King Leopold's Ghost Essay

Admitted in the Memoir of Ndansi Kumalo, “Well, the white men have brought us some good things. For a start, they brought us European implements - plows; we can buy European clothes, which are an advance. The government has arranged for education and through that, when our children grow up, they may rise in status.” The Europeans admittedly brought many great things to the Natives of the countries they conquered; better technology, education, and overall help were given to the natives. In the beginning, Europeans tried as much as they could to prop up the natives to a better, civilised stature. However, as their power and grasp on the region increased, as did their greed. According to Richard Harding Davis in Leopold, The Janitor from the Congo and the Coasts of Africa, “The Charges brought against Leopold II, as King of the Congo, are three: (1) That he has made slaves of the twenty million blacks he promised to protect. (2) That, in spite of his promise to keep the Congo open to trade, he has closed it to all nations. (3) That the revenues of the country and all of its trade has retained to himself.” Such imperialism allowed far away kings to exploit their populaces of Native Africans as if they were just toys to the crown. Leaders would force their powerless and technologically underdeveloped subjects into fruitless

By providing an in-depth analysis of what really occurred with Leopold and his exploitative proprietorship of the Congo “Free” State, Hochschild cogently convinces readers that beneath all of Europe’s coaxing and flattery about their imperialism, there is an underlying nature of terror and an almost inescapable and pervasive essence of death and slavery. Hochschild perfectly depicts the drama arising from the deceitful manipulations, courageous resistances, and uncut greed into an enthralling piece of literature. Not only does Hochschild use the perspectives of Europeans, but he tells the untold truths of the natives in their abysmal states, having to face inevitable horrors and atrocities. The reader experiences the magnitude of effects that resulted in this imperialism, which may still last in modern-day Africa. Hochschild’s persuasion perfectly captures what it is that he wants the readers to take in the most: that Leopold’s imperialism of the Congo did not only affect Europe and himself. Separating from the common curriculum of history class, Hochschild doesn’t want to tell the readers that imperialism led to European nations gaining more markets, population, and raw materials: he wants the reader to understand that this all came at a cost. This imperialism led to the deaths of ten million natives in the Congo alone. This imperialism led to brutal torture of the

Sociology explains the creation of "The Other" as a necessary component to facilitate justification for the exploitation of said "other", whether for economic gains or purely for sadistic actions enacted upon the aforementioned. A major aspect needed to formulate the concept of "The Other" is the degradation of "The Other" to further or sever all sentimental or emotional ties to "The Other". The idea of "The Other" would prove to be the foundation of "scientific" racial ideology, or racism, which categorizes human superiority by race. The rise "scientific" racism and Social Darwinism during the advent of New Imperialism gave European empire builders self-justification to conquer and exploit the Congo. These racial ideologies covered any moral objections against the colonization of the Congo and other regions of Africa, showcasing the

Book Review of King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild      What some have considered to be the first international scandal of the modern era took place in the Congo from 1890 until 1910. King Leopold II of Belgium was at the head of this so-called scandal. Although Europe and the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten the victims of these crimes, there is a considerable amount of material to use when attempting to recreate the horror that took place in Leopold's Congo. This is exactly what Adam Hochschild is attempting to do by writing this book. By using the written words of mostly Europeans and Americans, which creates a distorted view of history, he wants to show that the Holocaust type event

In the book King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild, King Leopold is the King of Belgium. Leopold does not want to be King of Belgium because he believed that “the country he was to inherit seemed too small to hold him.” (King Leopold’s Ghost 36) King Leopold gives up his reign as King of Belgium in search for something better. “For him colonies existed for one purpose: to make him and his country rich.” (Leopold’s Ghost 38) He wants to have a land that is only under his personal control. “His drive for colonies, however, was shaped by a desire not only for money but for power.” (Leopold’s Ghost 39) After many attempts to buy many different areas of land King Leopold wants to buy Congo in Africa. He likes Congo for many reasons. “Of the

