Heart Of Darkness Essay Samples

The Heart of Darkness is a book written by Joseph Conrad. Conrad explores the theme of imperialism in his novel through the main character Charles Marlow. The story is about a one man's journey ca and his enlightenment. As the story begins, the protagonist is fascinated with the idea of imperialism and traveling all over Africa. While on the boat with his comrades, Marlow reveals his thoughts and emotions about Africa and how he is ready to civilize Africans. He acted as a symbol of positive imperialism. However, after reaching Africa, he realized the evils of imperialism and decided that it is no longer needed. Marlow experienced the realistic imperialistic environment in Congo, and this completely changed his fascination on imperialism.
In the novel, Marlow originally had faith in Imperialism, but then came to regret his participation in it. The colonizers were usurping and accumulating wealth from Africans without caring about their welfare. Marlow came to learn about this after he embarked on a journey to Africa where he met many Africans suffering because of Imperialism. Initially, he was fascinated with the idea of imperialism because of his naivety. After his first encounter in Congo, his mind completely changed because he could not believe what was actually happening to Africans. In addition, he observed different forms of abuse on Africans by the whites because they had power and weapons. He even witnesses unjust treatment and abuse of a young black boy, and he disapproved of the whites’ actions and imperialism. Even though he did not stop the abuses he witnessed, Marlow regretted taking part in colonialism.
Marlow came to regret after participating in imperialism when he met Kurtz. Kurtz was so obsessed with imperialism until he became insane after falling a victim of his insatiable pursuit for possession and ownership. He could now see the horrible reality he was caught into. Initially, he thought imperialism was something good for the colonizers. Conrad notes that, as Marlow was traveling, he could notice that “scenes of torture, cruelty and near slavery" (Conrad 67}. The colonizers torture Africans as well as using them as slave for their personal benefits.
In the Heart of Darkness, Marlow completely had faith in imperialism, but after he had witnessed how the Africans were being treated and suppressed by the whites, he disapproved it. He was an incorrupt man who only thought of the best for Africans but after seeing the materialistic morals that had obsessed the men who went to Africa before him, he regretted taking part in imperialism in Africa. Africans were forced to work for the manager who never appreciated their work but rather chained them and forced to work without food and medication. Instead of the white men civilizing Africans, they were exploiting them, thus making imperialism unnecessary and misleading. Imperialism had turned greediness for the white men, and they never cared to civilize the native African savages. Marlow changed after he was exposed to all these types of misleading imperialist ideas. After his journey to Africa, Marlow’s mind on imperialism changed forever.
The manager in the story was an epitome of the adverse effects of imperialism. Marlow witnessed his arrogance, self-centeredness, corruption, and an uncaring attitude, and this made him change his mind about imperialism. The Europeans treated the Africans with a lot of arrogance because of their naivety as they ripped off their resources in the name of imperialism. The manager established an imperialist power in Africa, and he took control over everything as the Africans suffered as well as being mistreated. In fact, he contributed to Kurtz insanity as he tried to destroy him so as to take full control of the ivory trade.
Throughout the novel, Conrad uses Marlow to convey how immoral imperialism was and how it was degrading for Africans. Marlow was not opposed to imperialism until he learned the truth about the idea. He found out that instead of civilizing Africans, the white people were too materialistic, and all they thought of was to choke the African people because they were uncivilized and took away their resources. The Europeans exploited Africans by hauling ivory out of their homeland, and they used them as slaves to do the work. Marlow refused to be part of their company and their imperialist work because he found it exploitive.
In conclusion, in his book the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad explores the idea of imperialism to its extreme extent. Through the protagonist, Conrad tells the story of imperialism in Africa and how it negatively affected them. As the book starts, Marlow was fascinated with the idea of imperialism, but he becomes disillusioned after learning about the atrocities of imperialism in Africa. The imperialism in Africa enslaved most Africans as the Europeans exploited their resources. Marlow was disturbed by the conditions the Africans were living in as the whites abused them, and his fascination on imperialism was disheartened. Conrad shows the misuse of the imperial system in his book the Heart of Darkness. The Europeans used the imperialism idea to oppress and exploit Africans. European imperialism was to civilize the native Africans, but the white imperialist did the opposite by oppressing them and making them slaves. Instead of the Europeans civilizing Africa, they were in Africa to gain profit by smuggling ivory.

Works Cited

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1994. Print