Women in Heart of darkness essay

Women in Heart of Darkness

„Girl! What? Did I mention a girl? Oh, she is out of it - completely. They - the women I mean - are out of it - should be out of it. We must help them to stay in that beautiful world of their own least our gets worse. Oh, she had to be out of it.”[1] This is an excerpt from J. Conrad’s „Heart of Darkness”, first published in 1902, which has been strongly critisised for sexism. The quoted sentence implies that women do not have any influence on the ‘real’ world. But does it reflect the factual situation from the book? Despite the women in this book appear relatively rare, I am going to go through of each single case and try to analyse the facts thouroughly. The purpose of that essay is to prove that women in „Heart of Darkness” are more significant than it may seem at the first glance.

The first woman, reader gets to hear about in the book is Marlow’s aunt. When the others fail, she lends him a helping hand, strongly contributing to his getting the job on a steamer. One has to realise how crucial to the story this act was, as the whole african adventure would not happen without the contribution of the caring aunt. She manages to use her influences efficiently, which changed Marlow’s view on her, because he had formerly underestimated her. A few pages later, he admits: „I found her triumphant”. The aunt is possibly the most plain example for the support of my thesis, as the change of one’s attitude towards her is mentioned straightforwardly. However she’s only one out of few women appearing in Conrad’s novel. Let’s take a look at the others.

The next women narrator happens to mention are those he meets prior to being introduced tto general manager at the central station. They guard the door. The job of the younger one is to introduce approaching people, the older scrutinises the newcomers, while knitting wool. It may seem, that they basically do nothing important, however there is a sort of extraordinarity in their activities. Marlow mentioned, that there is a notion of uneasiness around the older one. She seems, as though she knew everything about what is going to happen to all those people passing by her. The narrator notices, that those two accompany certain people during a turning point of their lives. It is not an accident, that they resemble mythical moirae, which were the godesses of fate.

Furthermore, there is also a blindfolded woman depicted on Kurtz’s painting. She’s carrying a torch, which is commonly known as a symbol of  the wisdom (it enlightens the darkness which represents the stupidity). Moreover, a blindfolded women is also a popular representation of Themis, the goddess of justice. Both the moirae and the pictured women represent wisdom. Because of this they make impression that they have sort of metaphysical influence on the surrounding world, despite they could seem powerless.

Analysis of women’s role in „Heart of Darkness” could not be complete without considering both of Kurtz lovers. Even though they seem to be „out of touch”, living under illusions provided by men, they still inflict changes in behaviour on other people. Harlequin straightforwardly mentions, that when she was around, he was strongly focused not to make her angry, because she could easily lose her temper and eventually report to Kurtz, who would have no scruples to punish one inadequately harsh.

On the other hand, Kurtz’s european beloved unwillingly forces Marlow to lie about his lover’s last words. It is a crucial moment, as he detests lies. The book also suggests, that this lie was also sort of continuation of Kurtz’s legacy considering his attitude towards women. Both main characters of the book tried to keep women in their own world. This required signigicant changes in behaviour.

In Joseph Conrad’s novel women may seem to be of no importance, as they are barely mentioned there. However, as we’ve learned from the essay, they are effective, wise and influential, so they actually do have strong impact on the course of action. It’s not an accident, that not a single woman is being called by her name. It was authors intentional action in order to make readers reflect deeply on women’s role in general. What’s more to it he managed to make careful reader appreciate women more, even though their appearances are so rare and transitory.

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[1] from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Collins’ Classics p. 60)

Women in Heart of Darkness - a decent essay plan

Literary Analysis – Essay Planning

Step 1 – essay plan

Thesis
Women in “Heart of Darkness” are more significant, then it may seem at the first glance
Claim #1		Claim #2		Claim #3
Marlow’s aunt lends him a helping hand when he needs it.		Certain women represent wisdom.		Both of Kurtz’s lovers strongly influence the way people behave
Evidence #1	Evidence #2	Evidence #1	Evidence #2	Evidence #1	Evidence #2
“She wrote: ‘It will be delightful. I am ready to do anything, anything for you. It is a glorious idea. I know the wife of a very high personage in the Administration, and also a man who has lots of influence with,’ etc. She was determined to make no end of fuss to get me appointed skipper of a river steamboat, if such was my fancy.” Collins’ Classics p. 8	“One thing more remained to do—say good–bye to my excellent aunt. I found her triumphant.” Collins’ Classics p. 12	"She glanced at me above the glasses. The swift and indifferent placidity of that look troubled me. Two youths with foolish and cheery countenances were being piloted over, and she threw at them the same quick glance of unconcerned wisdom. She seemed to know all about them and about me, too. An eerie feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful. 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 cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes." Collins’ Classics p. 11	“Then I noticed a small sketch in oils, on a panel, representing a woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch.” Collins’ Classics p. 29	“‘I have been risking my life every day for the last fortnight to keep her out of the house. She got in one day and kicked up a row about those miserable rags I picked up in the storeroom to mend my clothes with. I wasn’t decent. At least it must have been that, for she talked like a fury to Kurtz for an hour, pointing at me now and then. I don’t understand the dialect of this tribe. Luckily for me, I fancy Kurtz felt too ill that day to care, or there would have been mischief. I don’t understand. . . . “ Collins’ Classics p. 79	“Yes, I know,’ I said with something like despair in my heart, but bowing my head before the faith that was in her, before that great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness, in the triumphant darkness from which I could not have defended her—from which I could not even defend myself.” Collins’ Classics p. 98

