King Leopold's Ghost Summary

Reading Response Paper: King Leopold's Ghost

Sydney Levine

Univesity of Central Florida

World History II

A. Moreshead

Choose two of the main characters in Hochschild's story (King Leopold, Henry Morton Stanley, E.D. Morel, Roger Casement, etc.) and compare/contrast their roles in the colonization of the Congo. What do you think of Hochschild's portrayal of these individuals? Does he convincingly depict their motives, impact, etc.?

The story told by Adam Hochschild in his famous, engrossing and enthralling book “King Leopold's Ghost”, tracks back to the late nineteenth century during the period of African Colonialism. It was a time when British were all set to explore and inhabit different parts of the world and after

taking strong hold of the power of that area made it a Colony to British Crown. Hochschild throws light on the greed of the King Leopold of Belgium to make Congo a British Colony.
Hochschild has depicted Edmund Dene Morel as a young, enthusiastic English shipping clerk for a company in Liverpool known as Elder Dempster Company. E. D. Morel to his great astonishment found out that King Leopold was using forced labor in the Congo for his own benefit. King Leopold himself was a key client of the shipping line, so Elder Dempster did not find Morel’s investigation of the problem benefitting for their business, though he knew full well that use of forced labor by Leopold was illegal and exploitive. Elder Dempster tried his best to bribe and pay-off Morel so that he would keep his quiet about the King, and their company would not lose a precious customer but instead, Morel was all set to leave no stone unturned to expose the truth about Leopold. He even sacrificed his job at the shipping company and stared working as a full time investigative journalist. He invested all his energies and time for investigating the truth about Leopold’s operations through his Congo Reform Association and his newspaper, the West African Mail. Morel’s efforts upholding the truth made him a renowned public figure. He exposed the King’s reality on public forums and managed to obtain alliance of thousands of supporters, including the rich and famous. In the advanced years of his life, he had to bear the imprisonment because of his services for launching a campaign against the World War II. However, after the war was over, he was elected to the House of Commons on the Labour ticket, and ended up defeating Winston Churchill.
E.

D. Morel is designated as a valiant man, who knew how to struggle and fight for pertaining the justice. Despite being an ordinary man, he very bravely managed to stand against the King and exposed his reality to the general public. Morel was a thorough gentleman and a complete humanitarian. He was not lulled into the offers made to him by Elder Dempster, and nothing could hinder his way on the road of seeking justice.

By the time he died, he was totally loved and adored by his people. His services for the betterment of people are appraisable.

King Leopold II of Belgium, a German prince, was a kin to Queen Victoria. He was an avaricious man, who would do anything for his personal benefit and comfort. He had decided to use every possible means, whether legal or illegal, to expand his empire even before he assumed his position as a King. He was still quite young when he got the opportunity to take over the crown. The easiest possible way to turn his dreams into reality was to find a state and make it a colony to his

throne.
He found the area of Congo most suitable to make his dream come true, because it was a place which was not sanctioned to any other territory. He used all the deceitful and dishonest means to assume his position as the ruler of Congo. He deceived the chiefs of Congo into thinking that he intended to start welfare projects for the people of this neglected state, and made them sign the papers that declared Congo his territory. He lulled the chiefs by telling them that he wants to improve the conditions of the region so that he could open it up to the modern Western Civilization, and that he wanted to protect the Congo state from the foreign invaders. The chiefs fell prey to the King’s deception very easily. He stole the soil, people and wealth of the Congo for his personal gains. However, after the protests and campaigns held and organized by different human right committees, he was forced to leave hold of the Congo State and declared it Belgium Congo.
Hochschild has described Leopold as a manipulative, selfish ruler who did not believe any moral values and treated his people with sham injustice and inhumanity.

He used illegal means to expand his regime and in doing so made his slaves work like animals for him. There was no limit to the atrocities he inflicted upon the slaves who worked for him. He built his kingdom on the weak foundation of the blood and sweat of the people who toiled tirelessly for him. According to (Hochschild, 2015, Chpt. 2, P. 39), “His drive for colonies, however, was shaped by a desire not only for money but for power.” By the time his death reached him, he had become so unpopular, hated and despised thoroughly by the people, so much so that people booed at his

funeral.
Both the characters that are mentioned above are totally contrasting and contradicting; King Leopold was a tyrant ruler, despised by the general public, whereas Morel was loved by the people; and because of his honesty and struggle for the uplift of the people, even his enemies praised him. King exploited his people for his personal gains whereas Morel sacrificed his own comforts for the benefit of fellow people. King was a symbol of greed and terror, while on the other hand, Morel symbolized heroism, selflessness and an epitome of sacrifice.