Topic > Imperialistic 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 of great ability who represents Europe as a whole and who under the pretext claims to come to Africa only to civilize and educate the African people, but the reality is far beyond the truth. This book shows the extreme essence of ferocity, cruelty and brutality towards the native peoples of Africa by Europeans. It also describes 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, meaning unequal human and territorial relations, usually in the form of empire, based on ideas of superiority and practices of domination, and involving the extension of one's authority and control state or people over another. Therefore, this essay will analyze the imperialistic ideals in 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay First, the imperialistic ideals shown in the heart of darkness are through economic exploitation which was the main motive of the colonizers. The novel describes the Western imperialism of the Belgian company. They came to Congo to exploit and take over its resources by brutalizing and enslaving the natives. Joseph Conrad created the context for ivory to play a vital role in the Congo, which is why Europeans headed to Africa to obtain those resources. Europeans increased their ivory harvest through slave labor and tortured them to extend their territories. Most Europeans considered Africa the ideal place to dominate politically and culturally. In the novel the Belgian company represents the European nation as a whole, where they extracted wealth from Africa and exported it to their country using the native population to gain their benefits. Their true intention was clear to all readers: they had not come to Africa to educate but to extract resources. Europeans not only exploit the resources but also the people of Africa. They were brutally used as slaves and treated like in the novel Kurtz is the European who comes to Congo and becomes the leader and makes the natives so unhappy and kills the people who rebel against him. Therefore, in this story the imperialist ideal is shown through economic exploitation. Secondly, imperialistic ideals are represented through civilization. White men had always treated blacks as uncivilized. So, according to the rhetorical ideas of civilization, black men were always treated inferiorly and looked down upon by white men, so they deceived black men out of their lust for wealth and power. The inhabitants still led a primitive and uncivilized life because they had neither access to modern knowledge nor to sophisticated civilizations. In this context the title itself describes Africa as a separate and uncivilized world. Conrad's depiction of darkness means lack of purity and knowledge symbolizing backwardness, ignorance and wildness. The Europeans brought countless changes to the native region in the fields of technology, science, education and consciousness, but it was to their advantage. The natives were not given any opportunity to experiment with the ideas, rather they were severely humiliated by the Europeans through the idea of ​​civilization and education. The blacks..