Step 2 – rough draft

Introduction:

√      Grab reader’s attention

“Girl! What? Did I mention a girl? Oh, she is out of it - completely. They - the women I mean - are out of it - should be out of it. We must help them to stay in that beautiful world of their own least our gets worse. Oh, she had to be out of it.” This quote suggests that women do not have any influence on the 'real' world. Is it so in "Heart of Darkness"?

√      Provide some literary background to your topic

Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”

√      Thesis One sentence, last sentence in introduction

Women in “Heart of Darkness” are more significant, then it may seem at the first glance

Body Paragraph #1:

√      Topic sentence for claim #1 in support of thesis

When the others fail, Marlow’s aunt lends hum a helping hand, strongly contributing to his getting the job on a steamer.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

Despite former doubts about his aunt’s powers, Marlow eventually decides to ask her for help. Not only was she really ethusiastic about supporting him, she actually managed to get him the desired job.

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #1

Getting a job on a steamer is certainly an important event in the whole story. It would be impossible without aunt’s contribution.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

Marlow, after being appointed the captain of the steamer: “One thing more remained to do—say good–bye to my excellent aunt. I found her triumphant.” Collins’ Classics p. 12

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#1

Eventually, Marlow appreciated the influence of his aunt.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #1 relates to thesis,  and transition to next claim #2

Altough formerly underestimated, Marlow’s aunt turns out to be the most resourceful and helpful of those, who he asked for support.

Body Paragraph #2

√      Topic sentence for claim #2 in support of thesis

Certain women represent wisdom

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“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 cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes.” Collins’ Classics p. 11

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #2

Those two women were responsible for greeting the newcomers and introducing them. It is significant that they accompanied them in the turning point of their life (which goes beyond any doubt after reading “Heart of Darkness”).

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

There was a blindfolded woman depicted on Kurtz’s painting. She was carrying torch.

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#2

Torch is a symbol of wisdom, because it is used to brighten up the darkness, which is commonly being associated with ignorance and stupidity. Additionaly, a blindfolded women is a traditional symbol for justice (blind, but wise).

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #2 relates to thesis,  and transition to next claim #3

By possesing the gift of wisdom, those women seem to poses some sort of metaphysical power over one’s life.

Body Paragraph #3

√      Topic sentence for claim #3 in support of thesis

Both of Kurtz’s lovers strongly influence the way people behave

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

When Harlequin talks about black misstress, he seems to be somehow afraid of her. He is aware of the fact, that she could get angry about the most insignificant things from his point of view. Harlequin also mentions, that she could easily make Kurtz punish them because of it.

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #3

It is really unusuall for colonialists to treat black people with respect, let alone be afraid of their influence. This fact makes Kurtz African lover an extraordinary person.

Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“Yes, I know,’ I said with something like despair in my heart, but bowing my head before the faith that was in her, before that great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness, in the triumphant darkness from which I could not have defended her—from which I could not even defend myself.” Collins’ Classics p. 98

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#3

Normally, Marlow would not lie (he had even stated how he detested lies), however the will to preserve innocence in that woman made him do something completely different.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #3 relates to thesis,  and transition to conclusion

Even though those women’s appearances are short, they are intensive enough to see, how strong do they influence other people.

Conclusion

√      Restate thesis & claims using NEW words

In Joseph Conrad’s novel women may seem to be of no importance, as they are barely mentioned there. However, as we’ve learned from the essay, they are effective, wise and influential, so they actually do have strong impact on the course of action.

√      Final thoughts for reader (relation to real world or what readers should learn from the work, etc.)

It’s not an accident, that not a single woman is being called by her name. It was authors intentional action in order to make readers reflect deeply on women’s role in general.