“The real names of our people were destroyed during slavery. The last name of my forefathers was taken from them when they were brought to America and made slaves, and then the name of the slave master was given, which we refuse; we reject that name today and refuse it. I never acknowledge it whatsoever.” In King Leopold’s Ghost talks about Leopold II ruling over the Belgium Congo territory. He forced the enslaved individuals to do horrific and exhausting tasks, and people who disagreed with him made it known of his horrible acts. Several countries began to disagree with Leopold’s dictatorship. He was a tyrant. King Leopold’s Ghost is a phenomenal book because of the way individuals can make a difference in others lives. The theme of this book is something that relates to our lives everyday. Our actions can impacts individuals tremendously.

Between 1880 and 1920, the population of the Congo was slashed in half: some ten million people were victims of murder, starvation, exhaustion, exposure, disease, and a plummeting birth rate. Why do you think this massive carnage has remained virtually unknown in the United States and Europe?

Since there was a withdrawal of resources, the Congo built railroads and mines. In doing so, it created more jobs for the Congolese people. Although some people gained jobs, many others went into forced labor and were unable to farm or hunt, ended up making people all over the country

While King Leopold had successfully convinced nearly the entire world for some time that he was a philanthropist, helping to improve the conditions of the Congo and the lives of its people, he was orchestrating an intricate slave trade system and ultimately the murder of an estimated 10-13 million people, approximately 50% of the population . Majority of the people who perished in the Congo were slaughtered, victims of disease or avoidable malnutrition, or were worked to the point of death. These figures are far from perfect. There has been quite a lot of debate about the true number of people who died under Leopold’s authority, though most agree somewhere near 8-10 million. The fact alone that the total is unclear is testament to the lengths Leopold, his soldiers and workers took to conceal the truly hellish conditions inflicted upon the Congolese

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.

The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James, is ghost story that focuses on a young governess that encounters a pair of ghosts. These ghosts play an important role in the story, but there has always been a debate over whether the ghosts exist inside the story, or if they exist only in the governess’ head. There is evidence within the book to support either claim, so the reality of the apparitions ultimately depends on the reader’s opinion. This paper will support the opinion that the two ghosts that the governess sees are ultimately just figments of her imagination. Even though the governess’ ghosts are not real, she believes them to be real, and her reaction to this belief precipitates the unfortunate conclusion.

King Leopold’s Ghost, by Adam Hochschild , shows that the violence in Africa has gone rampant and the civil discourse is an effect to the cause of colonialism. Although he does not have a life devoted expertise to the Congo, his research and background was thorough and descriptive. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness served as a primary influence to many people who seeked to further their knowledge on the predicaments surrounding the Congo. On the contrary, rather than displaying literary occurrences, he portrayed creativity in a hypothetical scenario to draw readers attention.

Leopold II’s Congo was one of the best examples to show how different the missions of “philanthropy” that the Europeans claimed to have and the realities that African people had to face were. Because of Leopold II, African people were forced to go under what is now regarded as the Congo Horrors, where men, women, and children worked long and grueling hours. If they even made the smallest mistake, they could have an arm or a hand physically cut off. If the decisions of the Berlin Conference were followed more carefully, then this horrific treatment would not have happened.

Primarily this paper will investigate the massacre of more than 10 million the Congolese by Leopold from 1885 and 1908. Although this is a massacre on the scale of the Jewish Holocaust

Considered one of the most respected African plays, The Dilemma of a Ghost revolves around a newly married couple, Ato and Eulalie. Ato’s Ghanaian family has saved tremendously to send him to University in the United States. After he completes his studies, however, Ato surprises his family by returning home with an African-American bride, Eulalie. Spread out over a year, the play mainly focuses on the cultural differences that both Ato’s family and Eulalie struggle to accept in each other. Aidoo captures a number of upsetting problems confronting the post-colonial Africa, as she highlights the