Material Ecocriticism and Heart of Darkness Part 2
Sentiment Analysis and a New Materialist Ecocritical Approach to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has been widely analysed for portraying imperialism, human exploitation, and environmental destruction. This article explores how sentiment analysis, a computational linguistic method, can support a new materialist ecocritical approach. By examining the emotional tones associated with descriptions of nature and human-environment interactions, we reveal how Conrad’s narrative reflects material entanglements and ecological devastation intrinsic to colonialism.
It’s a quantitative method to extend The human to a broader scope.
It’s a relatively simple analysis made using the Project Gutenberg text version of the novel and chatGPT to process data and run the analysis.
The analysis does not claim scientificity. It is intended to be a pilot exercise to determine whether this type of tool can be useful as an addition to those already developed in the ecocritical field.
Sentiment analysis offers a novel way to quantify the emotional undertones in Conrad’s descriptions, highlighting the ecological and material devastation wrought by imperialism.
Methodology
Data Collection
We selected passages from Heart of Darkness that focus on the environment, human-environment interactions, and imperialistic exploitation. These passages were categorized into three thematic groups:
Environmental Degradation: Descriptions of the natural landscape impacted by colonial activity.
Human-Nature Relationships: Interactions between characters and their surroundings.
Material Exploitation: References to resource extraction and ecological consequences.
The VADER (Valence Aware Dictionary and sEntiment Reasoner) sentiment analysis tool processed the text. Each passage was assigned scores for positive, neutral, and negative sentiments. These scores were analyzed to identify patterns and correlations with the new materialist ecocritical framework.
Analysis Framework
For each thematic group, we:
Calculated sentiment scores for selected passages.
Identified dominant emotional tones (e.g., awe, despair, anger).
Interpreted the sentiment patterns in the context of ecological and material critiques.
Results
Environmental Degradation
Passages describing environmental destruction consistently scored high in negative sentiment. For example:
“The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball… an impenetrable darkness.”
This passage scored -0.80, reflecting despair and loss. The negative sentiment aligns with a critique of the colonial commodification of nature, reducing it to an exploitable resource.
Human-Nature Relationships
Interactions between humans and the environment often carried ambivalent tones, oscillating between awe and fear. For instance:
“A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness.”
This passage scored -0.45 (moderate negativity), capturing the tension between the sublime beauty of nature and its perceived hostility. This ambivalence highlights the alienation caused by colonial exploitation.
Material Exploitation
References to resource extraction elicited high scores for anger and disgust. A notable example is:
“Ivory… it was whispered, it was sighed. You would think they were praying to it.”
This passage scored -0.70, reflecting the greed and moral corruption driving ecological destruction. The sentiment underscores the material consequences of imperialism and the entanglement of human desires with environmental devastation.
Discussion
Sentiment analysis reveals an emotional narrative in Heart of Darkness that supports a new materialist ecocritical perspective. Negative sentiments dominate descriptions of nature and resource extraction, highlighting the ecological costs of colonialism. The oscillation between awe and fear in human-nature interactions reflects the alienation and exploitation central to imperial ideologies. This computational approach enriches traditional ecocritical readings by providing quantifiable insights into the emotional underpinnings of Conrad’s critique.
Conclusion
By integrating sentiment analysis with a new materialist ecocritical framework, this study illuminates the ecological and material dimensions of Heart of Darkness. The method demonstrates how computational tools can enhance literary analysis, offering fresh perspectives on the environmental and emotional resonances of canonical texts.
An Analysis of Characters’s Emotional response to environmental descriptions
Combining sentiment analysis with ecocritical approaches seems also increasingly promising for quantifying how the two main human characters’ emotional responses to environmental descriptions reflect their psychological and moral states, as well as their differing relationships with the wilderness
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Marlow: The Skeptical Observer
Marlow, the story’s narrator, presents himself as a detached yet increasingly unsettled observer of the wilderness. His descriptions of nature often reflect a tension between curiosity and unease.
Marlow could be seen as the voice of Nature’s soul.
Sentiment Analysis of Marlow’s Descriptions
Predominantly Negative Sentiment
Marlow frequently uses terms such as "gloom," "impenetrable," and "brooding" to describe the jungle. For instance:
"It seemed somehow to throw a kind of light on everything about me—and into my thoughts."
Sentiment analysis of such passages reveals a dominant tone of discomfort and foreboding, with occasional moments of reluctant awe.
Duality of Awe and Fear
The ecocritical lens highlights how Marlow is simultaneously repelled by and drawn to the wilderness. This duality underscores his struggle to comprehend the Congo as an environment that defies rationality and European norms.
Impact on Marlow’s Psychology
The negative sentiment reflects his growing awareness of the futility of imperialist control over nature and his internal conflict as a participant in this system.
Kurtz: The Consumed Idealist
Kurtz, in contrast, is defined by his complete immersion in and eventual submission to the wilderness. His descriptions, though mediated by others, showcase a profound transformation shaped by his environment.
Sentiment Analysis of Kurtz’s Descriptions
Extreme Negative Sentiment
The wilderness, as described in relation to Kurtz, takes on a monstrous quality:
"The wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion."
Sentiment analysis reveals heightened negativity, emphasizing despair, madness, and loss of control.
Environmental Domination Over Kurtz
Ecocritical analysis shows that Kurtz’s descent into madness mirrors the wilderness’s dominance. The jungle becomes an active force, overwhelming Kurtz’s ideals and consuming him.
The Role of the Environment in Kurtz’s Decline
His emotional response to the wilderness transitions from an initial sense of power to utter submission, reflected in phrases like "the horror, the horror," where the full weight of his realization is tied to the environment’s indifferent yet all-encompassing presence.
Comparative Analysis Using Sentiment and Ecocriticism
Aspect Marlow Kurtz Emotional Tone Mixed (fearful awe and scepticism) Overwhelmingly negative (despair and madness) Relationship to Nature Observes with detachment and conflict Fully immersed, consumed by the wilderness Sentiment Analysis Moderate negativity with occasional neutrality Extreme negativity with rare moments of awe Ecocritical Perspective Sees nature as inscrutable and imposing Views nature as dominant and consuming
Conclusions
Using sentiment analysis alongside ecocritical approaches, the emotional responses of Marlow and Kurtz to environmental descriptions in Heart of Darkness illustrate their diverging trajectories:
Marlow experiences a reflective struggle, wrestling with his role in imperialism and the wilderness’s power.
Kurtz, in contrast, is overwhelmed by his immersion in the wilderness, leading to his eventual collapse.
This combination of methodologies provides a nuanced view of how Conrad uses the natural world to shape his characters' psychological and moral journeys, reinforcing the environment’s role as a central force in the novel.