Comparison of the natives of Africa and the Europeans

Literary Analysis – Essay Planning

Step 1 – essay plan

Thesis
Europeans tend to consider Africans a sort of under-beings, however the book reveals, that they bear strong resemblence to their picture of black people.
Claim #1		Claim #2		Claim #3
The way Europeans used to see Africans.		Marlow’s change of view.		What Europeans turned out to be.
Evidence #1	Evidence #2	Evidence #1	Evidence #2	Evidence #1	Evidence #2
“The opening paragraph, however, in the light of later information, strikes me now as ominous. He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, ‘must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings—we approach them with the might of a deity,’ and so on, and so on. ‘By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded,’ etc., etc.” Collins’ Classics p. 63	“And between whiles I had to look after the savage who was fireman. He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler. He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind–legs.(...) He ought to have been clapping his hands and stamping his feet on the bank, instead of which he was hard at work, a thrall to strange witchcraft, full of improving knowledge. He was useful because he had been instructed” Collins’ Classics p. 45	“It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend.” Collins Classics’ p. 44	“It was very curious to see the contrast of expressions of the white men and of the black fellows of our crew, who were as much strangers to that part of the river as we, though their homes were only eight hundred miles away. The whites, of course greatly discomposed, had besides a curious look of being painfully shocked by such an outrageous row. The others had an alert, naturally interested expression; but their faces were essentially quiet, even those of the one or two who grinned as they hauled at the chain.” Collins’ Classics p. 50	“I have no opinion on that point, but I want you clearly to understand that there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him—some small matter which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his magnificent eloquence.” Collins’ Classics p.  74	“If it had come to crawling before Mr. Kurtz, he crawled as much as the veriest savage of them all.” Collins’ Classics p.  75

Step 2 – rough draft

Introduction:

√      Grab reader’s attention

Soren Aabye Kierkegaard said, that accusations one makes towards others, most often reflect one's own flaws.

√      Provide some literary background to your topic

Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”.

√      Thesis One sentence, last sentence in introduction

In Heart of Darkness, Europeans tend to consider Africans a sort of under-beings, however the book reveals, that they bear strong resemblence to their picture of black people.

Body Paragraph #1:

√      Topic sentence for claim #1 in support of thesis

Europeans saw themselves highly superior to Africans, who they considered merely the brutes.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

An outtake from Kurtz’s journal, reflecting his former views on native Africans and his will to tame them

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #1

It is shockingly representative statement, of how the Europeans approached blacks.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind–legs (...)He was useful because he had been instructed” p. 45 (Collins’ Classics); Marlow’s description of a fireman;

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#1

It shows Europeans’ disdain and lack of respect for Africans. They treated them as a sort of under-beings.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #1 relates to thesis,  and transition to next claim #2

Even though this viewpoint is fairly advantegous for Europeans, the truth is being exposed instantly

Body Paragraph #2

√      Topic sentence for claim #2 in support of thesis

During the trip, Marlow’s view on natives undergoes a complete makeover.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar” p. 44 (Collins’ Classics)

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #2

Marlow realises that same nature – human nature enshadows all the cultural differences between Europeans and Africans. He finds out, that he resembles blacks way more than he used to think.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

After the fog incident, natives managed to mantain calm, while the helplessness of Pilgrims was clearly visible.

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#2

It is the first time when europeans are clearly weaker compared to natives.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #2 relates to thesis,  and transition to next claim #3

Realisation of the fact, that Africans weren’t as savage as formerly desribed, makes us start to compare them to colonialists.

Body Paragraph #3

√      Topic sentence for claim #3 in support of thesis

Europeans turned out to be the exact reflection of how they described Africans.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

Kurtz’s changing moods and lack of self-restraint. Most shockingly exposed by the description of his skull fence and how he treated “his people”.

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #3

It shows that the europeans are the ones, who bear the primal instincts.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“If it had come to crawling before Mr. Kurtz, he crawled as much as the veriest savage of them all.” p. 75 (Collins’ Classics); Marlow about Harlequine;

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#3

It’s the white guy, who turned out to be the most blindly obedient to Kurtz. Parallel to support 2 of claim 1.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #3 relates to thesis,  and transition to conclusion

The hipocrisy of Europeans only strenghtens the negative image we got from the book.

Conclusion

√      Restate thesis & claims using NEW words

Eventually Europeans turned out to be the brutes they despised of.

√      Final thoughts for reader (relation to real world or what readers should learn from the work, etc.)

