Stella Gurin
Godat
AP Literature
28 February 2018
Imperialism Essay
In the Heart of Darkness, The Hollow Men, and The White Man’s Burden, each author writes upon his social commentary on imperialism, striking similarities within each other and primarily to Conrad’s masterpiece. All three pieces illustrate the hidden depth of greed and power that humanity attains with the colonization of Africa. The obsession of power pushes the European nations to cross mortal boundaries. In the nineteenth century, European States, namely being England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, scrambled to form colonial empires and maintain and build their power. Through the expenditure, there were both pros and cons experienced along with it. From colonization, nations obtained power, wealth, and extra raw materials; however, conflict arose as well as the dehumanization of the natives when they were forced to work for the European nations. These nations felt superior and therefore, through primal instinct, they corrupted the new colonies and spread their evil throughout it. Authors, like Conrad, spoke out and addressed the morality issues with the event of imperialism in their works.
In the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad transcends the deep, dark African jungle in order to illuminate the true nature of humanity’s heart, filled with the darkness of obsession, corruption, and evil. The story itself follows the protagonist, Marlow, as well as Kurtz, a secretive, mysterious man who