The Imperial Aspect of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness Essay

Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad is dramatic tale of an arduous trek into the darkest part of Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. The story follows the protagonist Marlow, an English marine merchant, as he travels through the African jungle up the Congo river in search for a mysterious man named Kurtz. Through Marlow's narration, Conrad provides a searing indictment of European colonial exploitation inflicted upon African natives. Through his use of irony, characters, and symbolism in the novel, Conrad aims to unveil the underlying horrors of colonialism. By shedding light on the brutality of colonialism in Heart of Darkness, Conrad shows that European values have been irrevocably eclipsed by darkness.

At the End of the book it is evident that Marlow does not believe in colonizing Africa. When he goes back to England and walks through the streets, he becomes disgusted with the people going through their everyday lives which are surrounded by money, greed, and bettering themselves. He has seen the horror and "darkness" which this greed is doing to a people of another land by imperialism and colonialism.

He says the Romans were conquerors and not colonialists, and explains that what saves the colonialist is "the devotion to efficiency" and "the unselfish belief in the idea"(pg.65-66).  Yet throughout the novel, Marlow's personal experiences show how colonialism was just that, the robbing of Africa for ivory and profit by Europeans.  He ascertains that there were no improvement in Africa like the Europeans claimed, "unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet hole in the forehead...may be considered improvement" (pg.81). This notion of extreme physical violence is something that threads its way through the novella.

Joseph Conrad uses the white colonist’s obsession with ivory to show the of imperialism. For the colonists “The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it” (Conrad 95). Life for the colonists’ in the Congo revolved around Ivory. Colonization effort for the Congo orbited around ivory and other financial gains. In the desperation to become wealth the colonists change the lives of the native Africans living there. The natives soon find their world completely different from their ancestors: “Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his

There is an abundance of literature in which characters become caught between colliding cultures. Often, these characters experience a period of growth from their exposure to a culture that’s dissimilar to their own. Such is the case with Marlow, Joseph Conrad’s infamous protagonist from ‘Heart of Darkness’. Marlow sets off to Africa on an ivory conquest and promptly found himself sailing into the heart of the Congo River. Along the way he is faced with disgruntled natives, cannibals, and the ominous and foreboding landscape. Marlow’s response to these tribulations is an introspective one, in which he calls into question his identity. This transcending of his former self renders the work as a whole a

The novella, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, is a piece that pushed the envelope of its time due to an oppositional stance on the forced imperialism of primitive and/or impoverished countries. The protagonist of this story is the self-proclaimed explorer, Marlow, who decides to leave the heart of light and purity (Europe) and take a job as a steamboat captain in the dark jungles of the Congo Free State in Africa. Upon his arrival, Marlow begins to see the impact of Belgium’s intrusion on the Congo by means of implementing slavery, commandeering ivory (a valuable resource), and presenting a negative attitude toward the primitive population. Marlow eventually becomes obsessed with an ivory

     Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novel about a man named Marlow and his journey into the depths of the African Congo. Marlow is in search of a man named Kurtz, an ivory trader. Though Marlow?s physical journey seems rather simple, it takes him further into his own heart and soul than into the Congo. The setting, symbols and characters each contain light and dark images, these images shape the central theme of the novel.

Marlow tells his shipmates on the boat (the Nelly) that the natives passed him “within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (16). Marlow’s story of his experience exhibits how the Europeans captured the natives and forced them to work; to strip their homeland of its resources and natural beauty. When the Europeans colonize Africa, they do not want to help the African people, but exploit them and put them to work for their own desire of obtaining ivory, rubber, and other resources and goods. As the Europeans imperialize the area, they do not build culture or assist in the development of the Congo region, but break down culture as they enslave the natives and take away their rights, along with stripping the area of resources and natural, earthly beauty, which is conveyed through the cruel physical treatment towards the natives. This treatment is also presented through the literary devices that Conrad decides to use to reveal the experiences of the natives to the

