Heart Of Darkness Research Paper

Joseph Conrad wrote the Heart of Darkness as a semi- autobiographical satirical social critic book because he aimed to expose the primeval atrocities committed by the civilized Europeans. The civilized people of Europe on the pilgrimage were there to civilize the primitives of the Congo became primal in return. The people of Europe brought out the true form, the true heart of darkness. The people of Europe during the time were a people based in tradition and a way of “progress”. The progress that they sought was the progress of monetary gains and what was blooded in the process. The colonials were from a stock of people who did not know the horrific events that unfolded in the Congo; they were as innocent as children. The Europeans wanted to civilize the people of the Congo, but they did so with horrific ways such as what Marlow recalls that “[s]ix black men advanced in a file…walked erect and slow balancing
The Europeans would cut the heads off of the people of the Congo and then they would put their heads on stakes, this is barbaric and morally wrong. This was not the only form of symbolism a BBC reporter adds that “… children and adults whose right hands had been hacked off by his agents… this rule was seldom observed as soldiers kept shooting monkeys and then later chopping off human hands to provide their alibis.” (Dummit). Heads on stakes was a decorative feature for Kurtz’s house a primeval in itself. The Europeans had become ruthless in their pursuit to progress in financial gains even if it came down to cutting the hands off of children and adults to symbolize that the Europeans were doing their