Imperialism In Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness
Racism and the Hypocrisy of Imperialism in Heart of Darkness
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the main character, Marlow travels through the Congo, witnessing scenes of torture, cruelty and near-slavery. The incidental scenery of the book offers a harsh picture of colonial enterprise. The book is regarded as an attack on imperialism and criticizes the immoral treatments of the European colonizers in Africa in the 19th century. However, the dehumanization of the Africans, and use of Africa as a backdrop setting for Marlow’s thought process, rather than an important focus has to do with hypocrisy inherent in the rhetoric used to justify imperialism. Colonialism is about the relationship between colonized people and their colonizers. …show more content…
Achebe claims that Heart of Darkness “displays that Western desire and need” (Achebe Pg. 1).
Achebe goes on to talk about the dehumanization of the Africans, and discuss the way they are portrayed in the novel: “We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there— there you could look at a thing monstrous and free […] They howled and leaped and spun and made horrid faces, but what thrilled you, was just the thought of their humanity— like yours— the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly” (Achebe Pg.3).
Achebe also brings up the concept of things—people—being in their place: “For Conrad things being in their place is of the utmost importance” (Achebe Pg.3). “Fine fellows—cannibals—in their place,” he says pointedly. For him, “tragedy begins when things leave their accustomed place, like Europe leaving its safe stronghold between the policemen and the baker to like a peep into the heart of darkness” (Achebe Pg.
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the main character, Marlow travels through the Congo, witnessing scenes of torture, cruelty and near-slavery. The incidental scenery of the book offers a harsh picture of colonial enterprise. The book is regarded as an attack on imperialism and criticizes the immoral treatments of the European colonizers in Africa in the 19th century. However, the dehumanization of the Africans, and use of Africa as a backdrop setting for Marlow’s thought process, rather than an important focus has to do with hypocrisy inherent in the rhetoric used to justify imperialism. Colonialism is about the relationship between colonized people and their colonizers. …show more content…
Achebe claims that Heart of Darkness “displays that Western desire and need” (Achebe Pg. 1).
Achebe goes on to talk about the dehumanization of the Africans, and discuss the way they are portrayed in the novel: “We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there— there you could look at a thing monstrous and free […] They howled and leaped and spun and made horrid faces, but what thrilled you, was just the thought of their humanity— like yours— the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly” (Achebe Pg.3).
Achebe also brings up the concept of things—people—being in their place: “For Conrad things being in their place is of the utmost importance” (Achebe Pg.3). “Fine fellows—cannibals—in their place,” he says pointedly. For him, “tragedy begins when things leave their accustomed place, like Europe leaving its safe stronghold between the policemen and the baker to like a peep into the heart of darkness” (Achebe Pg.