being aggressive—it was not even defensive, in the usual sense; it was undertaken under the stress of desperation, and in its essence was purely protective.” 所谓他们的宗教也许在西方人的眼里简单的不成宗教，只是莫名其妙。可怕的是森林，却不是森林里的人。人并不是刚果森林的万物之灵而是之一。没有老虎可怕。他们的作用只是让人困惑他们到底是人不是。 “We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there. At night sometimes the roll of drums behind the curtain of trees would run up the river and remain sustained faintly, as if hovering in the air high over our heads, till the first break of day. ” “an irresistible impression of sorrow.”

虽然文化在不同的环境中会有不同的发展和局限，不可否认文化本身有强大弱小之别，不管是侵略性，连续性，还是统一性或者规模大小。而欧洲文化在任何一个方面都可以轻易的铲除非洲文化（至少在书里来说），如果是这样的话文明之间的歧视，文明人对不文明人的歧视，至少是有理由的。在充分了解非洲文化的价值前，奴役也很正常。从社会制度来说，就算欧洲人也会觉得自己三千年前的原始社会很低等，那么认为一个外族原始社会低等也不算歧视吧。欧洲人对殖民地确实是掠夺性的，和他们的文化一样，谈不上教化。不过如果连互相理解都不能也很难教化吧。这点非洲和美洲是有区别的。再者，就算现在全世界都承认非洲人的地位了，他们的生活比一百年前又好了多少？所以愿望和行为效果真的没啥直接关系。虽然社会达尔文主义听起来满残忍，但文化确实是互相侵吞的。是否可以这么说，一个人对待其他（低等）文化的态度取决于他自己的文化种类。当然什么文化称得上低等也是一个争议话题。不得不说现在这样的文化越来越少了。

《Heart of Darkness Classic 20th-Century Penguin》读后感(三)：Essay Q&A

Essay Q&A

1. What is "'The horror! The horror!'"？

Literally, "The horror! The horror!'" are Kurtz's dying words. They are spoken to Marlow in private as the steamboat makes its return journey to the Central Station. Of course, the most important question, generally the most frequently asked question related to the novel, concerns what Kurtz means by the statement. One interpretation is that the horror is a great emptiness, a profound nothingness that lies at the heart of everything.

Marlow believes that Kurtz's immersion in the wilderness has fundamentally changed him. Living deep in the Congo, among the "savages" and far from the structured life of society, Kurtz has learned some deep, dark secret about the nature of life. It is a secret that most people either cannot or will not hear. We know that, initially at least, Kurtz is neither a bitter man nor a misanthrope. His report to the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs begins on a very humanitarian note. He has altruistic motives and great hopes for the company's work; he believes that "Each station should be like a beacon on the road toward better things, a center for trade of course but also for humanising, improving, instructing." In essence, Europeans coming to the Congo can have a positive impact on the region and its inhabitants. We also learn that Kurtz is a cultured man: he writes and recites poetry, he paints, and he is a musician. In this way, Kurtz is an emissary of Western culture. He buys into the notion that Europe can help to civilize the Congo. Yet by the end of the report, after considerable time spent in the wild, Kurtz concludes that Europeans must "'Exterminate all the brutes!'"

What brings about this tremendous change？ Marlow suggests that Kurtz's time in the wild released a much more primitive, instinctual nature in him, a nature that Marlow suggests resides deep within us all but which "civilized" society helps to keep suppressed. Over time Kurtz becomes a very powerful figure for the natives. The story strongly suggests that he has achieved a godlike status among the natives, who care for him, approach him by crawling, fanatically follow him, and even revere him.

Marlow has a strong desire to relate Kurtz's message; in fact, it seems to be his sole motivation for telling the tale. However, he recognizes that not everyone is ready to hear Kurtz's message. The most obvious example of an individual not ready to accept Kurtz's message is his fiancée, his "Intended." At the end of the tale, when she prompts Marlow to reveal Kurtz's last words, Marlow lies, stating that it was her own name. The truth, Marlow believes, would crush her. The Manager and the other company men in the Congo also reject Kurtz's message, believing Kurtz to be insane. By extension, it can be argued that all "civilized" people reject Kurtz's message. Who does accept it？ Obviously, Marlow accepts it, but so does the Harlequin, a man who admits that Kurtz "enlarged [his] mind." The natives of the Congo, too, accept the message, for they embrace, even worship, Kurtz. The underlying distinction seems to be this: those who confine themselves to the safety of society's rules and morals reject Kurtz's message. Society gives them the illusions they need in order to carry on. But those few who have gone far beyond the constraints of society, those who look deeply inward, draw a different conclusion: there is no real "method" or purpose to life.