Hypocrisy is one of the greatest dangers of intelectual development. We should be very cautious, while stating our opinion about the others. It is highly surprising, that we are the ones able to best estimate our own disadvantages. Unfortunately it is very rare for us to attribute them to the right person. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3

Influence of Africa on Europeans

Literary Analysis – Essay Planning

Step 1 – essay plan

Thesis
Visit in Africa is a turning point of life for most of the Europeans included in Heart of Darkness.
Claim #1		Claim #2		Claim #3
They go mad.		They die.		They make profound reflections about themselves and human nature.
Evidence #1	Evidence #2	Evidence #1	Evidence #2	Evidence #1	Evidence #2
“Once, I remember, we came upon a man–of–war anchored off the coast. There wasn’t even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush. It appears the French had one of their wars going on thereabouts. Her ensign dropped limp like a rag; the muzzles of the long six–inch guns stuck out all over the low hull; the greasy, slimy swell swung her up lazily and let her down, swaying her thin masts. In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent. Pop, would go one of the six–inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech—and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives—he called them enemies!—hidden out of sight somewhere.” Collins’ Classics  p. 15	“Once a white man in an unbuttoned uniform, camping on the path with an armed escort of lank Zanzibaris, very hospitable and festive—not to say drunk. Was looking after the upkeep of the road, he declared. Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle–aged negro, with a bullet–hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement”. Collins’ Classics p. 23	“The other day I took up a man who hanged himself on the road. He was a Swede, too.’ ‘Hanged himself! Why, in God’s name?’ I cried. He kept on looking out watchfully. ‘Who knows? The sun too much for him, or the country perhaps.” Collin’s Classics p. 16	“Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror—of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: “‘The horror! The horror!’(...) “‘Mistah Kurtz—he dead.’” Collins’ Classics p.90	“It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend.” Collins Classics’ p. 44	No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. Don’t you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its sombre and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one’s soul—than this kind of prolonged hunger. Sad, but true. And these chaps, too, had no earthly reason for any kind of scruple. Restraint! I would just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield. Collins’ Classics p. 52

Step 2 – rough draft

Introduction:

√      Grab reader’s attention

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard stated that it is common process that one attributes his own negative features to the others.

√      Provide some literary background to your topic

Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”

√      Thesis One sentence, last sentence in introduction

Visit in Africa is a turning point of life for most of the Europeans included in Heart of Darkness.

Body Paragraph #1:

√      Topic sentence for claim #1 in support of thesis

In many cases, they go mad there.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

Marlow witnessed a crew of man-of-war shooting blindly at the bushes.

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #1

No sane person would ever shoot at bush. It was a sign of paranoia.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“Once a white man in an unbuttoned uniform, camping on the path with an armed escort of lank Zanzibaris, very hospitable and festive—not to say drunk. Was looking after the upkeep of the road, he declared. Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep(...)” p.23 (Collins’ Classics)

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#1

This guy was upkeeping the road that didn’t exist, which certainly not classified as a logical action.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #1 relates to thesis,  and transition to next claim #2

Africa would permanently rip their psychic to shreds. They won’t be able to return to normal life afterwards (same situation is pictured in “Deer Hunter”). But some people experienced worse fate...

Body Paragraph #2

√      Topic sentence for claim #2 in support of thesis

Either for physicall or for mental reasons lots of people lost their lives to africa.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

A Swede hung himself in a jungle.

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #2

We could only speculate on the reasons, however commiting suicide in middle of a jungle is more than possibly the sign of being overpowered by the nature.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“‘Mistah Kurtz—he dead.’” p. 12 (Collins’ Classics)

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#2

Not only Kurtz owes his fatal illness to Africa, living there made hell of his life. It was clearly visible in his last words “the horror! the horror!”

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #2 relates to thesis,  and transition to next claim #3

But there are still some people who managed to survive their journey to Africa.

Body Paragraph #3

√      Topic sentence for claim #3 in support of thesis

They faced opportunity to make profound reflections about themselves and human nature.

√      Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

“It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend.” Collins’ Classics p. 44

√      Explain how support #1 relates to claim #3

Thoughts about human nature.

√      Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!

No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. Don’t you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its sombre and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one’s soul—than this kind of prolonged hunger. Sad, but true. And these chaps, too, had no earthly reason for any kind of scruple. Restraint! I would just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield. Collins’ Classics p. 52

√      Explain how support #2 relates to claim#3

Reflections about man’s physical limitations.

√      If you haven’t already, explain how claim #3 relates to thesis,  and transition to conclusion

Stay in the savage Africa is so strong, that reflections come in the form of imperative. It is impossible for a man not to ask himself existential questions in such a conditions.

Conclusion

√      Restate thesis & claims using NEW words

The black land delivered Europeans a variety of lifetime experiences. Despite tragic consequences in most cases, those who survived and managed to remain mentally sane, were honoured to get a grip of real human nature.

√      Final thoughts for reader (relation to real world or what readers should learn from the work, etc.)

By setting action in such harsh conditions as Africa, Conrad aims at exposing human nature with all their weaknesses. This is one of the features of Heart of Darkness as a naturalistic book.