《Heart of Darkness》是一本由Joseph Conrad著作，W. W. Norton & Company出版的Paperback图书，本书定价：USD 28.73，页数：536，特精心从网络上整理的一些读者的读后感，希望对大家能有帮助。
《Heart of Darkness》精选点评：
●08所阅no.1
●There is no such thing as human nature, is there? What we conceive to be humanity shatters at the first touch of nature...civilization is a developmental achievement, a horror barely standing against horror...
●#LI204-04: Collapsing The Empire# 康拉德的英语非常强壮，即使他不怎么会说英语
●学校必读的书 说实话挺好看的 反反复复读了三遍每次都会领悟到新东西
●heart of darkness, darkness of the jungle, darkness of the human beings.
●整体写作渐入佳境，然而故事性是真的不强，风格上有很明显的现代主义特征。
●诺顿始终是诺顿。。
●康拉德，身为一个波兰裔，跟着他爸流放到俄罗斯，成年之后在海上当水手时向同行小伙伴学习了英语，发现与英语更能match，用英语写作写成了大佬。瞧瞧人家这。更没想到这小伙伴竟然是Galsworthy。 anyway，这书好就好在，虽然我看两页就忍不住要睡觉，英文，简体，繁体换来换去都止不住瞌睡，可强忍着读完还是能感受到康拉德的牛批
●《黑暗的心》一座巨大的文字迷宫，初读是从入口走进迷宫，走出来绝对不是一件轻松的事情。可是如果从空中俯瞰，就发现这迷宫的构造是如此的精妙有序，内容丰富，细腻入微却又布局井井有条。每一个细节、每一个人物和事件，都指向小说的主题。
●第二次上这本书了……课前完全没准备，居然记得那一页写的啥，对每个角色做政治和性别分析，记得quotes，然后整堂课都在叽里呱啦讲，说明我之前还是挺用功的……无比厌学的现在的我，哎。
《Heart of Darkness》读后感(一)：呵呵
两个字坑爹，三个字很坑爹。从头到尾故事没有太大的起伏，语言用的极其复杂，故事及其无聊，抑郁和黑暗。。。从高中生角度来分析这本书嘛。。。呵呵
A book with poetic language and dense vocabulary doesn't automatically make it a classic novel. This book was dull and depressing with an unclear message being conveyed from the author that varies greatly depending on how each reader interprets the text. This novel depicts the darkness of Conrad's time, the end. Not worth reading unless you love to read fictional characters' rambles.
《Heart of Darkness》读后感(二)：康拉德时纯正的反殖民主义者！
什么是殖民主义？
Kurtz在Kongo变成了一个神一样的人物 他和黑人们的关系就如同上帝和人类的关系 圣经里面 上帝觉得人类太愚蠢了 太邪恶了 就做了人类全部杀光的决定 这是因为上帝创造了人类 人类是他的一件所有物 但是Kurtz和黑人的关系是平等的 他和他们是一个物种 但是他却在最后的报告中 添上这么一句惨无人道的话 将所有黑人赶尽杀绝 这就是西方人所说的civilized的本质 把这片土地上原住民杀光 让自己取而代之 这不是殖民 这已经是赤裸裸的强盗行为 甚至更加残酷
细细想来这是一个多么恐怖的想法 Conrad将这些表述为文字 让我们知道欧洲人口中的殖民 所谓的civilized只是披着羊皮的狼
他笔下描写的黑人 空洞 无知 还有一丝丝狡黠 这些虽然另读者原本对他们的同情全部收回 但是欧洲人内心的野蛮与他们表现出来的野蛮一对比 也是相形见绌 细思极恐啊 即使这些黑人如何不如欧洲人 也由不得欧洲人去裁决他们的未来 这是非人道主义的
除了Kurtz的妻子问了Marlow他临终的话语 其他同类并不关心 只愿意相信他是insane 反倒是他想要赶尽杀绝的人 一直以来拥护他崇拜他 这真是极大的讽刺
Marlow一个成功从非常回来 且保持正常状态 并获得了精神上的超脱 在叙述这段经历时 作者对他动作的描写 如同一尊佛像 那般神圣善良 深明大义 可以感受到Conrad对Marlow这个角色的肯定和支持
这是一段faithless pilgrimage 原先的美好愿望 高尚精神 如civilized natives improve their life 统统没有实现 取而代之的是对黑人们无止尽的人力剥削 物质剥削 squeeze them 因此文中开头所说的pilgrimage是一个totally ridiculous word
Conrad依旧是一个反殖民主义者！证据罗列如上
《Heart of Darkness》读后感(三)：黑吃黑
看这本书是由于TEEN WOLF前一段时间播第三季，他们文学课上讲的就是这本。当时以为是美国文学了。看完这本书后才知道，作者应该属于英国文学范畴。。。汗一个！！
