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The objective of colonialism and imperialism was for colonies to gain political power and wealth. “For Leopold, colonies existed for one purpose: to make him and his country rich.” Adam Hochschild’s original book, King Leopold’s Ghost explains land grabbing in Africa during the nineteenth century. Leopold wanted Congo as his own territory to benefit from the resources such as minerals. The king ruled the Africans using terror and tortured them when they disobeyed his orders. Heroic efforts by Mark Twain and Archbishop of Canterbury to expose the inhumane crimes committed by Leopold resulted to the first human activists of the twentieth century. The book narrates the story of King Leopold II of Belgium and his tyrannical rule in Congo. It was …show more content…
The vivid description of themes, characters, and plot help the audience understand the Belgium rule in the territory. Hochschild addresses the deceitful commanding character of Belgium ruler and violent character of Stanley. The writing style of the author is equivalent to the production of a film or play. He says, “It is just the opening Leopold has been waiting for. Stage and star have appeared, and the play can begin.” He connects well with the audience from chapter to chapter introducing the preceding topic in conjunction with the previous. This format of writing increases the fluency and readability of the …show more content…
The story of the Congolese is not equivalent to those of European irrespective of whether they are villains or heroes. The author remembered the death of African voices in the archives of African history during the nineteenth century. He strives to include a few African voices from the period of Belgium rule. For instance, the African King Affonso I and his emotional letter to the Portuguese monarchy on behalf of his community. In addition, the individuals such as missionaries and diplomats who resisted the Force Publique. Moreover, he included individuals such as William Sheppard and George Washington Williams, who spent most of their time stopping and disrespecting the way of life of native people. It appears that this weakness in Hochschild’s work is unavoidable given the historical situation of the period he studied. In this scenario, it is a weakness shared by all persons who read from places of Western privilege and power and a tragic loss that should be
The book mainly chronicles the efforts of King Leopold II of Belgium which is to make the Congo into a colonial empire. During the period that the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River.
It may seem like Ghost on the Throne by James Romm is just another one of the thousands of books written about the life about Alexander the Great. The fact is it was nearly the exact opposite. Of course, Alexander the Great plays an enormous role in the book, but Ghost on the Throne told the story of the legacy Alexander the Great left behind after his death. In fact, the word “Ghost” in the title of the book refers to Alexander the Great. Throughout the book, Romm told many stories about those who ruled after Alexander the Great and the influence Alexander had on the way those people ruled. This is why the book was given the title “Ghost on the Throne.” James Romm proves the impact Alexander’s legacy had on those once under his command even after he was no longer alive. Ghost on the Throne was a very interesting read and did an excellent job explaining Alexander the Great’s legacy.
Alas, in 1961 Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by a US- sponsored plot 7 months after independence, and replaced him with a “puppet dictator named Mobutu” (Kingsolver). In her book, Barbara Kingsolver surfaces a forgotten part of our nation’s history in the exploitation of the Congo through her main characters, the Price family, who are missionaries sent to the Kilanga village. Through characters’ narratives that “double as allegories for the uneasy colonial marriage between the West and Africa” (Hamilton, Jones), Kingsolver creates a relatable way for her readers to understand the theme she is trying to convey, which is “‘what did we do to Africa, and how do we feel about it?’” (Snyder). Kingsolver began with this theme and developed the rest of the novel around it, just as she does with her other works, and sticking with her trademark technique, she utilizes her book as a vessel for “political activism, an extension of the anti-Vietnam protests” she participated in college (Snyder).
Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is a lost historical account starting in the late 19th century continuing into the 20th century of the enslavement of an entire country. The book tells the story of King Leopold and his selfish attempt to essentially make Belgium bigger starting with the Congo. This was all done under an elaborate "philanthropic" public relations curtain deceiving many countries along with the United States (the first to sign on in Leopold's claim of the Congo). There were many characters in the book ones that aided in the enslavement of the Congo and others that help bring light to the situation but the most important ones I thought were: King Leopold, a cold calculating, selfish leader, as a child he was crazy about geography and as an adult wasn't satisfied with his small kingdom of Belgium setting his sites on the Congo to expand. Hochschild compares Leopold to a director in a play he even says how brilliant he is in orchestrating the capture of the Congo. Another important character is King Leopold's, as Hochschild puts it, "Stagehand" Henry Morton Stanley. He was a surprisingly cruel person killing many natives of the Congo in his sophomore voyage through the interior of Africa (The first was to find Livingston). Leopold used Stanley to discuss treaties with African leaders granting Leopold control over the Congo. Some of the natives he talked to weren't even in the position to sign the treaties or they didn't know what they were signing.
