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How Did Marlowe Postcolonize African Americans

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The Europeans felt it was there duty to colonize Africans and help them but instead the brutality they brought upon them was horrendous. When Marlowe is speaking to his aunt about his journey, she says he’s going to Africa and “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (65). Marlow’s aunt is a representation of the European mindset during the 1800s that the lifestyle of the Africans was not proper and must be changed. She also represents the idea that the Europeans believed they were helping the Africans but that is not the case. But when Marlowe reaches Africa he sees the natives “dying slowly…nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation” (72). Marlow is able to see first hand the way the natives are treated by the Europeans. …show more content…

When Marlowe first arrives in Africa he sees the natives and describes “hands clapping, feet stamping…wondering secretly appalled” (40). Marlowe’s is confused and having a hard time understanding the natives because they are so different to what he is use to in Europe. The actions of the natives are primitive, chaotic, and inhumane compared to the proper and structured European lifestyle. But it can be seen through the character Kurtz and his actions that the Europeans are not very different from the Africans. When Kurtz enters Africa, he is a regular man on a journey to find ivory for the company, but the greed of money and freedom overtakes him. Kurtz is now overcome with darkness as it is now “into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its sjnjgbjngj,fngj,xdfngiekjgnkjrngvjdfgnjhfbggjrhbdjfb sjdbjd skjg sjkgnj jng vkjvnkdnvjknkj jvjkvd vkjvjknj jvnjkdv jknvjkdn vjkvnkdjn dkjvnjkvnj jc sjfn jskfn skjnf ksnf ksn ksnf iksnfks isnf isnf sjf and now we didn tknow what was happening so the al went cry cry away haha I hate life I still have ashit ton towrite kdfv jdnv jnv jvn skmn jsn jsdbv jsf jksfdown by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation” (80). Kurtz was so consumed in the idea of money and power he got from the ivory, he became out of control with no one to stop him. In Africa, the societal rules set up Europe were no longer applicable and now that Kurtz was away he had “soul, that knew no restraint”. Because of this lack of restraint, the darkness that lay within Kurtz soul was unleashed, and cause Kurtz to go mad. This portrays that without the restraints of the European society, the Europeans are not anymore civilized than the Africans. The Europeans claimed they were the changing the backward ways of the savage natives, but they deep

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