2. Why does Marlow refer to the company men as "pilgrims？"

The standard definition of a "pilgrim" is one who embarks on a journey for some sacred purpose. When the word is used, many undoubtedly think of the men and women who traveled from England to the New World aboard ships like the Mayflower, individuals embarking on a sacred and very personal mission. On the surface the Europeans working in the Congo fit this definition. Organizations like the story's International Society for the Suppression of Savage customs seem to have a vested interest in bringing "civilization" to the region. Indeed, Marlow's aunt, who has helped to secure his position with the company, is glad that her nephew will be "weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways." And men like Kurtz, initially at least, also want to help to improve life for the natives.

As the story progresses, however, we see that the only real motivation for these "faithless pilgrims," as Marlow calls them, is money. As Marlow makes clear, the word "ivory" is constantly in the background and the quest for it seems to drive their every action. Marlow notes that the greatest "desire" among the company men "was to get appointed to a trading post where ivory was to be had, so that they could earn percentages." During his march to the Central Station, Marlow encounters an overweight company man, a man ill-suited to the region. When Marlow asks why he has come to the Congo, the man replies, "To make money, of course," as if there were no other reason. It is no accident that the large expedition which arrives at the Central Station, led by the Central Station Manager's uncle, is called the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, for the Eldorado is a fabled land of untold gold and riches in South America, sought out by several famous explorers. The Congo too is a region of untapped wealth.

Of course, this quest for money is the cause of much suffering and even death. The company doctor notes that most of the men he approves for work in the region never return to his office. The Manager too complains to his uncle that many of his workers cannot survive the environment. In fact, the Manager's uncle notes that the Manager's simple ability to stay healthy is his greatest strength. Even the native inhabitants, who have existed in the region for many years prior to the arrival of the Europeans, suffer from the quest for ivory, as Marlow discovers when he sees a line of native "criminals" and later stumbles upon a large group of native workers who are nearly wasted from their brutal work and the harsh conditions. Even the company's attempts to improve the natives' lives don't amount to much. For example, the native workers aboard the steamboat are paid in lengths of copper wire. But this payment is useless because there are no places for the native workers to trade. As a result, they go hungry.

Thus, Marlow uses the term "pilgrim" to point out the hypocritical nature of European colonization. This pilgrimage is anything but sacred; it's about lining pockets with gold.

3. Several times Marlow speaks of "the nightmare of my choice." What does he mean by this？

Nightmares are the unwelcome form of dreams. They are frightening manifestations of the subconscious, and they are often best left unspoken. In Heart of Darkness we see many dreams: Kurtz initially dreams of making the company stations places to bring culture to the natives, most of the company men dream of making fortunes on ivory, and Marlow dreams of great adventures in an uncharted country. We also see that many of these dreams have a nightmare component.

Clearly, Kurtz's experience in the Congo has led him to uncover the ultimate nightmare. He has abandoned the rules and structure of society and has let his baser nature flourish; as a result, he has seen the savagery, brutality, and emptiness that reside within us all. The Manager lives in his own nightmare as he constantly frets over his position within the company, wondering who may replace him and who has the most influence back in Europe. Marlow's trip becomes a waking nightmare as he learns that his boat is wrecked, experiences the deplorable conditions forced upon the natives and company workers, watches a man die in front of him, encounters the row of decapitated heads at Kurtz's Inner Station, and eventually hears Kurtz's terrible message.

As a result of his experience one might expect Marlow to welcome his return to "civilization" with open arms. Yet after his encounter with Kurtz life in Europe seems somehow nightmarish too. Like Kurtz, Marlow has been to the heart of darkness; he too has seen the utter emptiness that it at the center of it all. As a result he now understands that Europe and all that it represents is nothing more than a hollow façade.

This point of view, however, is not shared by the other men, who haven't pushed themselves far enough to see the truth of Kurtz's message. This is the reason Marlow is no longer accepted by them. It is also the reason Marlow lies to Kurtz's fiancée when she asks him to tell her Kurtz's last words: the truth is simply too much to bear.

