Hypocrisy in the Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad is a novella that exposes the hypocrisy of imperialism. This novella’s main character, Charlie Marlow, describes the atrocities committed by the Europeans in the Congo at the end of the 19th century, considered one of greatest examples of genocide at the time. (Paul Brians, et al.) Marlow sets out on the river towards the station of a Belgian company’s employee named Kurtz deep in the heart of Congo. Upon arriving in the colonized country and during his travels up the river he begins to see the truth about the company’s “trade” as well as the “cultivation” of the “uncivilized” inhabitants and culminates his enlightenment during his encounter with Kurtz.
The question here which will carry on this research paper is, is Conrad really racist, or he is just trying to be a realist? After reading a few lines of Conrad's racist description to the denizens of the Congo, I really could not fathom why such an open-declared racism against people whose only fault is that they were born with a skin that is different in colour. Conrad did not hesitate from making bitter statements in his description to the black
He then establishes a system of forced labor that keeps the people of the Congo in a condition of slavery for ivory and rubber. So, we can deduce that the novel itself, its excerpt to Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, and journalism within the Free Congo State portrayed the situation with the darkness it deserved. In the novel, Hochschild shines light on the darkness of the situation in Belgium Congo. Hochschild captures the essence of Leopold’s true intentions and the darkness of his nature when he says, “What mattered was the size of the profit. His drive for colonies, however, was shaped by a desire not only for money but for power”.
Orwell discloses the true motives of colonialism through the figure of Flory; an important character in Burmese Days as Orwell uses him to criticize the social behavior of the colonial society present in Burma at that time. During Flory’s debate with his friend Dr. Veraswami, he clearly reveals the true intentions of the British by saying that the “British Empire is simply a device for giving trade monopolies to the English” (p40). Flory believes that the British are not there in Burma to improve the country but for monetary gain. Therefore, the British use racism during colonialism to hide their true intentions. Through this conversation, we can realize the incredible influence that social code has had over people.
Intro to Literature Dr. Jason Todd 7 November 2013 Darkness of Colonization Jason Conrad’s Heart of Darkness truly revealed the ugly truth of colonization. What allows us to get an even better perspective of what is going on is the fact that instead of telling the story through the eyes of the natives being oppressed and colonized, we see it through the eyes of Marlowe, a man who is working with the colonizers, allowing us to basically see things from the viewpoint of the oppressors themselves. The story being told this way also introduces the idea of “otherness” due to the fact that the colonizers see themselves so much better than the natives they are colonizing. (Achebe) This can easily be seen in the way that they treat them, in the stereotypical assumptions they make about them, and even in the way that they describe them. It may be this delusion of great superiority that causes the colonizers to believe that it is nothing wrong with them forcing their ways upon the natives.
Hunt Hawkins believes that Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was an anti-imperialism novel, as opposed to what some may believe while reading the novel; an example would be Chinua Achebe, who believes the novel to be racist and de-humanizing. Imperialism in Africa was evident in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and the affects of it was not only political, but also social, psychological, and spiritual. This essay will show a critical deconstruction on imperialism and Conrad’s work. Background In order to understand the point of this essay, one would need to understand what deconstruction is as well as imperialism. Deconstruction, according to Jacques Derrida, started in late 1960s France and “upends the Western metaphysical tradition.
Europe, Africa, the river, and Kurtz are all plausible candidates for the heart of darkness within Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness. Marlow may refer to Europe when mentioning the heart of darkness for numerous reasons. The European governments and trade organizations have been the primary reasons for the infiltration and development of Africa. The Europeans have been the ones to enslave the African people and bring misery upon them. Marlow encounters much of this misery when first being introduced to the Chief Accountant of the Trade Company.
In this novelette Conrad bravely exposes the horror at the heart of Europe, the absurdity of Europe’s civilizing quest in Africa, and perhaps prophetically points to the rise and eventual fall of the European Superman, Neitzche’s man with the will to power, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler. The tale is told by a European, not one whom History might show as pathologically averse to genuine self-analysis when it comes to foreign atrocity, but by a character who is looking inward, morally and spiritually at Europe, an Eastern embodiment, a Buddha figure. The novelette starts at the entrance to the Thames, an almost mythic place, as Conrad notes. This estuary had “known and served all the men of whom the nation is proud, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin, knights all, titled and untitled – the great knights-errant of the sea. It had borne all the ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time, from the Golden Hind returning with the round flanks full of treasure… The dreams of men the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires.” But this eulogistic optimism is countered by a pessimistic note by
Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa By Dambisa Moyo In the book Dead Aid, author Dambisa Moyo gives an indictment of the foreign aid industry, arguing that western aid to Africa has not only perpetuated poverty but also worsens it. She insists “You get the corruption—historically, leaders have stolen the money without penalty—and you get the dependency, which kills entrepreneurship. You also disenfranchise African citizens, because the government is beholden to foreign donors and not accountable to its people.” Much of "Dead Aid" outlines an agenda for Africa's economic development, such as expanding its trade and developing its banking sector -- that is, creating a reliable system of credit that will allow individuals to earn interest on their savings and businesses to receive the loans they need to grow. While criticizing outsiders for their misguided ideas, she does not ignore Africa's self-inflicted wounds. She notes there are steep obstacles to doing business there.
Then Kloby helps us look at real examples of different times in which colonialism has hurt Africans more than helped them. All of these authors have come to one clear consensus: colonialism has ultimately destroyed Africa’s chances of becoming a great and powerful continent. In Mies’ essay, she tends to be very pessimistic about the Africa being able to “catch-up” to other already developed countries. Mies says that, “the poverty of the underdeveloped nations is not as a result of ‘natural’ lagging behind but the direct consequence of the overdevelopment of the rich industrial countries who exploit the so-called periphery in Africa” (151). She denies that possibility that Africa can catch up by following the same path of industrialization, technological progress, and capital accumulation as the more developed countries have used.