Cruelty in literary works always has a certain element that forms the work to turn into something much more complex than it seems. The novella, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, Marlow, who is at first an innocent traveller, learns the dark truth about the corruption in a man’s heart through his journey to the center of Africa, while watching the cruelty of Europeans towards the African natives. The theme of cruelty in the novella, Heart of Darkness, serves to demonstrate society’s greed for power, ultimately revealing the true level of madness and civilization in both the perpetrator and the victim.
Marlow at first did not realize the actions towards the working African natives was cruelty.
For instance, while at the Outer Station, he witnessed an African native being severely punished since a man suspected that the African was the one who set the storage shed on fire, burning all of the precious material inside of it. The African native was “screeching most horribly…later, for several days, sitting in a bit of shade looking very sick and trying to recover himself(20).” Marlow describes the African as if he is not human, showing the racism and making it seem that …show more content…
With Marlow’s narration, readers are able to get a better a better understanding of the racism and cruelty towards the African natives, who colonists claim to be uncivilized. The colonists arrived to Africa and aimed to educate these Africans, however, through labor and punishment, which Europeans may see as the best way to civilize the “savages”. Although the colonists do not realize it, readers are able to see the cruelty towards the African natives through Marlow’s descriptions. Cruelty in literature is one of the most interesting ways to demonstrate a deeper truth the author wants to reveal to his readers, as what Conrad
Marlow at first did not realize the actions towards the working African natives was cruelty.
For instance, while at the Outer Station, he witnessed an African native being severely punished since a man suspected that the African was the one who set the storage shed on fire, burning all of the precious material inside of it. The African native was “screeching most horribly…later, for several days, sitting in a bit of shade looking very sick and trying to recover himself(20).” Marlow describes the African as if he is not human, showing the racism and making it seem that …show more content…
With Marlow’s narration, readers are able to get a better a better understanding of the racism and cruelty towards the African natives, who colonists claim to be uncivilized. The colonists arrived to Africa and aimed to educate these Africans, however, through labor and punishment, which Europeans may see as the best way to civilize the “savages”. Although the colonists do not realize it, readers are able to see the cruelty towards the African natives through Marlow’s descriptions. Cruelty in literature is one of the most interesting ways to demonstrate a deeper truth the author wants to reveal to his readers, as what Conrad