The book King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa is written by Adam Hochschild. Adam Hochschild is the author of many books. He teaches writing at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.
The experience a person has while reading a novel, directly relates to the word choice and organization, the author creates emotion, simple understanding to help further develop characters. The Cellist of Sarajevo follows three different characters through their experiences and difficulty of living during the Bosnian war. The war had a great impact on all three of the characters, Arrow, Dragan, and Keenan, as they were forced to live and make decisions that could affect their own well-being. Steven Galloway’s novel uses an effective writing style as his word choices show beneficial repetition of phrases, simple word choice that gives all readers a greater understanding and organization to further develop characters.
King Leopold’s Ghost is a popular history telling the story how Europeans systematically exploited Africa. Special fork of King Leopold upholds colony of Congo which ran from the late 19th century to early 20th century. The Book actually starts story back during the age of exploration were European explore where would land on west coast Africa and try to engage trade and when they figure out when they could trade guns and other things white slaves undermine the stability of a lot of the states that were set up along the Congo river and also on the west coast of the Africa. What you see is a study political
Hochschild concludes that the world must never forget the events of Leopold’s Congo. This event is evidence that it is the result of human greed that led to so much suffering, injustice, and corruption.
George Washington Williams was a black American. He had come to the Congo over a route that seemed almost as if it took him through several different lives. He was in the U.S. Army, fought battles, attended University`s, and graduated from Newton in 1874. Williams married and became a pastor. He also created a milestone in the literature of human rights and of investigative journalism. This work is titled An Open Letter to His Serne Majesty Leopold 2nd , King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo, by Colonel the Honorable Geo.W. Williams, of the Untied States of America(102). As well as submitting a statement to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations urging recognition of the International Association of the Congo. Williams had a plan to go to the Congo to collect material for his book. As Williams traveled up the the great river he had time to take in Africa. When he reached Stanley Falls he could no longer contain what he had felt and saw. He then writes h...
During the 17th century, slavery was a widely used commodity with the Europeans, little do people know however that African kings also had and accepted slavery in their own nations. King Nzinga Mbemba of Congo and the King of Ouidah had similarities on the issue of slavery; they tolerated the use of slaves. Congo’s king had no contingency with slavery; in fact, he had slaves in his country. When the Portuguese were purchasing goods in Congo, the king had men “investigate if the mentioned goods are captives or free men” (NZ, 622). The fact that the king differentiates the men between ‘free’ and ‘captives’ illustrates that not all people in Congo are free. Whether these captives are from the country of Congo or not, they are still caught and held all across the nation against their will. King Mbemba kept slaves because the population of Congo was vastly declining due to the slave trade. In his letter, he pleads with the king of Portug...
...ermore established imperial rule in the Congo. The Force Publique was Leopold’s governing army. They were to oversee the work of the now colonized people of the Congo. Another of Leopold’s objectives was to gain wealth from his acquired colony. With the Force Publique, he would force the Congolese to gather ivory from the land. Those who refused had their elders, women and children held hostage until they complied. Leopold’s International African Association was to be a humanitarian project that would help to end slavery, however, by forcing the people to work for him, he was enslaving those he supposedly sought to help. When the popularity of the bicycle rose in the late 19th, manufactures were in need of rubber for their tires. Leopold saw this as an opportunity to gain more wealth and quickly had the Force Publique force the people into harvesting rubber.
As a political figure, King Leopold of Belgium had minimal power, yet he acknowledged the political and financial advantages of colonization, and acquired the Congo as a private colony whereas Britain snatched up colonies globally, including the “crown jewel” of all colonies, India. Belgium and Britain demonstrated a stark contradiction of two opposing methods of colonization. These two countries methods’ of domination ultimately decide the fates of each party, conqueror and conquered, in the precarious gamble that is imperialism.... ... middle of paper ...
Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International attention on the colony except for short times, the widespread economic exploitation of the rubber resources of the region, and the brutal mistreatment and near-genocide of the Congolese by those in charge of rubber collecting.
Stylistically, the book is arranged in rotating chapters. Every fourth chapter is devoted to each individual character and their continuation alo...
As Marlow passes through the waters of the Congo, it is easily visible the trouble of the natives. “Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth half coming out, half effaced with the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.” (20) Show that the holding of these colonies has started. The soldiers have come in and taken the inhabitants and are destroying them and taking from them the one thing they deserve over everything, life. The imperialists seem to not care about the Africans and are just there for their land.