Joseph Conrad reviews colonialism in Africa in the fictional novel Heart of Darkness, as the Europeans anticipate colonizing Africa. Africa, which is seen as a dark place throughout the novel, was poorly understood and nearly unknown during that time, and colonialism was seen as the brighter future for this continent. Through Marlow’s adventures in this novel, the exploitation of colonialism being inflicted upon African natives by the Europeans is explored more intensely. The use of figurative and literal darkness supports the hypocrisy of imperialism. While the Europeans feel that they are brightening the future for Africa through their conquering, the reality of the purpose is far more related to the lack of moral limitations for this continent,
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The hypocrisy is shown through actions of the “civilized” Europeans, who treat the native Africans with cruelty and disrespect. Their entire reasoning behind colonizing the countries in Africa was to create more civilized community compared to the one they claim isn’t socially appropriate, but when they reach this destination, they are evil towards the Africans. Most of these observations were made through Marlow’s personal experiences, which weren’t physically seen, rather shown through insights of his adventures and through things that go beyond visibility. “Marlow’s narration insistently identifies a novel consciousness that glimpses the truth beyond the ‘surface of ordinary things’ at the same time this modern consciousness resists the desire to represent an experience that goes beyond visible objects.” (Nayak, 34) This statement indirectly refers to the use of hypocrisy in the Heart of Darkness because it directly refers to Marlow’s way of looking beyond the ordinary things and into something deeper. The way he views the world and observes truth relates to the way people might have seen or viewed the ideas of colonialism. It looks good on the outside and seems fair for everyone considering Africa, at that time, was nearly unknown and morally lost, but looking further into the situation, people are able to see the truth behind the …show more content…
Kurtz’s character plays an important role as well because he offers an opposition to Marlow’s character. He uses a more violent and evil approach in order to receive power and become successful. He chooses to ignore the hypocrisy presented by the European conduct. Kurtz uses his words and ability to lead in order to rise to the top and hold his title. His character is relative to the idea of hypocrisy because it defines a leader who seems caring and concerned, but in reality, he’s a misleading man of wise words. There was much use of symbolic references in order for Conrad to present a stable argument against the Europeans and their actions dealing with colonialism. Some may disagree with this approach he took, while others might feel it was actually useful in this particular story. “While Achebe and Jameson object to the practice of attaching symbolic meanings to realistic accounts of historical situations, this strategy served a secular age by representing violence without presuming to explain it.” (Wexler, 108) The violence was assumed, but it didn’t necessary say it out loud. Darkness spilling out of the hearts of imperialists wasn’t directly said throughout Heart of Darkness, but it was rather experienced through the characters. The continent of Africa was described as dark and unknown, but after the colonization of the many countries,
The hypocrisy is shown through actions of the “civilized” Europeans, who treat the native Africans with cruelty and disrespect. Their entire reasoning behind colonizing the countries in Africa was to create more civilized community compared to the one they claim isn’t socially appropriate, but when they reach this destination, they are evil towards the Africans. Most of these observations were made through Marlow’s personal experiences, which weren’t physically seen, rather shown through insights of his adventures and through things that go beyond visibility. “Marlow’s narration insistently identifies a novel consciousness that glimpses the truth beyond the ‘surface of ordinary things’ at the same time this modern consciousness resists the desire to represent an experience that goes beyond visible objects.” (Nayak, 34) This statement indirectly refers to the use of hypocrisy in the Heart of Darkness because it directly refers to Marlow’s way of looking beyond the ordinary things and into something deeper. The way he views the world and observes truth relates to the way people might have seen or viewed the ideas of colonialism. It looks good on the outside and seems fair for everyone considering Africa, at that time, was nearly unknown and morally lost, but looking further into the situation, people are able to see the truth behind the …show more content…
Kurtz’s character plays an important role as well because he offers an opposition to Marlow’s character. He uses a more violent and evil approach in order to receive power and become successful. He chooses to ignore the hypocrisy presented by the European conduct. Kurtz uses his words and ability to lead in order to rise to the top and hold his title. His character is relative to the idea of hypocrisy because it defines a leader who seems caring and concerned, but in reality, he’s a misleading man of wise words. There was much use of symbolic references in order for Conrad to present a stable argument against the Europeans and their actions dealing with colonialism. Some may disagree with this approach he took, while others might feel it was actually useful in this particular story. “While Achebe and Jameson object to the practice of attaching symbolic meanings to realistic accounts of historical situations, this strategy served a secular age by representing violence without presuming to explain it.” (Wexler, 108) The violence was assumed, but it didn’t necessary say it out loud. Darkness spilling out of the hearts of imperialists wasn’t directly said throughout Heart of Darkness, but it was rather experienced through the characters. The continent of Africa was described as dark and unknown, but after the colonization of the many countries,