Heart Of Darkness Imperialism

  Marlow was an average European man with average European beliefs. Like most Europeans of his time, Marlow believed in colonialism; that is, until he met Kurtz. Kurtz forces Marlow to rethink his current beliefs after Marlow learns the effects of colonialism deep in the African Congo. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow learns that he has lived his entire life believing in a sugar-coated evil.  Marlow's understanding of Kurtz's experiences show him the effects colonialism can have on a man's soul.

Joseph Conrad's novella, Heart of Darkness, describes a life-altering journey that the protagonist, Marlow, experiences in the African Congo.  The story explores the historical period of colonialism in Africa to exemplify Marlow's struggles.  Marlow, like other Europeans of his time, is brought up to believe certain things about colonialism, but his views change as he experiences colonialism first hand. This essay will explore Marlow's view of colonialism, which is shaped through his experiences and also from his relation to Kurtz.  Marlow's understanding of Kurtz's experiences show him the effects colonialism can have on a man's soul.

In the Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Marlow goes into the depths of an African jungle and encounters a level of evil and savagery not seen in day-to-day life. The real “heart of darkness” comes from hidden evil within humans, suppressed by rules and regulations in society. This potential evil, when able to be free from the standards in society, can reveal a completely different side to a person, as shown through the character of Kurtz. Kurtz holds a great amount of power in a secluded area, over a group of people who feel inferior to him, which turns into the ultimate abuse of power. While savagery tends to come out only during extreme circumstances, acts of evil are displayed in society daily, exempting no one from having evil thoughts or tendencies.

In 1890 at the height of the colonial campaign by Europe to civilize and educate the ignorant people of Africa, (Shihada 13) King Leopold II of Belgium, and his agents were well underway with their efforts in the Congo Free State to “enlighten and civilize the lives of the Congolese natives” (Shihada 14). At this time (1890) a young man named Joseph Conrad “under the employ of the Societe Anonyme pour le Commerce du Haut-Congo plunged into the ‘dark continent’ and wrote his ‘Congo Diary’ that would later become The Heart of Darkness” (Merriman).

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is an anti-imperialist story. The story itself is framed within the context of the main character, Marlow, recounting his adventures in the Congo to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary. In Marlow’s retelling of his adventure, he points out the fallacies and evils of imperialism through his understandings of civilization and commercial profit.

Like Marlow, Kurtz began his employment with the ivory company with noble intentions: he wants to create a better way of life for the natives. However, because of extreme hardships placed upon him by the manager, Kurtz becomes the "dark" half of the soul: he symbolizes what Marlow may have become if placed in Kurtz' position.

Marlow's hates lies and the people who lie. His loyalty to Kurtz strengthens because Kurtz doesn't hide his actions. Marlow respects this blunt honesty and refusal to lie even though Kurtz's actions are terrible. The manager and the others likely commit many similarly vivious acts, however they hide it behind the curtain of "civilization." Because of this, Marlow cannot stand the manager and the pilgrims but he still respects Kurtz. Kurtz also seems to realize a personal truth at the moment of his death, similar to a stage of enlightenment. This moment of realization causes him to utter "the horror! the horror!"==conrad== This last minute awareness of truth impresses Marlow and causes him to feel even more loyal to Kurtz. Marlow sees Kurtz

Really killer hook. However, imperialistic societies are often plagued by some sort of semi-xenophobic notion that europeans hold primacy over their non-eurocentric counterparts. This supremacy is built off of the ideal of some God given grace that sets them above the common rabble, not unlike the Nazis who felt germans were descendents of the master race and therefore all others were unfit to take up land that could be put to a good under Aryan control, this notion is built on the idea that Europeans are the cutting edge of innovation and the other civilizations of the world are lesser. The ideology of Western advancement lies within the ignorance of advances outside of their world, such accounts would be similar to the dismissal of the chinese

In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the imperialism of Africa is described. Conrad tells the story of the cruel treatment of the natives and of the imperialism of the Congo region through the perspective of the main character, Marlow. Throughout the novel, Marlow describes how the Europeans continuously bestow poor treatment to the native people by enslaving them in their own territory. Analyzing the story with the New Criticism lens, it is evident that Conrad incorporates numerous literary devices in Heart of Darkness, including similes, imagery, personification, and antitheses to describe and exemplify the main idea of cruel imperialism in Africa discussed throughout the novella.

