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European Imperialism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness

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While in England between 1898 and 1899, Joseph Conrad wrote the novella Heart of Darkness. Taking place during the height of European imperialism in Africa, Heart of Darkness follows the journey up the Congo River of Marlow, a steamboat captain. Marlow comes to Africa to escape the strict confines of European society. Marlow is very idealistic, and during his travels up the Congo, he is eager to prove that there is some good to the European presence in Africa. Although Marlow looks for signs of the good of imperialism, he finds none. Because of this, Marlow is eager to meet with Kurtz, another trader in the Congo. Marlow is so eager to meet with Kurtz because he believes Kurtz is the man the will prove to him that there is good in the European …show more content…

When he goes to Africa, he is very idealistic about the European presence there despite some of the stories he has heard. From the beginning of his journey, Marlow is confronted with the insanity of imperialism in Africa when he sees a French ship repeatedly shelling a spot of forested coast for no apparent reason saying, “Nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of native–he called them enemies!–hidden out of sight somewhere.” Pg. 11 As Marlow continues his way up the Congo River, he encounters decay and death at an alarming rate. He was overwhelmed by the horror of the death and destruction he sees: It is here that Marlow first encounters the heart of darkness and slowly begins to realize what it is. Marlow is once again faced with this overwhelming sense of decay and death when he reaches the outer station of the company, he encounters a group of native African people who have basically been enslaved in a chain gang; furthermore, he sees that also the Europeans are suffering as well: disease, biting insects, and outrageous heat. This scene at the outer station is an important one because it shows that not only is the African people

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The reality is that King Leopold’s “charity” resulted in the death of ten million people, which is approximately 50% of Congo’s population(Cleary). The difference in Marlow’s previous perception he learned from European’s justification and the reality he learns in Africa impels Marlow to develop his hatred towards deception. This explains his sentiment towards the

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“ It was the same kind of ominous voice; but these man could by no stretch of imagination be called enemies” (Conrad 19). Upon seeing the beaten and broken “enemies” Marlow realizes that the European subjugation is not all that it is cracked up to be. It causes serious pain and suffering for the natives of the country, which is particularly shocking to Marlow as Europe claims to be so elevated and

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When Marlow returns from the Congo he, just as Kurtz and Russian, is no longer the same man. Marlow returning to Europe to see just how ignorant the people there are, not knowing anything past their, “insignificant and silly dreams” (Conrad 70). He believing that he is no longer like them, no longer being like them since being in the Congo and seeing just what it had become at the hands of European Imperialism. Though Marlow is no different than those he is looking down upon, his ignorance coming from keeping others

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He claims “ten days [is] an eternity,”(18) when ten days of waiting is trivial compared the terrible lives of the slave labor, where Marlow observes the natives “dying slowly”(17) and likened their demeanor to the “deathlike indifference of unhappy savages”(16). Here, Marlow’s ignorance of the hardships of the natives is dreadfully obvious. He does not consider the struggles of the natives around him as toilsome as his own, even though the reader can clearly see the opposite is true. The native's lives are far worse than Marlow having to idly wait for 10 days before continuing his journey. Marlow represents the reader, so this is Conrad’s first step to making the reader self-aware of their own apathy and dehumanization of black people.

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By describing the men as “ants”, their insignificance in Marlow’s life is highlighted. To Marlow, the Africans hold no importance and he sees them as nothing more than insects. Moreover, Marlow describes the Africans as having “faces like grotesque masks”. The negative connotation of the word “grotesque” seeks to show the preconceived notions Marlow had regarding the Blacks. Never having come across a Black man before, the

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Heart of Darkness Response Paper The “Heart of Darkness” is a novel written by Polish-British novelist, Joseph Conrad that was first published in 1899. The novel talks about a man, Marlow telling his story about his journey to Africa and the experiences he went through. He recalls his journey to Africa to three men on the British ship, the Nellie. Marlow was an agent for the Company which was an ivory trading company.

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This book represents order, and it was heavily used by the white man; this implies that this book was his way of protecting himself from the chaotic jungle around him. As Marlow read this book, he began to forget about the chaotic world around him, and it made him feel something normal from civilization. Conrad is using this plot event and the setting of the cottage to show the difference in the Europeans principles of order and chaos, as well as show how some of them use this order to shield themselves from the chaos. Conrad also uses many examples of how the sham of civilization hides the truth of our human nature. Conrad compares the Native Africans to the raw

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Furthermore, in describing the cannibals as “fine fellows,” he equates them to the imperialists, revealing how these “primitive” natives are not much different than the “civilized” Europeans. Thus, Marlow’s reaction to the cannibals reveals the barbaristic aspects of both the natives and the imperialists, as both are savages but the European’s barbarity is hidden by civilization and a “developed” culture. Another transition in Marlow’s personality occurs when the boat is attacked by the natives on the dark, foggy river. After the attack and as the fog alleviates, Marlow realizes that “exactly what [he] had been looking forward to” was “a talk with Kurtz” (89).

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This passage is very interesting considering Marlow’s view of Africa otherwise. Why does he see Africa as the centre of the earth? In another passage, after seeing Africans living their normal lives undisturbed by the white people, Marlow believes that he is seeing the prehistoric man, and sees himself and his crew as wanderers on a prehistoric

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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

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Heart of Darkness, written in 1899, is the most famous novel by Joseph Conrad. A short novel that takes us to the worst of colonialism and the lowest human behavior and it can be read as an almost prophetic text of the horrors of the twentieth century for the realism of its descriptions, for its critical sense and how it explores the contradictions and instability of the human mind. The historical context is imperialism and racism in Heart of Darkness as it was written when European imperialism and especially British began to lose their humanity, and people began to know the brutalities committed by Europeans in Africa. The book tells the journey of the protagonist, Marlow, by a river at Congo in search of Kurtz, a commercial agent who apparently has gone mad considering that he crosses the weak line between good and evil and

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It’s clear as Marlow first gets to the outer station and witnesses the cruelty the Africans face that he subconsciously identifies the actions as evil; but he does nothing to stop the inhumanity. Sometimes the degree of evil might be minimal but it’s still there. Evil once lived wherever pain resides. If evil was eradicated from the world we would no longer see pain or suffering. The day when no one is suffering, when no one is in misery or agony, is the day evil will cease to

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1238 Words | 5 Pages

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 home land 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 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

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Africa in this novella is portrayed as “the Heart of Darkness” the place where the men’s inner evil is exposed, this is done through their thoughts and actions. The contrast between the Thames River and the Congo River is also made evident in the novella. The Thames River is described as calm and peaceful. It is viewed as a city of light that is not mysterious.

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Throughout the Heart of Darkness, nature has always been an adversary to Marlow and his crew. Their expedition up the Congo was not only tough physically but also mentally. Located near the equator, the Congo was physically exhausting for Marlow and his crew to traverse through. “It was hot there, too; big flies buzzed fiendishly, and did not sting, but stabbed.”

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