Imperialism In The Heart Of Darkness

Imperialism is a meaningful word all throughout history, and many people would say that imperialism is what molded a country either from its rights or wrong viewed today. One of the reasons that world literature and history is learned is so we learn from our past to better ourselves in the future. The book The Heart of Darkness tells a unique story about the different ways imperialism is shown on the other side of the world meaning it doesn’t just happen in one place it happens everywhere in different time periods. The protagonist character Marlow tells his story that takes place in The Congo which is in Africa, and while reading the story of Marlow imperialism is shown so much that as readers can reflect to other examples in history. For instance,

During the World War II, Adolf Hitler was the current dictator of Germany and throughout his rule he showed immense power over a specific colony the Jewish people. That was another prime example of imperialism shown in a different era. Nevertheless, Hitler showed imperialism through exceeding his power against the Jewish people and putting them into concentration camps to work under the power of the Germans (Holocaust Memorial Center.) There is definitely a connection between what Hitler did and to what the Europeans did to the people from The Congo. Marlow says a great description that can be related both ways with what happened in the book as well as The Holocaust, he says, “The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough;” (Conrad, Joseph Pg. 41). Adolf Hitler did not look at Jewish people the same as compared to what he was or what he believed in so he used him

Before the revolutionary war Great Britain had control of the 13 colonies there were over here. That control is referred as imperialism, Great Britain had a belief that the 13 colonies should be ran the same way as Britain was as well as following their same laws. From history it shows that Great Britain had the more power in this situation that the 13 colonies, and of course the 13 colonies had the shorter end of stick and predominately the weaker of the two (“American Revolution History.”) The upcoming of the Revolutionary war and the whole story of The Heart of Darkness share the same ideas and concepts of imperialism. One side had the upper hand, and represented a more powerful nation rather than the weaker one. In the story of The Heart of Darkness another main character named Kurtz had complete control using his imperialistic power over the people of The Congo. He had his own section of the land as well as control over the people to work for him, and do as he pleases. There is a quote in the passage that promotes imperialism through fear, when Marlow saw this he said, “These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbing—food for thought and also for vultures if there had been any looking down from the sky; but at all events for such ants as were industrious enough to