The Darkness of Colonialism and Imperialism in Heart of Darkness

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The Light and Dark of Colonialism in Heart of Darkness

In the opening of his novel, Heart of Darkness, Conrad, through Marlow, establishes his thoughts on colonialism. He says that conquerors only use brute force, "nothing to boast of" because it arises, by accident, from another's weakness. Marlow compares his subsequent tale of colonialism with that of the Roman colonization of Northern Europe and the fascination associated with such an endeavor. However, Marlow challenges this viewpoint by painting a heinous picture of the horrors of colonialist ventures as we delve deeper into the recesses of the novel. Here we find that Marlow sees colonization as "robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind - as it is very proper for those who tackle darkness." Further, he sees such conquests as taking land and materials away from those people who "have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses." As he understands it, colonization is only successful if there lays within it a "devotion to efficiency" and a creation of civilization, not exploitation (Conrad, 4). In the novel, as seen through the eyes of his narrator Marlow, Conrad offers a frank critique of European imperial colonialism be alluding to the poignant differences between black and white and dark and light.

Through the usage of individual characters, Conrad illustrates the differences between dark and light and black and white created by colonialism. Marlow and Kurtz can be as two halves of one soul. Throughout the tale, Marlow is disgusted with what he sees during his employment with the ivory company. He is shocked and angered at the horrible treatment of the black workers. By the end of his tale, Marlow has turned f...

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...t be realized that even worse atrocities occurred during the era of colonialism. In his chapter on post-colonialism, Nealon says that such reprehensible colonialism that occurred in Conrad's Heart of Darkness "ended only relatively recently (and only, one might argue, when there was no 'new' territory to be colonized (56)."

Works Cited and Consulted

Bradley, Candice (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Lawrence Univ.). "Africa and Africans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." A Lawrence University Freshman Studies Lecture, 24 Jan. 1996. Available: http://www.freespeech.org/james/conrad/heart.htm (Accessed: Apr. 2001)

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness, New York: Dover, 1990.

Dintenfass, Mark. "Heart of Darkness: A Lawrence University Freshman Studies Lecture." 14 Mar. 1996. *http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~csicseri/dintenfass.htm* (2 Feb. 2000).

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