Heart Of Darkness Imperialism

In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, Marlow enters the Congo with a perception that the European there are being altruistic and bettering the lives of the natives, but as he ventures deeper into the Congolese jungle, he begins to question his views. In the sickening and morbid story, Conrad explores the nature of truth and how preconceived notions can twist the truth or alter it entirely.

To get at Conrad’s deeper meaning in Heart of Darkness, a firm understanding of the historical context is need because the book itself was based on the intricacies and beliefs of the time period. He criticizes imperialism, but specifically, Belgian occupation of the Congo. Heart of Darkness is set to the backdrop of the late nineteenth century; at

Even so, starting an overseas colony was expensive and draining on the finances of the home country, so to persuade his people and appease the conscience of other European nations and organizations, he touted his plan as a humanitarian mission - to spread the grace of God and Christianity to the savages, and educate them in language and history. When announced, Leopold found himself universally praised and lauded for his noble efforts from within Belgium and without. Soon afterwards, the missionaries write home reports of speedy progress; the natives readily accepted God, they were willing and capable of learning French, and they have quickly adopted the customs of the civilized world. Above all though, they marveled at the treasure trove of gemstones and precious metals, mostly diamonds. In short, Leopold’s venture was a resounding success. He upheld his humanitarian promises and Belgium’s coffers filled and

Joseph Conrad himself personally visited the Congo and drew many of his details from his personal diary he kept along the journey. The Congo Diary lacks analysis, for it serves more as a reference for Conrad and readers for specific details. He casually mentions “another dead body” (Conrad 104) lying in the path. He lacks a certain empathy for the bodies. It is very off-putting because when he describes the nights camping out, he finds the abundance of mosquitos “wretched” (Conrad 105) and the weather to be “miserably cold” (conrad 105). But when he mentions the bodies, he skims right on past it as if it were some minor inconvenience to his