Heart of Darkness (1899), written by Joseph Conrad, follows Charles Marlow's journey up the Congo River, which initially begins as an adventure but quickly becomes exploration of a man. the harmful effects of imperialism and colonization. Marlow throughout his journey, deeper into the African jungle, will encounter the greed and brutality of the Company, with senseless destruction of the native population. This analysis will focus primarily on the imperialism and racism depicted in Conrad's work, as well as how they relate to the opinions and ideas of the era in which they are set.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get the original essay The concept of civilization by the white community is apparently at the heart of Conrad's intention, to expose the reality of what happened in Congo in Africa. . In 1878, Leopold II of Belgium took over Africa, enriching himself by stripping Africa of its natural resources. He described his motives to the rest of Europe as being to civilize them, which Marlow and his aunt at the beginning of the novel believe "the Company" is doing. In truth, the Europeans were motivated only by pure greed, and the Company's rhetoric about "enlightening" the natives was just a front for extracting ivory, minerals, and other commodities. of value. European colonizers stayed to starve, mutilate and murder the indigenous population for profit. Conrad's work has been criticized for being racist due to the fact that African natives were treated by several characters as if they were subhuman, for example calling them "savages": "They passed me at six inches close, without a glance, with that complete and deadly indifference of unfortunate savages” which is a historically accurate representation of how many indigenous populations were viewed during the colonial era. Much of the confusion among readers arises from the fact that Conrad presents the imperialist zeitgeist with unabashed honesty and does not inject his own opinions into the narrative. Additionally, Europeans in the novel have beliefs of being superior, which reflects the opinions. and the ideas of the time being a consequence of a conception of human society, inspired by natural selection, developed in the 19th century. It was called Social Darwinism and posited that those who are eliminated in the struggle for existence are the unfit, basically, that the strong survive while the weak die. Everywhere Europeans went, they managed to take control of the land and its people, which arguably means they were superior. An example of this is Marlow describing that Kurtz "began with the argument that we white people, from the point of development to which we have arrived, "must necessarily appear to them [the savages] as supernatural beings—we approach them with power.” of a divinity,” and so on, and so on. “By the simple exercise of our will, we can wield virtually unlimited power for good. » Marlow remarks, when he heard about the possibility of employment up the Congo River, that "the serpent had charmed him" and describes himself as an "idiot". little bird” being “charmed” by a snake before being killed. It could be said that this foreshadows the tragic events that Marlow will witness and endure during his journey. However, simultaneously, the serpent and the river seem to be used to symbolize temptation and evil, comparable to the serpent in the book of Genesis. The serpent leads into the heart of darkness, 95(3), 432-435.