4. How does the novel depict the "savages" of the Congo region？

It's clear that to the Europeans the native inhabitants of the Congo are subhuman; they are savages in the basest sense of the word. Marlow's aunt, who uses her influence to help him gain employment with the company, speaks of "'those ignorant millions'" who need to be saved "'from their horrid ways.'" During Marlow's stay at the Central Station, a native is beaten for supposedly setting fire to one of the company huts. His cries elicit no pity from one of the company workers, who remarks: "'What a row the brute makes! [. . .] Serve him right. Transgression-punishment-bang! Pitiless, pitiless. That's the only way." The man's remarks suggest that the station's agents see the natives as no better than animals. Even Marlow buys into to this line of thinking, for he likens the native in charge of running the steamboat's boiler to "a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat walking on his hind legs."

But the novel depicts these "savages" in a far more sympathetic light. For example, Marlow hires a group of "cannibals" to help run the boat. Some of them cut wood, one tends the boiler, and one steers the boat. Early in the journey upriver, the cannibals' main source of food, a hunk of rotting hippopotamus meat, is thrown overboard because of its offensive smell. Thus, the cannibals are very hungry. It is true that when the boat is fog-bound and the cannibals hear the loud cries from the forest, they want to capture these other natives so they can eat them. However, Marlow marvels over the cannibals' tremendous restraint. He notes that the cannibals outnumber the company men "thirty to five" and he admits that they are strong, powerful men who could easily overwhelm them, yet they don't attempt to harm the company men. Such restraint is the mark of a civilized man, not an animal. In addition, the natives demonstrate far more concern for the welfare of Kurtz than do most of his countrymen. True, they worship him, an act that would be seen as evidence of their uncivilized or backward nature, yet they actively work to ensure his safety.

In the end, the novel asserts that the Europeans are far more savage than those whom they label as such.

5. What is the role of women in Heart of Darkness？

For the most part, Heart of Darkness is a tale of men. The majority of the novel's characters are male, and Marlow's account is related to an all-male audience aboard the Nellie. Despite these facts, women do play an important role in the tale.

If the European men in the Congo are the foot soldiers of colonization, the European women are the behind-the-lines generals. They are the silent strategists. This point is first revealed when Marlow tries to obtain a position in the Congo. He attempts to get a job on his own merits and through his own connections, but he strikes out. The men whose help he enlists do nothing for him. Marlow comments: "Then-would you believe it-I tried the women. I, Charlie Marlow, set the women to work-to get a job! Heavens!" There is a certain amount of incredulity and shame in his comment, yet the reality, which each of Marlow's listeners probably knows, though would surely hesitate to admit, is that women are particularly powerful figures in European culture. Their ability to network and influence the male-dominated business world is revealed in Marlow's aunt's comment: "I know the wife of a very high personage in the Administration. . . ." Though Marlow may be ashamed of his actions, he recognizes his aunt's influence and efficiency, telling the others, "I got my appointment-of course; and I got it very quick."

The next women presented are those at the company's main office. When Marlow arrives at the office, he encounters two women knitting black wool. They seem to know everything about him and the other men who enter the office and are described by Marlow as "guarding the door of darkness." In a way they offer permission for Marlow to undertake his journey.

Perhaps serving the opposite role is Kurtz's fiancé his "Intended," for it is suggested that she is the reason Kurtz initially traveled to the region. Marlow learns that their engagement wasn't approved of by her relatives, and it "was his impatience of comparative poverty that drove him out there." Thus, the Congo was a land where Kurtz could prove himself financially. And perhaps it wasn't a bad deal, for she is completely devoted to him, telling Marlow, "'I believed in him more than any one on earth-more than his own mother, more than-himself.'"

There is, of course, one woman who stands apart from the others: the native woman who emerges from the forest. She is described by Marlow as "savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent." Though there is no direct evidence to support that she is Kurtz's mistress, it is tempting to view her as such. Regardless of her physical relationship with Kurtz, she is the opposite of his Intended. Whereas the Intended is at home, sitting in her house with its "high and ponderous door," the native woman is there, with him, in the lush wilderness. While his Intended gracefully mourns his absence, the native woman shouts to the heavens and physically moves to ensure Kurtz's safety.

And so it is true that the bulk of the action in Heart of Darkness is undertaken by men, but without women, the story would not be possible.

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