Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is a poignant account of the horrendous brutalizing

effects of colonialism. The darkness of the title is the darkness inside human feeling. The
short novel is based on Joseph Conrads voage to the Congo !hich revealed a darkness
that corrupts. His aim in Heart of Darkness !as to unveil the underling horror of
colonialism.
"n the beginning of the stor# imperialism is at first e$pounded as a variet of brutish
idealism redeemed onl b the idea but as the tale un!inds it merel e$poses to the
reader the lack of the e$istence of such an idea.
Colonialism !as represented as an idealistic venture and it !as e$pounded as the !hite
mans mission to aid the savage man. Ho!ever in Heart of Darkness Conrad discloses
the truth behind this mission and the fact that the !hite man used his idealism to
camouflage his greed. "n the Heart of Darkness imperialism is sho!n as a sstem that
is corrupt and corrupting. "t becomes the longing to !ring the heart of the !ilderness
and e$terminate all the brutes. Conrads aim is thus to e$pose the illusion of
imperialism b providing a glimpse of the truth.
%ne of the most significant aspects to the theme is the knitting !omen !ho take over the
Compan scene in a silent and ominous !a. The become smbolic figures !ho
reverberate in the mind& a reverberation of 'reek mtholog that controlled the destin of
mans fate. The knitting !omen provide the element of inscrutable destin and
predetermined fate# !here individual freedom is curtailed. The t!o !omen seem to be
guarding the fates of hell or the heart of darkness that often people do not come back
from and thus the serve as a prefiguring smbol of !hat the Trading Compan does to
its creatures.
The Trading Compan is of course related to the idea and thus is part of the fiction of
the !hite mans mission !hich covers the rapacious and vicious state of "mperialism. The
ominous effect of the t!o !omen is reverberated at the end of (arlo!s stor !hen he
recalls the fat !oman knitting her black !ool& the spinning of darkness that correlates
!ith the spinning of the tale of darkness. )ut "mperialism and !hat it stands for triumphs
in the end because (arlo! is unable to tell the horrendous truth of !hat *urtz has
become and thus the colonial spirit lives on in spite of its horrors.