编剧水平蛮高的，营造气氛和制作借鉴了很多小说里面的东西，黑色的背景，很哥特。。。这篇文章取名黑吃黑就是因为， 书中用黑色的树林吞噬来者来暗示KURTZ,同样可以理解为被黑森林同化之后变黑了的人。
作者波兰人，后来加入英国国籍，英语是他的第三语言（波兰语和法语他从小就会了）。他直到二十多岁才说流利的英语，最终进入了文学历史，还影响了一大堆包括 菲茨杰拉尔德，福克纳，海勒等等一大票大文豪，不是一般人。。话说回来， 维基百科形容写作风格时用了self-doubt, and pessimism，好吧，我曾不止一次被人说过我是个悲观的人，喜欢这本书也很自然。 他也说过他写书的目的是为了吸引读者的注意，这点很重要啊！！！读有些作者的书，让我想死的冲动都有了。
看这个书，让我想到了当时看“现代启示录”时的震撼， 电影是写越战对于人性的扭曲，而这本书写的是主角到非洲寻找财富， 逐渐用独特的人格魅力和手段， 成为非洲土人的GOD一样的存在的故事，其实，我更愿意把它理解为殖民扩张对于人性的扭曲。
我看完现代启示录时的感觉就跟书中叙事者经历了KURTZ的感觉一样， 没有经历过的人（听说过这个故事的人）无法了解，都生活在自己的世界中，起码是自己的意识为自己编织的世界中。
《Heart of Darkness》读后感(四)：Woman as The Other in Heart of Darkness
Women as the Other
Two women in black
ince the publication of Heart of Darkness, it has weltered in lots of controversial voices. This book is regarded as a story about Marlow’s witness of the collapse of the civilization, which has nothing to do with women. Women are defined as a typical representative of the Other because in this novel, they are just anonymous images and Conrad himself has also been considered as a misogynist for a long time.
ut we must notice that the reason why Heart of Darkness enjoys so many reputations and attracted many generations is that it can be interpreted from various angles. Speaking honestly, it is also a story about, and for women. Women, usually defined as the Other, have great commands over Marlow – the lead and the leading society.
It is not occasional that the trip is set in the dark continent of Africa. Reading carefully, it is not difficult to discover that it accords with the appearance of the two women in black. As a male author who lost his mother at the age of 5, Conrad’s knowledge about women is rather limited. As his wife Jessie says, “He had hardly known anything of a mother’s care, and had no sort of experience of any sort of home life” .
uch an experience provokes Conrad’s curiosity about women, so it is not coincident that Marlow’s experience in the dark continent starts with two women in black sitting and knitting black wool at the door of the company in Brussels:
quot;Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me – still knitting with downcast eyes – and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still, and looked up. Her dress was as plain as an umbrella-cover, and she turned round without a word and preceded me into a waiting-room".
