Heart Of Darkness Imperialism

Boasting a length of 2,920 miles, the Congo River stretches through the vast continent of Africa. This massive, twisting body of water offers the setting for Joseph Conrad’s complex novella, Heart of Darkness. Charlie Marlow, a British seaman who is curious about the undeveloped Congo region, travels to Africa to work for the Company. In Europe, he hears about the mutualistic relationship between the Company and native Africans, but the reality of their relationship is much darker than Marlow envisioned. He discovers that the white ivory traders are brutal and malicious, enslaving the natives for labor without proper living standards. The unforeseen cruelty of the ivory expedition mirrors the harsh environment of the Congo River. In addition

Darkness is a key feature throughout all of Heart of Darkness. Even at the beginning of Conrad’s story as the five men were sitting aboard the Nellie, Marlow only began to tell his dark story as “dusk fell upon the stream.” (Conrad 3). Immediately, the night setting forewarns the reader that the story Marlow is about to tell will have a serious and ominous tone. As Marlow begins to tell his story, he speaks of the Company’s offices. These offices are “in deep shadow” and have many windows, all covered by blinds. Although the reader does not yet know anything about the Company, this dark atmosphere surrounding it creates an immediate impression of evil. As Marlow arrives into the jungle, he sees the dark skinned natives in dim light, describing them as “black shadows of disease and starvation.” (19). This initial setting of the jungle sets the tone for the rest of Marlow’s intense story and also begins to relate the dark atmosphere with the inhumane practices of the Company. The darkness of the setting is not limited to the actual coloration of the environment though. Often times, the darkness of the Congo is

Conrad could have easily structured his novella without using a frame story. By using a frame story, Conrad primarily achieves an underlying juxtaposition between Europe and Africa. As Marlow travels up the river towards Kurtz base, he compares it to “traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world” (42). At first, it does not really make sense that Marlow would relate his journey with time travel; however, if you consider Marlow telling this story surrounded by the comfort of the developed world of England, it begins to present the expressed disparity between Europe and Africa. The setting of the Thames River is pristine, but Marlow quickly points out that “this also [England] has been one of the dark places on earth.” Conrad is essentially comparing the distant and primitive past of Europe to the present time of Africa. This contrast of the civilized Europeans and the savage Africans is common throughout the entire book. For example, Marlow, after being in the jungle for some time, had a moral change when he transitioned from hating lies with a burning passion into telling his own lie at the end of the story. The corruption that Africa has upon the sophisticated Europeans arises throughout the entire novella. Some might say that this is racist in some way, but others might argue that it is a matter of fact instead of being racially charged. Regardless of the interpretation, structuring