Belaboring Colonialism
In the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the reader is given a look at Belgium’s colonialism, and how grimly corrupt that policy is. Colonialism is a “policy in which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies.” (The American Heritage Dictionary, ‘colonialism’) Usually a country like Britain would take over a primitive country such as Africa civilize it and make some sort of trade or stimulate mutual economic growth. However, in Heart of Darkness, colonialism detracts from the civility of Africa and adds a brutal element. Conrad uses this inhumane description of colonization to support other themes in the novel. This technique enhances the most prevalent themes in the novel. The Plot of Heart of Darkness revolves around the trade or removal of ivory from Africa. It becomes more than a trade though; the search for ivory becomes a greedy obsession to all involved. The following quote shows the tainted greed and obsession ivory has brought. “The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think they were praying to it. A taint of i
The way the British wished to rape Africa of its ivory seems to show how disgraceful their system of colonialism was in Conrad’s eyes. However, his reason for go in into such detail is to strengthen more prevalent themes. One such theme is darkness. Conrad nearly belabors the idea and tone of darkness in this novel. These constant references to the brutality of colonialism simply are the crux of his topic of darkness. Conrad gives the reader a look at European colonialism. At a point in the novel we see Conrad’s blatant negative description of colonialism. As two men debate over whether or not to hang a man guilty of nothing one says to the other, “Why not? Anything – anything can be done in this country.”(57) This quote demonstrates what Conrad is attempting to do throughout this novel: express Africa as a place of darkness and use the pitfalls of colonialism to do so. This long gruesome description shows the everyday life the British colonialism system put Africans into: slavery. One could argue that the point to of such portrayal is to awaken the world to the inhumanities of colonialism, and make an effort to
Some topics in this essay:
Heart Darkness,
Conrad Marlow,
Heritage Dictionary,
Joseph Conrad,
heart darkness,
theme darkness,
Belaboring Colonialism,
throughout novel,
colonialism novel,
themes novel,
conrad reader,
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Approximate Word count = 766
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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