Examples Of Imperialism In Heart Of Darkness

Heart of Darkness The life of Joseph Conrad began on December 3, 1857, in the Polish Ukraine with the name Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. At a young age, Conrad’s father was exiled to Siberia after being thought to have plotted against the Russian government. After the passing away of his mother, Conrad was sent to live with his uncle in Krakow. Conrad never saw his father again. He worked as a seaman on English ships, and in 1880 became an officer in the British merchant service. Conrad was naturalized as a British citizen in 1886. In 1888, he was put in command of a steamship and made a voyage to the Belgian Congo in 1890. The experiences he had while in the Belgian Congo are said to have inspired the novel Heart of Darkness.
The major theme of the novel is the hypocrisy of imperialism. Imperialism is the extension of a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. This is quite evident in the novel because of the power that the European trading company has over the African natives. This is first seen when Marlow witnesses locals at the first trading station being treated like slaves. They are bound in chains and are called “criminals.” He also sees dying natives who have been worked near to the point of death. The mistreatment and injustice only gets worse as Marlow travels deeper into Africa. At the next station, Marlow over hears the manager and his cousin talking about a Russian trader that was in the same area as Kurtz, and they think he should be hung for intruding on Kurtz’s territory. Marlow meets the Russian at Kurtz’s station later in the novel. While talking to the Russian, Marlow looks through his binoculars and spots severed heads on the top of the fence posts surrounding the station. The Russian tells him those were “rebels.” “Marlow 's experience in Africa inspires revulsion at the dehumanizing effects of colonialism, a disgust that culminates when he discovers that Kurtz has degenerated from an enlightened civilizer into a vicious, power-hungry subjugator of the African natives (“Heart of Darkness”).” Kurtz thinks himself so superior
The most prevalent symbol in the novel is darkness. Conrad uses the image of darkness because it is the inability to see something, simply put. The fact that there is darkness does not allow the characters to see each other as individuals. The novel is centered around European imperialism present in Africa so from the start it is superiority over the natives. The African natives at times are seen as lesser than human. They are definitely treated as such. Kurtz rules over them like a god, and even Marlow refers to his helmsman as a piece of machinery. The symbol of darkness also represents the presence of evil. The dark fog that the ship passes through leads to an ambush ordered by Kurtz. The heart of darkness is referenced several times in the novel as the center of Africa. The closer and closer Marlow got to the heart of darkness the more evil emerged. Another symbol is the river. The river seems to want to dispel the Europeans from the land. Travel up the river is slow moving and treacherous at times while the journey back down is smooth sailing. The symbols of darkness and the river show the reader a deeper concept to be