From the paragraph, it can be inferred that those two women mark the opening of the door of the female order, or one could say the prelude to the wild darkness. Marlow’s inner monologue proves this viewpoint:
quot;Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinizing the cherry and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes. Ave! Old knitter of black wool. "
The two women are complicated characters, representing fate, destiny and mystery. Their gloomy images are closely connected with the later death of the late captain of the company and thus brought Marlow to the dark continent by asking him to take over the former position of the dead captain. Appearing at the beginning of the story, the two women forebode the misfortunes and miseries afterwards. Such a troubling incident leaves the readers to wonder if these two women are really creatures of this world. In fact, they do not belong to the “world” because the orthodox mainstream “world” to Marlow is the white, male-dominated world. He has a certain sense of priority, but in front of those two women, his pride disappears for he realizes that it is they who have the power to penetrate his inner world, a world symbolizing the heart of darkness because they are the guardians of darkness.
The younger woman, still unfamiliar with the world, demonstrates the carefree attitude of men before they enter the Congo River, but the old woman, not subject to the primary desires of a man, could penetrate into what happens to men in the terrifying heart of darkness. The two women in black, as the Other, are of extreme significance because they are consequential roles who give colonists the opportunity to start and develop their activities.
Kurtz’s mistress
Congo River is compared to a snake and Marlow describes himself as a little bird tempted by the snake of the Congo River. This is not because Africa is a colony under the suppression of the imperialism, but due to the state of being fascinated and trapped by a vicious and powerful beauty – Kurtz’s mistress. Marlow is inevitably infatuated with her, while also afraid of her. On Marlow’s voyage, he feels that he is penetrating into the wilderness of the darkness which seems to be capable of listening, watching and whispering step by step. He is in the state of great void. However, the appearance of the African mistress opens a new window for him – she is a real human being who has a soul:
quot;She stood looking at us without a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose…Suddenly she opened her bared arms and threw them up rigid above her head, as though in an uncontrollable desire to touch the sky, and at the same time the swift shadows darted out on the earth, swept around on the river, gathering the steamer into a shadowy embrace ".
It is undeniable that Marlow is obsessed with her, such a mysterious, charming image. Marlow is lost and puzzled in the boundless wilderness, and she is the representation of the wilderness itself, so she is the only person who could solve Marlow’s puzzlement. In this sense, it is not hard to understand why he uses so many adjectives to describe her: wild, gorgeous, superb, wild-eyed and magnificent, etc. For a woman, all those words are utmost compliments. It is true that Conrad uses few sentences to describe women, which makes readers wonder that this work demonstrates a sense of discrimination against women because their voices and identities are waned. But it is such conciseness that stresses the importance of them because the brief deｓｃｒｉｐｔion always leaves readers the wildest space of imagination and admiration. In this story, Kurtz’s mistress, as the Other, is much more than a marginalized image. As the Other, she is more powerful than Kurtz because behind her back, there is an unknown power which controls over Kurtz, Marlow and the male world. Nobody can clearly define what the real thing is, but the whole atmosphere she sends out awes and frightens those male chauvinistic men. Specifically, it is possible that Kurtz’s African mistress is not just a symbol of an African woman, but also a symbol of Africa and its internal darkness. Marlow's deｓｃｒｉｐｔion of her seems to support this idea, for although this native woman is dark and savage, she is also gorgeous; furthermore, she is gorgeous because she is full of life, the vivid, passionate kind of life that has disappeared from Europe, which Marlow compares to sepulchres and tombs even before he has left for Africa.
Kurtz’s intended
Compared with Kurtz’s shining, enchanting, fiercely charming mistress, it is obvious that Kurtz’s intended is of a total opposite type of woman: innocent, unblemished, docile, totally loyal to Kurtz, pure as an angel, is a symbol of all the beauty, innocence and morals in the whole world – the male-oriented world. Judging from every angle of the western society, she is a perfect model for women, wives and perfect companions to the manly men of imperialist Europe.
As a man, Marlow appreciates and wants to be protective to the fragile, delicate woman. But deep in his heart, he despises her for her lack of true knowledge of the real world and of men. As Marlow says, women are keepers of illusions; this obedient female is one of them. She is like an obedient sheep who is easily cheated and swallowed. From her disposition, it seems that she is put in a subordinate place and occupies no space in this story. But we must notice that the whole story ends in her appearance, which showcases her vital function. That pale, sentimental woman, devoted to Kurtz, continues her sweet dream in the lies Marlow fabricates for her. Because of her innocence, the supposed gloomy ending seems to see a weak light of hope. She, as the Other, symbolizes the torch in the desperate darkness and demonstrates the cruelty and brutality of the Self.
