Heart of Darkness

Use these links to supplement and complement students’ reading of the work and to increase their overall enjoyment of literature. Challenge them to discern parallel themes, engage through visual and aural stimuli, and delve deeper into the thematic possibilities presented by the title.

Recommended Texts for Pairing

“Darkness” by Lord Byron

• This poem explores a time of terrifying darkness and its impact on the human mind.
• Compare and contrast with Conrad’s use of symbolic darkness to explore horror and despondency and the absurdity of morality.

“The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Adichie

• This well-known TED Talk discusses how literature affects our perceptions of places like Africa.
• Analyze how Conrad’s Heart of Darkness contributes to the phenomenon Adichie identifies.

Johnny Mad Dog by Emmanuel Dongala

• This novel, by a prize-winning Congolese writer, explores the contemporary ramifications of Africa’s colonial history.
• Analyze how imperialism and colonialism destabilized African societies; compare and contrast with the horror and despondency and the absurdity of morality depicted in Heart of Darkness.

Apocalypse Now

• Francis Ford Coppola’s famous war film was inspired by Heart of Darkness.
• Compare and contrast Coppola’s and Conrad’s treatment of the themes of imperialism and colonialism, the absurdity of morality, and despondency and horror.