Heart of Darkness

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The late 1th century represented a high water mark for European colonialism. This drive by European nations to accumulate overseas possessions and thus demonstrate their superiority (moral, social and military) over the native populations became known as the scramble or race for Africa. Heart of Darkness is set in the Congo Free State, which at the time, was owned by King Leopold of Belgium. King Leopold was portrayed by the popular media of his time as a philanthropist who selflessly devoted his efforts to rescue and "civilise" the peoples of central Africa. He proposed to end slavery in the Congo, protect the rights of the natives and guarantee free trade. During the decade after publication of Heart of Darkness, Leopold's rule of the Congo became viewed with reference to the last words of Conrad's fictional ivory company agent, the depraved Mr. Kurtz" The horror! The horror!"Marlow, Conrad's protagonist, has an ambivalent attitude towards colonialism which is expressed throughout the novel but with increasing frequency, he attacks it. He questions man's right to abuse foreign countries and peoples for the sake of prosperity and wealth, sometimes using irony After all, I also was part of the great cause of these high and just proceedings (p.), sometimes ridicule … trading places with names like Gran' Bassam, Little Popo names that seemed to belong to some sordid farce acted in front of a sinister black-cloth (p.18 ), merry dance of death and trade (p.1), weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares (p.0). Colonialism was underwritten by a series of powerful ideas, which can also be labeled ideologies. These ideas were; the childishness or inhumanity of native populations; the exportability and broad relevance of Christianity; the superiority of European civilization (laws, customs, etc.) and the hierarchy of the races. Marlow attacks the excesses of colonialism but defends the idea, " What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea--something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to. . . . (p.8). These ideas were used as a defense for colonialism. The prevailing attitude of the day is personified in Marlow's idealistic aunt. She feels that colonizing the world is imperative for everybody and uses the self-deceiving arguments that Kurtz utilizes believing that the prime reason for colonization is to enlighten the primitives "…weaning those ignorant millions of their horrid ways" (p.17). Kurtz states that "Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing" (p.47).

The "darkness" that Marlow refers to as needing to be tackled is the unknown which in Marlow's case is the Congo and the Congolese. The "otherness" of the natives was seen as less than human A primitive pre-European state A state that has to be overcome. It was considered the moral and ethical duty of civilized people to tackle the "darkness" but the the irony is that colonialism itself is morally "dark" and corrupt. The only way Marlow can speak of the "darkness" is to point to it by saying that it is "indescribable/ inscrutable". He has no language for it. When Marlow refers to the "work", he really means the irrational and meaningless violation of the foreign lands and their peoples. In fact, Marlow often mentions things to the effect that no effort is made by the colonialists to understand the local population they exploit as raw matter. The process of colonisation was not a "pretty thing". The native population was "enslaved" to assist with the developed of colony. While the building of a railway line gets underway, Marlow watches as six black men make their way up a pathThey walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking (p.1). When the local people have outlasted their usefulness, they are 'allowed' to crawl away and dieBlack shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair. Another mine on the cliff went off, followed by a slight shudder of the soil under my feet. The work was going on. The work! And this was the place where some of the helpers had withdrawn to die. They were dying slowly--it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now-- nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom. Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest. These moribund shapes were free as air--and nearly as thin. I began to distinguish the gleam of the eyes under the trees. Then, glancing down, I saw a face near my hand. The black bones reclined at full length with one shoulder against the tree, and slowly the eyelids rose and the sunken eyes looked up at me, enormous and vacant, a kind of blind, white flicker in the depths of the orbs, which died out slowly (pp.-4).Marlow realises that the Company is obsessed with the acquisition of ivory. The greed and avarice is highlighted by Marlow's thoughts, "The word 'ivory' rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed" (p.). Ivory is God to the pilgrims as apposed to the Christian God they are supposed to worship. The Company supplies, "rubbishy cottons, beads and brass-wire" (p.6) which it trades for immensely valuable ivory. The local people are exploited and compelled to carry goods and ivory on behalf of the Company. The comment of the sickly man explaining his reasons for being in the Congo as "To make money, of course. What do you think?" (pp.8-), epitomises the general attitude of the company and all those employed by it. But trade was not the only way to procure ivory. Kurtz uses "unsound" methods to obtain the precious white gold. The implication is that he takes it by force. The manager when discussing the issue with Marlow says "Mr Kurtz has done more harm then good for the company" (p.1). The most brutal person Marlow encounters is Kurtz. The Company's chief accountant, describes Kurtz as "a very remarkable person" who "sends in as much ivory as all the others put together" (p.6). The chief accountant has no idea of Kurtz's downfall both morally and spiritually. Kurtz ends up as the least civilised of the lot. A person who "decorates" his station with the severed heads of the Congolese people he has murdered. The attitude of the pilgrims on the steamer who fire into the crowd after collected Kurtz is summed up by Marlow as follows And then that imbecile crowd down on the deck started their little fun, and I could see nothing more for smoke (p.100). These pilgrims are not in the Congo for spiritual purposes. They are purely adventurers looking for their fortune. They see the local people as nothing more than animals that stand in the way of their goal of self enrichment. Conrad, through Marlow, questions the white man's exploitation of the unexplored "dark" parts of the world. The belief of the "civilized" man that colonialism is philanthropic is in essence negated by the lessons taught in Heart of Darkness. What is shown about man's many dark sides in particular is his ability to deceive himself acting out with a misconceived justification. Kurtz is clearly the personification of the self-deceived European spirit which reigned at the time. The contrast between Kurtz's "burning noble words" (p.74), where he explains his rationale for working in the wilderness and the way he wants to "exterminate all the brutes" (p.74) captures the psychology of colonialism very well. These words reveal Kurtz's self deception and failure to put the high ideals into practice.In addition to the slave labour practices and brutality as portrayed in Heart of Darkness, mutilation and other forms of torture were also used to increase the collection of ivory and rubber in the Congo at that time. The basic ideals of humanity, decency and justice were set aside for commercial interests and pure unadulterated greed. The colonies cost more to maintain then they were worth; huge abuses of human rights occurred. Christian education exacerbated local ethnic and cultural tensions and Africa was not allowed to develop economically. Many countries in Africa, including the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) as the Congo Free State is now known, suffer under the legacy of colonialism to this day. Please note that this sample paper on Heart of Darkness is for your review only. 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