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Essay / Imperialist Ideals in "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness was a short story written by Joseph Conrad in 1899. This short story is mainly about Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey to the Congo River to meet Kurts is known as an idealistic man with great abilities and he represents Europe as a whole who under the pretext says that they come to Africa just to civilize and educate the African people, but the reality is far more beyond the truth. This book shows the extreme essence of the savagery, cruelty and brutality of Europeans towards the indigenous people of Africa. It also depicts the overwhelming sense of evil and corruption encountered by the natives of Central Africa. One of the main ideas discussed in the novel is imperialism, which means unequal human and territorial relations, usually in the form of an empire, based on ideas of superiority and practices of domination, and involving the expansion of the authority and control of one state or people over another. Thus, this essay will analyze the imperialist ideals at the heart of darkness which are represented through economic exploitation, civilization and political repression. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First, the imperialist ideals manifested in the Heart of Darkness stem from the economic exploitation that was the primary motivation of the colonizers. Novel depicts Western imperialism through Belgian society. They came to Congo to exploit and seize its resources by brutalizing and making the natives their slaves. Joseph Conrad created the context in which ivory plays a fundamental role in the Congo, which is the very reason why Europe looks to Africa for these resources. Europeans increased the collection of ivory through slave labor and tortured them just to expand their territories. Most Europeans saw Africa as the ideal place to dominate politically and culturally. In the novel, Belgian companies represent the European nation as a whole where they extract African wealth and export it to their own country using the natives to obtain their own profits. Their real intention was clear to all readers: they did not come to Africa to educate but to extract resources. The Europeans exploit not only the resources but also the African populations. They were brutally used as slaves and treated like in the novel Kurtz is the European who comes to the Congo and becomes the rulers and he made the natives so miserable and he killed the people who revolted against him. Thus, the imperialist ideal is represented through economic exploitation in this short story. Second, imperialist ideals are represented throughout civilization. White men have always treated black men as uncivilized. Thus, according to the rhetorical ideas of civilization, black people have always been treated inferiorly and looked down upon by white men, thereby deceiving black people due to their lust for wealth and power. The inhabitants still led a primitive and uncivilized life because they had neither access to modern knowledge nor sophisticated civilization. In this context, the title itself depicts Africa as a separate and uncivilized world. Conrad's depiction of darkness signifies a lack of purity and knowledge which symbolizes backwardness, ignorance and savagery. Europeans brought countless changes to the native region in the areas of technology, science, education and..