Colonialism and its impact in Conrars Heart of Darkness.

Marlow's story in Heart of Darkness takes place in the Belgian Congo, the most
notorious European colony in Africa for its greed and brutaliation of the nati!e people"
#n its depiction of the monstrous wastefulness and casual cruelty of the colonial agents
toward the African nati!es, Heart of Darkness re!eals the utter hypocrisy of the entire
colonial effort" #n Europe, coloniation of Africa was $ustified on the grounds that not
only would it bring wealth to Europe% it would also ci!ilie and educate the &sa!age&
African nati!es" Heart of Darkness shows that in practice the European coloniers used
the high ideals of coloniation as a co!er to allow them to !iciously rip whate!er wealth
they could from Africa" 'nlike most no!els that focus on the e!ils of colonialism, Heart
of Darkness pays more attention to the damage that coloniation does to the souls of
white coloniers than it does to the physical death and de!astation unleashed on the
black nati!es" (hough this focus on the white coloniers makes the no!ella somewhat
unbalanced, it does allow Heart of Darkness to e)tend its criticism of colonialism all the
way back to its corrupt source, the &ci!iliation& of Europe"
Heart of Darkness: Colonialism
#t can be considered that Heart of Darkness has been written in the era of an)iety" (here
are some arguments among critics whether the no!el is a moral lesson about human self*
indulgence or a sociological commentary upon the morality of colonialism and
imperialism" #t is claimed that the no!el is about both self*disco!ery and also colonialism
and imperialism" Heart of Darkness attacks colonialism, its effects on the nati!es and the
Congo" Conrad e)perienced coloniation as a young boy when +oland was under
,ussian occupation" Conrad gi!es the reader an o!er!iew of how the Africans were
mistreated during coloniation" (he horror is described in the book,
when Marlow discusses about the ,oman coloniation of ancient Britain- (hey grabbed
what they could get for the sake of what was to begot" #t was $ust robbery with !iolence,
aggra!ated murder on a great scale, and men going at it blind."(he con/uest of the
earth, which mostly means the taking away from those who ha!e a different comple)ion
or slightly flatter noses than oursel!es, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too
much"
(herefore, Marlow talks about his e)periences in Africa by referring to the life of ,oman
soldiers and their difficulties"(erry Eagleton, a Mar)ist, declared that Conrad's work was
an art of ideological contradiction resulting in stalemate- Conrad neither belie!es in the
cultural superiority of the colonialist nations nor re$ects colonialism out right" (he
Message of Heart of Darkness is that 0estern ci!iliation is at base as barbarous as
African society* a !iew point which disturbs imperialist assumptions to the precise
degree that it reinforces them"
(he title of the book is a metaphor" (he real darkness cannot be in Africa, but is
originally from Europe" (he title could refer to either the e!il of the Congo1s coloniers,
their mistreatment of the nati!es or the geographic location of the Belgian Congo and the
colour of its residents" (he heart is not for black Africans, but all the whites who get
in!ol!ed in the colonialist e)pedition" 0hen Marlow described Eldorado e)ploring
$ourney, it can be inferred as an ironic attack on colonialism- (his de!oted band called
itself the Eldorado E)ploring E)pedition and # belie!e they were sworn to secrecy" (heir
talk howe!er was the talk of sordid buccaneers" #t was reckless without hardihood,
greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage" (here was not an atom of foresight
or of serious intention in the whole batch of them, and they did not seem aware these
things are wanted for the work of the world" (o tear treasure out of the bowels of the
land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in
burglars breaking into a safe" 0ho paid the e)penses of the noble enterprise # do not
know% but the uncle of our manager was leader of that lot"
Edward 2aid wrote in Culture and #mperialism that 3colonialism is chiefly about
political and economic relationships, some of which may or may not continue after a
state gains independence" (he postcolonial era, on the other hand, is about the intrusion
and coloniation of minds with ideas" 4enyan writer 5gugi 0A (hiong'o, often speaks
of 3decoloniing the mind6 ** that the colonier and the colonied both carry colonialism
in their minds long after the state has gained independence"6As Marlow is shocked by
obser!ing the e!il nature of colonialism as he tra!els up the ri!er, his real challenge
grows with the idea of colonialism" #n this no!el, Conrad himself is recognied as critical
of colonialism"