Summary
"Journey into a Dark Heart'' begins by introducing David Rehn, a young Dane (citizen of Denmark), who is attending the 1929 dedication of a new railway line. The railway runs from the western coast of Africa in Cabinda through the Belgian Congo and deep into the heart of the continent. The dedication includes many representatives of royalty and international business, and the grand display reinforces David's view that European civilization is indeed great. David has come to this event as a fluke, having acquired a position with a global trading company after he gave up his lifelong pursuit of mathematics. David had always relied on the stability of mathematics to get him through any emotional crisis until one year earlier, when he met Kurt Gödel, a mathematician whose ideas were bound to shake up the world of mathematics. With his passion for mathematics threatened by these new ideas, David abandoned mathematics.
Despite his rejection of mathematics as a career, David is fascinated by the construction of the railway, which he sees in quantitative terms such as the number of workers and length of railroad track. During the dinner, everybody is in joyful spirits over the completion of the railway. This good mood intensifies when the Belgian king announces that, according to an English journalist who will be going on the train trip the next day, European forces have defeated the African rebel bands who have impeded the construction in the past. In addition, Lueni, the feared African leader, has been killed, and his body is to be shipped to Cabinda.
The next afternoon, the various delegates, including David, prepare to take the first train trip ever from Cabinda to Katanga. David ends up in a train car with three others: a distinguished soldier, a black servant girl, and the elderly white man whom she serves. The old man, who is the English journalist who told the Belgian king about the death of Lueni, introduces himself as Joseph Korzeniowski. This is the actual birth name of Joseph Conrad, an author famous for his stories about colonial regions like the Congo, which were largely based on his own travels. Joseph K. hints that he has made the journey into the Congo before, and, by virtue of this experience, declares himself the host of the train car, saying that they should make this trip an open and honest journey. David introduces himself as a mathematician, thus realizing that he has not given up on his passion totally. The German soldier, who is covered in medals indicating his military valor, introduces himself as General Paul von Lettow Voerbeck. This name is a slight variation from the real-life name of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, a German military official famous for his defense of German colonies in Africa during World War I.
Joseph K. refers to the books that the general has written, which have reinforced the European notion that Africa is dark and evil and that war and colonization are humane enterprises. Thus begins the first of many increasingly tense discussions between Joseph K. and the general. Joseph K. also says that he understands the dream of Africa better than anybody else. David challenges Joseph K., saying that the only African pictures that make their way to Europe are dark images of forests, which are accompanied by legends of murder by the natives. Joseph counters by saying that Africa is dark and opens the shades of the train car's window to prove it. It is pitch black outside. David suddenly blows out the oil lamps, and, after a moment, the formerly black landscape appears in the...
(This entire section contains 1278 words.)
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moonlight. David uses this as proof that Africa may not be as dark as outsiders think.
David says that he is only interested in the truth, but Joseph K. says that truth does not pay that well. He gives more information about his background, referring to his famous writing career and alluding to Heart of Darkness. He says that the public liked the fictional aspects of this colonial narrative but did not appreciate the truth, and so he has referred to his writing as fiction ever since. Joseph K. also rebukes the general for publishing his own lies as memoirs, an insult that causes the general to grab Joseph K. by the lapels. Joseph K. elaborates, saying that the general's published assertion that the African natives were happy to be conquered is a lie. The general agrees that some masks are necessary for politics. Joseph K. uses this moment as an opportunity to expose the fact that the general is technically a prisoner of war, although he has been awarded diplomatic immunity for the occasion.
The discussion turns to the masks people wear, and David says that they are all wearing masks, except for the black servant girl, a representative of Africa. He says that Africa has nothing to hide, while Europe does. The general tries to leave the conversation, and the train car, but is stopped by the servant girl, who, to their surprise, speaks perfect English. She introduces herself as Lueni of Uganda, the supposedly male rebel leader who had been announced as dead the day before, and holds them at gunpoint. Lueni says that they are all going to die when the train goes over the next bridge because her people have removed most of the bridge supports. The conversation among the three men continues. David talks about his former passion for mathematics and the goal that he and other learned men had to reduce all life—including humanity—down to a set of equations. Joseph K. is quick to agree with this point, saying that he had suspected all along that this might be possible. However, David says that it is not possible because a fellow mathematician is working on proof that will show that complex systems, like humanity, include unpredictable variables like emotions.
David notes that all of them have left their homes behind, but Lueni seems to be in hers; she corrects him, saying that she is four thousand kilometers from home and that she was educated in England. She also challenges the positive European view of the railroad, saying that it was built mainly by African laborers, many of whom died while being forced to build it. At the next turn, the train slows down, and Lueni gets off. Joseph K. produces a gun of his own and says that he has sold Lueni some guns and that their lives are going to be spared; they will be jumping off the train at the next turn. In their last few minutes, Joseph K. tells a tale illustrating the ignorance and cockiness of Europeans when it comes to dealing with Africans. A German officer tried to buy an African mask that could not be bought. Even the mask warns him, saying that if the officer buys it, it will lead him into hell. The man ignores the advice, obsessed by the talking mask. The officer takes the mask with him everywhere, showing it off to everybody, but he can never get it to talk for him again. His obsession eventually kills him.
The train reaches the next turn, and Joseph K. forces them to jump. Once on the ground, the general thinks that Joseph K. is going to kill him, but Joseph K. says that he is a free man. The general begins the two-hundred-kilometer walk back to Cabinda. David talks briefly with the African woman, they shake hands, and she walks away. David buries his head in his hands, distraught over the fact that the foundations of his beliefs in mathematics, Africa, and even the sanctity of Europe, have been cracked.