《Heart of Darkness》读后感(五)：好人难寻
在大多数英雄故事中，主角需要勇气和坚韧去赢得胜利，但主要是针对外部环境对他们造成的挑战做出回应。西方古典文学遵循这一传统，行为主宰情节，在时间递进中，一步步丰满三一律所需，完善因果链条上的动机与结局，试图让一切清楚无误。现代小说与古典小说的分野，令时间之线回转无序，漫长的心灵独白远远长于行为本身，读者全神投入情节的简单渴望变成一桩苦差。发表于1899年的《黑暗之心》，正处于分野发轫前期。
1890年，32岁的康拉德作为船员任职比利时海外贸易公司，随船抵达非洲腹地刚果河流域，期间船长病重，康拉德代理行使指挥权利，引领船队，航泊于海外非洲贸易站之间。八年后，从这段航海经历日记中获取了新的灵感，促使他写出中篇小说《黑暗之心》。黑暗之心字面所指正是刚果盆地，那里终年炎热多雨，植被繁茂，茫无边际横生的苔藓和地衣几近黑暗一片。冲天乔木的树冠横向连生，遮蔽着充足的热带光线，也覆盖了刚果丛林中的团团雾气。白昼黑夜好象停止了交替，是个看不到一丝光亮的地方。
按康拉德在书信集 (《The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad》, Vol2 ) 里的自述：这是关于欧洲记者在非洲，从一名贸易站经理摇身一变成了当地人崇拜之神的狂野小说。从主题看像是一部喜剧，可它不是。
1. “我”
除了频繁的时间变化，第三人称高效的全知视野在叙述中交错互衬，是现代甚至后现代小说书写的主要策略。站在古典与现代文学渐渐交汇的地方，康拉德四处望望，试图从由开始到最后这种按部就班的叙事秩序里走向别处。他缔造了两个“我”。第一个“我”是听故事的人，并在回忆之下，复述了返航途中听到的整个故事。康拉德的确开始走一条和文豪前辈不太一样的路，但没走太远。第二个“我”，查理斯·马洛，故事的讲述者，回到了事件的起点，在朴实节奏下，一五一十地讲述，把我们带向相隔遥远的非洲大陆。
“The meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.” （故事的意义并不像核桃肉那样在核桃内部，而在核桃外部，故事揭示意义，却被意义包裹着。正如一团灼，光亮会带来一丝烟雾，又好像月晕只有靠着月光时隐时现的映照才能看清。）
马洛在讲自己的经历，随船运公司的海员一起登船前，他找不到工作，在伦敦四处闲逛。因为一艘远航在外汽船上的船长，在争夺两只黑母鸡的战斗中，不幸遇害，马洛接替了船长一职。汽船在每一个该死的港口都要停靠，为的是将海关官员送上岸，让他们去一片被上帝丢弃的荒野里征收通行税。他们的船在距离贸易站两百英里的地方抛了锚，这让马洛结识了另一艘汽船的船长，一个清瘦，漂亮，头发很长，拖着腿走路的瑞典人。他告诉马洛不久之前，有人在他的船上吊死了自己，马洛惊愕的表情还未消退，船长眼皮不抬一下地说，估计那人是怕被这边见鬼的烈日晒死，他也是个瑞典人呢。离开贸易站的马洛又遇见了精心记账的会计，在尸体上绊过几跤，有人口若悬河地跟他说属于马洛的那艘汽船已经沉到河底去了……忙活了好几个月，捞船，修船，好不容易和贸易站的经理见了面，相见没一会儿，一间草屋莫名其妙地着了火，一屋子的烂布条烧了个精光，也太不幸了，那可是多少海员搭上性命从欧洲大陆运到非洲，准备和当地土著交换象牙，黄金的货物呢！马洛向经理打听一个人，那是一路上他听所有人都在悄悄议论的一个人，克尔兹先生。船好歹是修的差不多了，可路又走错了，一头扎进只有两英尺宽的河道，离要去的克尔兹贸易站还远着呢。为了保住自己的小命，偶尔也要吃吃臭了的死河马肉，这有什么大不了的，没过几天还要下一场大雾呢，在雾色里，马洛的小破船差点被丛林里的乱箭射成筛子。能死的都死了，除了马洛。他终于见到了大名鼎鼎的克尔兹先生，一个向国际禁止野蛮协会递交过一份长达十七页工作报告的驻地记者，不仅掌握流畅书写的技能，他收上来的象牙比整个贸易站所有人收集的加起来还要多。更了不起的是，克尔兹先生一边收着象牙，一边做了非洲当地土著的神明，他们供奉他，崇拜他，匍匐着来见他。可是他们不知道克尔兹也会生病，还病得奄奄一息，却撑住了一口气也要去找那些还没到手的象牙。没经历什么大难的克尔兹先生，反而死了，死之前叫了两声 “可怕啊！可怕啊！”
2. 森林，神曲
“在人生的中途，
在一座遮天蔽日的森林里迷失，
找不到正途。
文字难以描述森林的
幽暗，广大，荒凉和恐怖。
一想到它，恐惧便充满内心，
不由得颤栗不已，
那是比死亡更可怕的恐怖。”
但丁在神曲·地狱篇的一开始，就坦诚了自己心里的恐惧。在直白的抒怀这一点上，康拉德并没有吝啬任何写作所需的执拗体力。
