Theme Of Slavery In Heart Of Darkness

The first chapter of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness mainly depicts the journey that Charles Marlow, the protagonist of the story, makes into the heart of Africa in order to become an ivory transporter. The novel begins by with introduction of various characters including Marlow by an unnamed narrator. The Marlow and the unnamed narrator are aboard the Nellie. The boat had been temporarily docked in order to wait for change in tide. During that short break Marlow begins to talk about his previous adventure to the heart of Africa. Marlow, who describes himself as someone who had always wanted to travel around the world even as a child sees a map of Africa and the Congo River and remembers about a trading company operating there. Marlow becomes

Slavery is heavily present within the novel and can been in the treatment of the locals by the officials at the various stations. The first instance of slavery that Marlow encounters is when he finally arrives at the outer station. As Marlow walks toward one of the buildings at the outer station he encounters a group of malnourished black men coming up the hill, the men were only dressed in a simple loin cloths and each wore a collar on his neck. In contrast when Marlow meets the chief accountant of the outer post, the man is described as being dressed in “high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boot”. The difference in how each race is dressed is a reminder of the ever prominent issue of slavery. The locals are dressed in rags and collared like an animal but the white officials are dressed head to toe in costly clothing. This depicts the darker nature of imperialism because the trading company is exploiting labor of the locals. The locals are forced to do all of manual labor but they gain nothing from it. The resources that their country naturally offers are being shipped over to Europe and Africa gains none of those profits. Marlow next encounter with slavery comes when he encounters the group of dying slaves under the tree. Marlow describes this horrendous scene as "Black shapes crouched, lay, sat

Conrad tires to establish that imperialism and colonialism have negative effects on an individual’s mental health. The ideologies of imperialism and colonialism are both heavily influenced by the need for economic gain. However, throughout the first chapter Conrad tries to show that this type of ideology has a negative effect on an individual’s mental health. A key example of this is the scene with the doctor. The doctor implies that individuals often change when they go places where there is an influence of imperialism. Another example occurs as Marlow’s makes his way to his posting. Marlow hears the story about how another man, who was traveling to Africa for the same purposes as Marlow, hung himself. Conrad tries to establish that imperialism and colonialism are a a destructive force to an individual’s mental