How Is Kurtz Portrayed In Mother Africa

Unlike the slave traders who came before him, King Leopold managed to take possession of and exploit the indigenous people of Congo, their land, and their resources on an unprecedented scale. He obtained a network of valuable raw materials and millions free laborers to extract them. At the hands of King Leopold II’s workers, the people of Congo suffered horrific travesties. Not only did they suffer the loss of their land, the people of Congo were the victims of a hostile militant take over, who’s main purpose was to become a profitable service to the King’s ever-growing greed. His beloved pet project would later prove to be an efficient murder machine. In order to gather resources and labor for the King’s projects, workers acted mercilessly. They swindled land from local Congo tribes, held women hostage, and forced children into work.(109)(111)”(119). George Washington Williams best penned King Leopold II’s cruelty in his detailed documentation. His account contrasted the lies that King Leopold fed the public while simultaneously addressing the barbaric methods employed such as chain gangs, capturing women, forced laborers, and shooting for sport. (Pages 110-111) The result of this barbaric approach to harvest raw materials was the loss of people estimating to be half of the total population of Congo(page 233 )

1909, over one hundred years ago, was the death of King Leopold of Belgium the sole owner of the Congo. Even years after he has left this earth and is no longer in the reign, the long-lasting effects he has had on the people and the land has forever changed the Congo. The memories left behind from the atrocities that occurred and the diminished resources due to extreme exploitation has prompted the author Adam Hochschild to write the novel, King Leopold’s Ghost. Using an Afrocentric point of view Hochschild describes how the events that took place under Leopold’s orders were acts of true terror and inhumanity.

He is telling his story of his adventure to his job on the Congo, presenting the story inside of a story notion. In the reminiscent story he is telling, he talks about a man named Kurtz, the ivory manager at the company is going to work for in the Congo. He learned about the characteristics of Kurtz, which happened to be the opposite of his. At first, he is slight displeased and shows disgust towards the actions of the other workers’ at the company and Marlow; stopping in plot ever so often to regain his thoughts because it made him upset. However, as he continued deeper in the Congo, he starts to change into Kurtz making Kurtz and Marlow complex. The reader can not tell if they are different people or perhaps the same. Before this transformation, Marlow and Kurtz was already similar in a few ways. For example, Marlow and Kurtz both shared a certain amount of respect for the natives, Kurtz even had a mistress that was native. However, they may have a certain level of respect for them they both feel that they are savage like and they are not equal to the white men. This shows the white man’s burden, of the white man that feels the need to educate the natives. Marlow even ends up agreeing later on in the book that they should be

Splattered across the history of the Congo, the blood of millions of Congolese drips down upon the pages of Adam Hochschild’s book, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, sorrowfully telling their tales of misery and slavery. Adam Hochschild manages to paint an elaborate picture of the horrors of the Free State of Congo, King Leopold II personal colony, accurately detailing every minute facet of the Congo—from its exploratory birth, grizzly childhood, and uncertain present. However, Hochschild does fail to paint completely balanced picture. Yes, the story of the Congo is brutal, but the hard-earned resources extracted from there did some good across other parts of the world. The story of the Congo all starts with King Leopold II of Belgium—the king who desperately wanted to put Belgium, and himself, on the map of wealth and prestige.

The story unfolds around the turn of the twentieth century when European powers began to explore and colonize Sub-Saharan Africa. Belgian king Leopold II laid individual claim to the enormous chunk of land surrounding the Congo River and proceeded to strip the land of its resources, including, but not limited to, rubber, ivory, and people using a deadly system of forced labor. Under the ironic and spurious guise of humanitarianism, Leopold built himself an empire in central Africa, lining his pockets and satisfying his egotism, becoming the largest individual landowner in the world, while the brutality of his reign slashed the Congolese population by 10 million people, or approximately in half (Hochschild, 233). The narrative is uplifting at points as it also tells the story of the courageous few Africans, Europeans, and Americans that stood up to Leopold in what, in hindsight, was the first major humanitarian effort of the twentieth century (Straus).

Because of this, it is important to acknowledge and remember Leopold’s imperialism and the brutal effects it had on the people. Works Cited Ankomah, Baffour. “The Butcher of Congo” The Butcher of Congo, IC Publications Limited, 31 Dec. 1999, www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/35/181.html. Bate, Peter, director. White King, Red Rubber, Black Death.

