Restraining people can either save their lives or expose them to great risk of death. A person's ability to hold back plays an important role when exploring the unknown. In the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, restraint plays a major role throughout the novel. Conrad uses restraint to show the corruption of European culture and how people can change when faced with difficulties that test their restraint. At the end of the novel, Conrad shows that restraint symbolizes civilization. Restraint weaves its way through all three parts of Heart of Darkness; people who have lived in chaos learn restraint, while those who have lived in civilization cannot control themselves. Fresleven, the cannibals, the helmsman, and Kurtz all demonstrate restraint or loss of restraint in the novel. Marlow's story begins with the tale of Fresleven, a European who lost his restraint and could not control himself. Fresleven, being born into civilization, never learned to restrain himself properly. Fresleven, known as “the gentlest and quietest creature that ever walked on two legs” (Conrad 6), shows how easy it is to lose restraint. Freselven went mad because civilization never forced him to be restrained. Fresleven lost all restraint because he moved from the sophisticated society of Europe to the uncivilized jungle of Africa. People who grow up in chaos and uncivilized jungle adapt to restraint in order to survive. Cannibals show a lot of restraint because they have learned to control themselves. Days without food can darken the gentlest spirits, but cannibals restrain themselves from going mad. Joseph Conrad tries to show the reader how the cannibals practiced restraint and it helped them survive. Every euro... a middle of paper... sticks blindly to itself” (61). Kurtz gives up at the end of the book. Kurtz has nothing left to give and has allowed himself to succumb to the chaos that engulfs him. The disorder and confusion in Africa has eaten away at Kurtz and made him lose all restraint. Joseph Conrad shows how easily people can lose all restraint. Only the cannibals, whom Marlow expected to lose their restraint, restrain themselves from going mad in the face of starvation. Fresleven, the helmsman, and Kurtz show how "enlightened" people often lose their restraint first. “Civilized” people continue to lose all restraint due to the chaos that surrounds them. People who learn to adapt to the idea of ​​restraint survive, and people born into European civilization did not know how to control themselves. Works Cited Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Dover Publications, 1990. Print.