While some of the European men that Marlow meets early on are resentful and jealous of Kurtz’s success, most of the people Marlow meets appear to be beguiled and completely devoted to Mr. Kurtz. This inevitably lead to Kurtz himself believing he was some sort of god, who was entitled to do whatever he pleased (since his actions would not be accounted the same way the acts of other humans would). As literature professor Mariana Torgovnick writes in her article ‘Primitivism and the African Woman in Heart of Darkness’, “Kurtz has allowed himself to be worshipped by his African followers. As a fantasy, this idea of the cream always rising to the top is perfectly acceptable, [...] Kurtz’s mistake has been only going too far in making the fantasy a lived fact, loosening the “restraint” Marlow finds necessary in all things.” By believing this fantasy that he is divine to be real, Kurtz loses his restraint and commits all sorts of horrible things. Nevertheless, his sickness and death suddenly remind him of his own mortality, that he is not, in fact, the god he believed himself to be. This realization leads to his understanding that he will have to account to all the horrible, violent and unscrupulous things he did: the cheating, the violence, the murders. This realization, that he is as mortal as everyone else, and responsible for all his actions, is to Kurtz “The

In Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, the interpretation of pre-colonial times is interesting in a way that supersedes other books I’ve read because it’s very honest with how the world worked it that era. The central aim which the shipmates in Heart of Darkness are pursuing is the expansion of their home countries’ empires. Yet many people are hurt in this enterprise, and it’s not only the colonized territories that are impacted negatively by imperialist Europe. Europe’s explorers that go to the Congo are constantly dying of sickness. Compare the ways in which the consequences of imperialism affect the different groups of people in the book, the more one can understand about characters’ actions.

 Marlow's journey leads him in an urgent search for Kurtz, the one man who can provide him with the truth about himself. Like Marlow, Kurtz came to the Congo in hopes to bring "light" and civilization to a backwards society. He is a highly-educated, refined gentlemen; yet, in the end, the brutal nature of the Congo forces him to resort to the life of a murderer and pilferer. The name Kurtz itself has symbolic meaning. "The physical shortness in Kurtz implies a shortness of character and spirit" (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation). Marlow and Kurtz both symbolize the two conditions of human nature. "Kurtz represents what man could become if left to his own intrinsic devices outside protective society. Marlow represents a pure untainted civilized soul who has not been drawn to savagery by a dark, alienated jungle." (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation). When the two come face to face, each man sees a reflection of what he might have become in the other. In Kurtz, Marlow sees the potential

The manager personifies the darkness with his unbalanced priorities of obtaining of ivory and the deficiency of importance given to human lives, thus displaying an intense darkness behind the façade of light. In the beginning of the book, Marlow comes upon a "grove of death" in the jungle where black workers who are no longer able to function satisfactorily in the eyes of the company are left to die. Marlow also witnesses black workers in chain-gangs throughout his journey up the river, along with a black man shot. These atrocities against the natives are as a result of the white colonization and the activities of the manager, a character which represents the darkness within the supposed light that is brought to the natives. The manager is solely concerned with the safe confiscation of the ivory and not at all with Kurtz' life, lives are seen as merely objects in the way of the ultimate goal of ivory. Therefore the manager, with the "lightness" - a façade of bringing culture and improvements to the natives, is in fact the real darkness, demonstrating the evil associated with the European colonialism of Africa.

Kurtz, a mystery throughout the whole novella, is known as a prodigy by the people back home. Marlow first hears of him when he goes to accept the job that his aunt arranged for him. Since evil is not a universal constant, it changes according to each observer and the

Across many countries, authors have showcased how societal structures such as imperialism and colonialism can affect the way in which an individual experiences the world. Those born into the so-called “First World” countries have been privileged in that they have not felt the burden of such societal structure, as compared to those born into those “Second World” countries. These individuals have dealt with the pressures of Westernized society in such a way that their entire way of life has been transformed. Those whose countries hold values of imperialism and colonialism have only imposed their ways of life onto the “Second World” countries, whose citizens have lived in those shadows for centuries. These different worldviews can also impact