How Is Heart Of Darkness Related To Imperialism

Heart of Darkness Book Review Joseph Conrad, author of the novel Heart of Darkness, was born in Ukraine to Polish parents in the late 1850s. At the age of 16, Conrad began his mariner years. He sailed on multiple French commercial ships and traveled around the world. Later on, he joined the British merchant marines and went on to become a British citizen (“Joseph”). About nine years before writing the novel, Conrad was appointed to serve as captain of a steamer on the Congo River by a Belgian trading company. The experiences of Charles Marlow in Heart of Darkness were inspired by Conrad’s actual experiences on the Congo River. Conrad, upon arriving at his station, saw that his steamer was in need of repairs. Instead of fixing it, he traveled up river on a different steamer. When the captain became ill, Conrad took over the steamer. On the return trip Conrad became very ill and returned to Europe but soon returned to Africa to serve out the three-year term of his contract (Conrad 3). Conrad wanted to share his experiences with others and he achieved this through his …show more content…
The book basically retold an event that happened in Joseph Conrad’s life which he added a bit of embellishment to to deepen the meaning and create a theme. Conrad uses his experiences to convey a deep message about imperialism and its horrors. Conrad blended the the story seamlessly with historical events because he placed the novel in a historically accurate setting in the Congo. In relation to history, Conrad did not sugar coat the situation or the people. This kept the book accurate to how things actually were in Africa. Even though Heart of Darkness was based on a true experience, Conrad alters the characters and the events to tell a more thought provoking and revealing story. Although the story itself is not historically accurate since it never happened, the setting is precisely how it was in the time