“At last I got under the trees. My purpose was to stroll into the shade for a moment; but no sooner within than it seemed to me I had stepped into the gloomy circle of some inferno. The rapids were near, and an uninterrupted, uniform, headlong, rushing noise filled the mournful stillness of the grove, where not a breath stirred, not a leaf moved, with a mysterious sound — as though the tearing pace of the launched earth had suddenly become audible.” （我终于来到到树下，我想在树荫下走一走，可一走进去就好像跨进了一层阴森森的地狱。近处是湍流，一种不间断，单调急速的喧嚣充满了树丛中凄惨的沉静，空气凝固，连一片树叶也不见摇动）
“Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally in the moonlight, and through that dim stir, through the faint sounds of that lamentable courtyard, the silence of the land went home to one’s very heart—its mystery, its greatness, the amazing reality of its concealed life.” （月色下，篱笆外的树林鬼魂似的耸立着，透过朦胧的颤动，透过萧条的院落中轻微的声响，大地的沉寂钻进人的内心－－它的神秘，它的伟大，它隐蔽的生活中蕴含的惊人真实。）
“Trees, trees, millions of trees, massive, immense, running up high; and at their foot, hugging the bank against the stream, crept the little begrimed steamboat, like a sluggish beetle crawling on the floor of a lofty portico. It made you feel very small, very lost, and yet it was not altogether depressing, that feeling. After all, if you were small, the grimy beetle crawled on—which was just what you wanted it to do. （树，树，成千上万的树，无边无际的粗壮树木直插云霄，在它们脚下，我那只脏兮兮的小汽船正紧贴着河岸缓缓逆水而上，如同高大的门廊地板上爬行的小呆甲虫）
散文般的诗性语言，在一幕幕故事进行或停顿的间歇，由讲故事的人脱口而出，一度让我觉得困扰。重复，排比华丽，意象和名词缠绕难辨，剥离口语化的语言，直兀显著，让人疑虑大师康拉德，难道缺乏不着痕迹的驾驭能力，非要搞得这么苍白刻意吗？
《神曲·地狱篇》中的森林是彼岸的折射，踏进森林才得以窥看人的原欲导致了怎样的命运多舛。《黑暗之心》的森林成了人间地狱的天然幕帘，密不透风的罪恶和交易，早已像林中盘根错节的枝蔓，牢固，巨大，没办法撼动。但丁和诗人维吉尔是神曲的双重主角，地狱篇的讲述是在维吉尔引领但丁游历九层地狱中完成的，这种视野上的设定同《黑暗之心》略有近似。两本书在诸多意象互文中最接近的一处，体现在对遗体的处理。
“我们将把自己的遗体拖到这里，
挂在这凄惨的树林中，
每个都挂在它自己的，
曾经与它为敌的灵魂长成的荆棘上。”
（神曲·地狱篇 13章）
“These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbing—food for thought and also for vultures if there had been any looking down from the sky; but at all events for such ants as were industrious enough to ascend the pole. They would have been even more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house. Only one, the first I had made out, was facing my way.
