Conrads Heart of Darkness as an Attack Upon Colonialism and Imperialism :: Heart Darkness essays

Attack Upon Colonialism in Heart of Darkness It is very easy for a reader to see Heart of Darkness as a depiction of, and an attack upon, colonialism in general, and, more than specifically, the particularly brutal form colonialism took in the Belgian Congo. Consider the book from this point of view, and you will be led to those details which depict the mistreatment of the Africans, the greed of the so-called pilgrims, the broken idealism of Kurtz, and so on. You will find it important to notice, for example, that French man-of-war lobbing shells into the jungle, or the plantation of death which Marlow stumbles upon, or the slim note that Kurtz appends to his eminent essay on The Suppression of Savage Customs, or the importance of ivory to the economics of the system. As a historian, however, you exponent also find yourself a little frustrated by the odd fact that the book is so evasive about naming places and multitude and dates. We can surmise, for example, that Brussels is the city of the whited speculchre, but we might wonder why Marlow cant come right out and name it. One reason for the lack of names, I suppose, is that Conrad was not only interested in the particulars of the taradiddle of colonialism as it was applied to the Belgian Congo he was also app bently interested in a more general sociological investigation of those who conquor and those who are conquored, and the complicated interplay between them. In this light, different--more sociological--questions can be raised and different answers found. The details that might be noticed in this context are, for example, Marlows invocation of the roman type conquest of Britain, or the cultural ambiquity of those Africans who have taken on some of the ways of their Europeans--Marlows helmsman, for example, or the Managers uncouth servant--or the ways in which the wilderness tends to strip outside(a) the civility of the Europeans and brutalize them.Conrads Heart of Darkness as an Attack Upon Col onialism and Imperialism Heart Darkness essaysAttack Upon Colonialism in Heart of Darkness It is very easy for a reader to see Heart of Darkness as a depiction of, and an attack upon, colonialism in general, and, more specifically, the particularly brutal form colonialism took in the Belgian Congo. Consider the book from this point of view, and you will be led to those details which depict the mistreatment of the Africans, the greed of the so-called pilgrims, the broken idealism of Kurtz, and so on. You will find it important to notice, for example, that French man-of-war lobbing shells into the jungle, or the grove of death which Marlow stumbles upon, or the little note that Kurtz appends to his noble-minded essay on The Suppression of Savage Customs, or the importance of ivory to the economics of the system. As a historian, however, you might also find yourself a little frustrated by the odd fact that the book is so evasive about naming places and people and dates. We can surmi se, for example, that Brussels is the city of the whited speculchre, but we might wonder why Marlow cant come right out and name it. One reason for the lack of names, I suppose, is that Conrad was not only interested in the particulars of the history of colonialism as it was applied to the Belgian Congo he was also apparently interested in a more general sociological investigation of those who conquor and those who are conquored, and the complicated interplay between them. In this light, different--more sociological--questions can be raised and different answers found. The details that might be noticed in this context are, for example, Marlows invocation of the Roman conquest of Britain, or the cultural ambiquity of those Africans who have taken on some of the ways of their Europeans--Marlows helmsman, for example, or the Managers rude servant--or the ways in which the wilderness tends to strip away the civility of the Europeans and brutalize them.