Comment on the representation of colonialism in this section of the heart of darkness that you have read so far.

Amy Belham

English Literature

In this essay I will be commenting on the representation of colonialism from Joseph Conrad’s ‘The Heart of Darkness’. It is about colonialism in Africa by the Europeans and is set in the 1890’s. The history of Europe and of the other countries conquered by Europeans between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries were strongly influenced by the expansionism of England as well as by their determination to build empires overseas. There was a colonisation of the Congo, which was part of ‘the scramble for Africa’. In 1875 less than one-tenth of Africa had been turned into European colonies. By 1895 only one-tenth of Africa was not under European control. This shows how over only a period of 20 years Europe controlled most of Africa and that Europe owned strong colonialism power.

When writing about the concepts and motives of colonialism’s Joseph Conrad shows that a reason for them to take that action is to gain wealth. The narrator says ‘Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame’ so this shows that those men are going to sea to find money and fortune. Also its saying that some men are going out to gain some sort of fame. When saying ‘Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame’ also the narrator is associating them with the Roman invaders who ‘grabbed what they could for the sake of what was to be got’ and with all the characters in Marlow’s tale who take part in the colonialist enterprise for selfish purposes. The narrator says ‘bearing the sword, and often the torch.’ These are two symbols of the enterprise, symbols of the army and Christian religion. He is actually referring to brutal force and to the negation of native culture by the so-called light of civilisation.

Marlow’s aunt had an idealistic view of colonialism and is pleased with herself for helping to send Marlow to Africa as one of the ‘workers’ and as an ‘emissary of light’. She subscribes entirely to the view that the motive behind colonialism is to civilise the conquered peoples, ‘weaning those ignorant people for their horrid ways’.

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When Marlow talks about colonialism he does not speak of it as positively as the others, Marlow says ‘They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force – nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.’ So Marlow is saying they wanted to gain control and he's saying that they weren’t strong, just the others were weak.

‘It was just robbery with violence.’ This quote shows much difference in how the others spoke of it. Marlow is making it not sound like an enormous thing and just stealing things with fighting added to it instead of just stealing.

‘The conquest of the earth, which mostly means taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.’ Marlow is talking about how Europeans are taking land away from people black people just because they look different. And then he says about how if you think about it deeply it is not a pleasant thing. So in that quote Marlow is actually saying that racism is not a nice thing, and that its pathetic that just because people look different people have to act in certain ways.

When Marlow goes to the grove he uses lots of racial language and language which de-humanises the black people and makes them sound like objects.

‘A horn tooted to the right, and I saw the black people run.’ This quote shows that they are being used as slaves as the horn is calling them and they respond to it. Also they don’t just walk to the call but they run, which shows that they need to be quick maybe something bad could happen if they were not. It shows the white people have a lot of power over them in the way that they react to the horn.

‘each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain.’ This quote also shows that they were used as slaves as those men were chained up. Their freedom has been taken away from them and now they are just objects which perform tasks and hard work.

‘Black shapes crouched’ Marlow is not commenting on them as people but as objects, just calling them shapes takes every human aspect out of them and leaves them as an item, not even that.

‘The moribund shapes’ This is another quote which de-humanises them just leaving them as objects. Also moribund means near death, so its also saying about how ill, underfed and tortured they are.

‘Nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation’ yet again another quote from Marlow criticising the black people making them sound like objects and showing how much pain and suffering they have. Also the word ‘shadows’ could link to how they are nearly deceased because shadows could be linked to forms of ghosts. Or calling them shadows could mean that they are barely noticeable and drift around in the background.

‘It looked startling around his black neck, this bit of white thread from beyond the seas.’ In this quote Marlow is talking about when he saw a black man who had a white piece of string tied round his throat. This image symbolises how the white people are taking over the black people. This is because the string is tied round his neck, a place where it could choke him. And the white piece of string could symbolise white people so it could be showing how the white people are choking and killing the black.

Throughout the section of the story that I read colonialism is mostly shown to be a good thing because it is extending the size of Europe which, from the characters in the stories point of view, is a great thing. Also throughout the section I read racism is seen as a normal thing and white people treat black people like they are not even human. They enslave them making them do hard work and do not care if they become diseased or even die. It shows that the white people only have respect for themselves and do not believe that everybody is equal.