……
I returned deliberately to the first I had seen—and there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids—a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and, with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth, was smiling, too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal slumber.”
（……看见一根柱子，那是原有围栏里仅剩的一根。起初我还纳闷柱头上居然还挂着装饰品，望远镜的镜头拉近一看……柱子上正对着我的那颗人头，它就在那，黑黑的，干干的，两颊凹陷，眼睛闭着，看上去像在柱子上睡着了，干瘪的嘴唇里现出一排白牙，它还在笑，不停地笑，好像在笑这无尽的昏睡中一场同样没完没了的有趣的梦。）
3 回响，反讽与对比
“Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking.”
（六个黑人排成一行吃力地走在山道上，他们挺直身子，走得很慢，设法让头上顶着装满泥的小竹篮保持平衡。叮铃声和着他们的脚步声很有节奏。他们腰间围着一条黑色破布，布片在身后晃来晃去像是尾巴。我能看清他们的每一根肋骨，他们四肢的关节像是绳索上打的结。每人的脖子上套着一只铁项圈，一条铁链把他们拴在一起，链条的环扣在他们之间摇晃，有节奏地发出叮铃声。）
“The sick man was too ill to groan. The flies buzzed in a great peace.”
“In the steady buzz of flies the homeward-bound agent was lying finished and insensible; the other, bent over his books, was making correct entries of perfectly correct transactions; and fifty feet below the doorstep I could see the still treetops of the grove of death.”
（那个病人竟连哼哼的力气也没有，在一片死寂中只能听见苍蝇的嗡嗡声。
在苍蝇的嗡嗡声中躺着正被运送回国的代理人，他满脸通红，毫无知觉，而会计师正低着头精确地记着帐，记着一笔笔精确的买卖。台阶下五十英尺处，我能看到死亡丛林静谧的树梢。）
现实和虚构，在这里似乎完全失去了原本高低有别的边界。人如蝼蚁，不仅好像可以长出尾巴，就连死亡，也比不过几只苍蝇的振翅。黑人土著的苦力赤裸可见，白人之间也好不到那儿去。他们愚蠢地相互拆台，倾轧以消磨时光。贸易站内弥漫着一种阴谋诡计的氛围，最终当然是一事无成。这和所有的事一样，和他们的谈话，他们的管理，和他们虚假的工作一样，华而不实。死亡身边的“一笔笔精确的买卖”，破烂棉布，玻璃珠子，乱堆一气的铜丝，等于象牙，等于橡胶，等于黄金，等于六个，六十个黑人没白没黑的苦劳。不太伟大的作家会写血和泪，康拉德懂得节制，他只告诉你四肢的关节像是绳索上的结，马洛就是神曲里的维吉尔，他带着你直面地去看，包含理解，不带幻想。
“A great silence around and above. Perhaps on some quiet night the tremor of far-off drums, sinking, swelling, a tremor vast, faint; a sound weird, appealing, suggestive, and wild—and perhaps with as profound a meaning as the sound of bells in a Christian country.”
