The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad encapsulates imperialism in Congo, Africa. It chronicles the avarice, and absurdities of European colonialism and its physical and moral consequences. It gives a terse analysis of how “natives” on their own continent were viewed as less than human and treated brutally. Hearts of Darkness have the capability of shattering a conscious mind of its innocence, and as a cautionary measure to my audience; bracing oneself for centuries of heart-rending episodes of willful inflictions of pain onto the innocent, written in this paper, is highly recommended. In this paper, comparisons will be made between Conrad’s narrator Maslow and Kurtz, a fictional character in his novel; their shared similarities will be examined as
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But this history is glaringly absent from the work of first-rank European novelists of the day. It would be as if no major twentieth-century American writer dealt with slavery, or no major twentieth-century German wrote about the Holocaust. Joseph Conrad is a rare and brave exception (Hochschild). This passage from Hochschild’s introduction in Heart of Darkness signifies that, modern novelists have disconnected themselves from the past, and do not recount the catastrophic events on the African continent during the European empire-building era. On the same token, Conrad, who is an exception, made no reservations when it came to his experiences during that era. His novel reflected the bigotry of the Europeans over the African Denizens, and detailed the misconception of many Europeans who for several centuries viewed imperialism as goodwill. An example of this can be seen on page 13 of Heart of Darkness, which states, “She talked about ‘weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways,’ till, upon my word, she made me quite uncomfortable. I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit.”
But this history is glaringly absent from the work of first-rank European novelists of the day. It would be as if no major twentieth-century American writer dealt with slavery, or no major twentieth-century German wrote about the Holocaust. Joseph Conrad is a rare and brave exception (Hochschild). This passage from Hochschild’s introduction in Heart of Darkness signifies that, modern novelists have disconnected themselves from the past, and do not recount the catastrophic events on the African continent during the European empire-building era. On the same token, Conrad, who is an exception, made no reservations when it came to his experiences during that era. His novel reflected the bigotry of the Europeans over the African Denizens, and detailed the misconception of many Europeans who for several centuries viewed imperialism as goodwill. An example of this can be seen on page 13 of Heart of Darkness, which states, “She talked about ‘weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways,’ till, upon my word, she made me quite uncomfortable. I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit.”