In the 1900s novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the protagonist often encounters women at landmarks of his life. Charlie Marlow is a sailor and imperialist who sets out along the Congo River to “civilize” the “savages.” The novella begins with a crew on the Thames waiting for the tides to change. During their wait, a character named Marlow tells of his exploits on the African continent. In his recounted travels, Marlow meets other imperialists such as Mr. Kurtz, a man who is obsessed with the pursuit of ivory and riches. Like Mr. Kurtz, Marlow embarks across the African continent in hopes of earning both money and respect. One early critic of the novel, Edward Garnett, wrote in his review that “[Heart of Darkness] is simply a

Marlow says that, "They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force-- nothing to boast of."(p.58 Heart of Darkness) . Marlow compares his subsequent tale of colonialism with that of the Roman colonization of Northern Europe and the fascination associated with such a voyage. However, Marlow challenges this viewpoint by illustrating a picture of the horrors of colonialist ventures as we delve deeper into the novel. White Europeans are used as symbols of self-deception, and we find that Marlow sees colonization as "robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as it is very proper for those who tackle darkness."(p.58 Heart of Darkness) This shows how Conrad feels about colonialism through Marlow, because Marlow feels strongly adverse to the actions of the whites in the Congo.

The characteristics of Modernism are nowhere more prevalent than in his 1899 novel Heart of Darkness. It provides a bridge between Victorian values and the ideals of modernism. It is about a British seaman, Marlow, and his journey down the long River Congo into the darkness of Africa to meet up with and bring home his employer’s local representative, Kurtz. Heart of Darkness represents as well as any novel ever written the bleakness and cynicism that are characteristic of the Modernist movement. Conrad’s observations on the effects of European colonialism provided a full-scale view to the emergence of

The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a frame narrative which creates a clear and organized structure. This structure helps emphasize upon the hypocrisy of imperialism in the novel and Marlow’s journey to discovering his true identity. The orderly and systematic nature of the structure corresponds with the Company in the novel and how it seems so structured on the outside while their mission is actually extremely chaotic underneath as displayed by Kurtz. The cyclical structure of the novel outlines Marlow’s journey in finding himself and his true identity. As the chaos of the journey is uncovered, Marlow delves deeper and deeper into uncertainty regarding the things going on around him in his life.

The conquering of a place and its people does not just affect the land and its resources; it also affects those inhabiting it. Marlow describes the Congolese’s spirituality being oppressed, “The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking is away from those who have a different complexion of slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.” (Conrad, 69). Marlow discusses his aunt’s thoughts on the process, “She talked about weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways.” He watches the Europeans using their own laws to control and oppress the people of the Congo, for example, he sees an ugly chain-gang at the first station, which does not seem as though they are criminals. Nevertheless, the European law had decided for the natives, Marlow describes, “like shells from the man-of-war, like an insoluble mystery from the sea. (Conrad, 12). The Congolese appointed to work on his ship, he describes as, still belonging, “to the beginnings of time,” but “as long as there was a piece of paper written over in accordance with some farcical law or other made down the river, it didn’t enter anybody’s head to trouble how they would live. (Conrad, 33-34). Skulls of then men judged by the European law were set on stakes around Kurtz’s

The two major themes of Heart of Darkness are the conflict between “reality” and “darkness,” and the idea of restraint and whether or not it is necessary. Conrad’s passage describing the restraint of the hungry cannibals exemplifies both themes:  It describes how reality shapes human behavior, and contrasts the characters of Kurtz and Marlow.  “Reality,” as it is used here, is defined as “that which is civilized.”

As Kurtz’s title grows, he is able to work his way into the natives’ minds. He becomes their leader, even though he is an outsider. Little does Marlow know, Kurtz’s corruptness and his imperialistic and colonialist efforts to rule the African land would become his demise. In the end, Marlow understands that Kurtz is not all he is made out to be, and finds that his practices are harsher than necessary as he reads in Kurtz’s book his plans to “Exterminate all the brutes!” (50). Kurtz is referring to the natives he befriends and uses to his advantage. While Marlow and Kurtz move throughout the Congo as foreigners of a “First World” country, the Natives of the Congo are forces reconcile with Kurtz’s colonization and rule of their land and over their people. What Conrad presents in Heart of Darkness are the dangers of naiveté regarding “First World” practices of imperialism and colonialism, and then becoming aware, as Marlow gradually does, of their implications.