Starting from the European colonization period, Congo has constantly been plagued with foreign interference, namely by external countries and multinational corporations looking to gain wealth. They have demolished the “magnificent African cake” systematically throughout the years, starting primarily from Leopold’s Congo Free state, which he ruled single handedly, to the modern day Democratic Republic of Congo. Leopold began his regime by holding conferences regarding Africa, and formed organizations that he claimed would aid Africa. Not only did Leopold abuse the abundance of natural resources out of greed, he also destroyed the economy, political system, and the people for generations to come. Leopold’s framework of a Congo whose resources

The Europeans severely mistreated the Congolese people by using manipulation, threats, and physical violence against them. Leopold II was an ambitious man who had plans to build the empire of Belgian. His dark reign of the Congo began when he used his associates to fool its leaders into thinking that the white people had supernatural powers by shocking them with batteries that were hidden, out of view, in their hands (p. 109). When the leaders experienced the “powers” of the white man, they signed over their land to Leopold. This victory paved the way for Leopold as he took control of the Congo, pushing the land and workers to uphold his high standards.

This chapter in Africans and Their History by Joseph Harris presents some of the roots of the stereotypes and myths about Africa in the past and for the most part are still held today. Harris discusses how the “greats” of history, geography, and literature starting a path of devaluation of Africans that writers after their time followed. Harris also denounced the language that these “greats” used to describe and talk about Africans. He asserts that this language inherently painted Africans as inferior and subhuman.

This is a tale of horror and tragedy in the Congo, beginning with the brutal and exploitative regime of King Leopold II of Belgium, and culminating with the downfall of one of Africa’s most influential figures, Patrice Lumumba. The Congo is but one example of the greater phenomenon of European occupation of Africa. The legacy of this period gives rise to persistent problems in the Congo and throughout Africa. Understanding the roots and causes of this event, as focused through the lense of the Congo, is the subject of this paper.

Beginning in 1880, there was a growing desire for European countries to expand and control their rule. The only continent at that time that was left uncontrolled and, in the European's eyes uncivilized, was Africa. This was the start of Western Imperialism. All European countries wanted their piece of Africa and to get it, they would let nothing stand in their way. They would change the entire government, religion, market, and behavior of most of the African nation and affect almost every person living there. An account of the impact of Imperialism is given in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. This book shows the changes that occurred in Africa during Imperialism and its affect on the community and the people

Mr. Kurtz was the "chief of the inner station" (Conrad, pg. 28). He was "in charge of a trading post, a very important one, in the true ivory country." Kurtz sent in "as much ivory as all the others put together" (Conrad, pg. 22). The company described him as the "best agent, an exceptional man, of the greatest importance to the company" (Conrad, pg. 25). Kurtz went to the jungle for many reasons, but mostly to make money to return to Europe and marry his intended. Marlow "heard that her engagement with Kurtz had been disapproved by her people. He wasn't rich enough or something." He had given Marlow "some reason to infer that it was his impatience of comparative poverty that drove him out there" (Conrad, pg. 74). He had been driven into the jungle to procure money for the company and for himself and for his life with his intended. Greed is what kept him out there so long and clouded his mind regarding thoughts of nobility.

 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

Kurtz's whole orientation in the Congo was based on the quest for ever-increasing quantities of ivory. In this lay the weakness of Kurtz, for he wanted something, unlike his Russian companion. Kurtz's intelligence, his ideas, and his plans, were captive to his status as ivory gatherer. Kurtz's rejection of the validity of the 'unsound method' was not the problem. The problem with Kurtz, which Marlow does not realize, is not that Kurtz went native, but that he did not go native enough. In other words, Kurtz did not abandon the ivory-fetish. Kurtz's link with colonialism is therefore his undoing, even in the individual decay he undergoes.

Especially the company that he works for. The moral ambiguity and struggle that Marlow has is impacted and changed by Kurtz's point of view. But in the time of choosing Marlow has to chose between the company our Kurtz. Kurtz goes to the heart of africa to bring the european light and be adventurous. But the moral compass our lack of it shows that Europe and the well the rest of the world has no moral compass to begin with. The lies that Europe has brung to the African continent has clouded and hurt the trust of the native people as a