鼓声是非洲大陆听得见的灵魂。那种声音是有限时间里奔放的无尽自由，在节奏不一的鼓点变化里，自由没有尽头。作为二元对立诚恳的实践者，康拉德将鼓声－寂静－钟声自然融合，由鼓声联想到教堂唤人祈祷的钟声，可它们毕竟不是让世人心灵安宁的宗教的回音，它们刺穿寂静，寂静变成了另外的声音，另外一种充满着巨大讽刺的厉声，荡在非洲大陆上空。
回响在丛林腹地空气中的，除了搅的人心绪不宁的鼓声，还有“象牙”。”the word ‘ivory’ rang in the air”, 人们大声，小声地谈论它，神情说不上是祈祷还是无耻，这是欧洲人嘴里能击打出的流利的节奏，i-vo-ry, 三拍，嗯，数字三，神圣的不能再神圣了。
对立时时伴随着讽刺。
那位专心致志生怕出一点差错记账的会计，他的出场可让康拉德费劲了笔墨：浆过的高领子，洁白的袖口，轻轻的羊驼毛外套，雪白的裤子，干干净净的领带，亮的耀眼的靴子。他周围数十个埋头干活的土著，仅用一笔带过，满脸尘土的黑人，拖着八字脚，来来往往。文明和教化让我们穿起了第一件衣服，整饬，白净，何时何地都要体体面面。至于其他人，一下举起几十斤橡胶，那才是夺目的衣冠，其余皆不必费心在意。
4 女性忽略？
小说里出场的女性屈指可数，对她们的描述也寥寥数语。也许这正是区分创作手法高明还是平庸特别管用的办法，会用那少的可怜的四两。无业的马洛，靠着和姨妈时常一起喝茶的某位将军的太太，很快便接到了新工作的任命。离船登陆黑暗之心，两位一刻不停织衣服黑人女人，面无表情的盯着马洛，仿佛她们就是黑暗之心入口的守卫，只有获得她们的许可，才能真正进入那个宝藏和罪恶相连的世界。故事的结尾才缓缓现身的克尔兹先生的未婚妻，对她的描述只用一句话已经非常鲜明了。She had a mature capacity for fidelity, for belief, for suffering. 她有一种成熟的魅力，那种成熟足以容纳忠诚，信仰和苦难。
她们是一种许可的象征，更是最接近真实的梦幻化身。全书真实的谎言，是姨妈的一句话，要使那些无知的人摆脱他们可怕的生活习惯。她的另外一句话，是启程在即对马洛的叮嘱：记得一定要穿法兰绒的衣服。
“真奇怪，女人会这般脱离真理，她们生活在一个她们自己的世界里，从来不曾有过这样一个世界，今后也不会有。这样的世界过于美丽，如果她们创造出这样的世界，它会在日落前坍塌。创世以来我们男人一直乐于接受的某个该死的事实，会将女人的美梦砸个粉碎。”
面对守丧的克尔兹未婚妻，马洛没能恪守这条男人的信条，他对这个女人撒了谎，对她说克尔兹临终前的最后一句话，喊的正是她的名字。真实的丑陋已让马洛感到恶心，神明的克尔兹，一个贪得无厌，操控人心，纸糊的魔鬼，猥琐怯懦的敛财佬。保全了那个女人的美梦，也许最终保全的，是谁都没勇气承认，男男女女，胸膛里跳着的那颗黑暗的心。
5.
现在我不再为之前提过的那些康拉德所谓的直白的抒怀感到疑惑，这不是一位大师写作上的失误，恰恰正是他最坚定力量的所在。光天化日之下的一切，不用遮遮掩掩了。如果小说是刻画由天真无辜到世故老练的过程，在黑暗之心，结局就像那里的高空骄阳一样，烤化了一切无暇和文明的粉饰，无论白人，黑人，谁的内心也不必惊讶。白人眼睛盯着象牙，黑人脑子里装满了教化，面对死亡，谁都没能实现人之为人的尊严。沾染了文明的土著，临终的眼神里，充满的却是渴望获得白人认同的乞怜。野蛮和教养，谁也没能战胜谁。十几万的小说，殖民这个词，康拉德仅仅提过一次，因为所有的一切，早已一目了然。