Imperialism in the Heart of Darkness .

The essay aims to explain the concept of imperialism present in Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novel The Heart of Darkness. The essay will first provide a brief overview of the novel and then explain the concept of imperialism. In addition, the essay will explain the presence of imperialism demonstrated by the characters in the novel.

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Imperialism in the Heart Of Darkness
Introduction
The essay aims to explain the concept of imperialism present in Joseph Conrad’s
1899 novel The Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad). The story is about Charles Marlow,
the lead character and his narration about the voyage to the Congo River and the
Congo Free State, which was known as the ‘heart of Africa’. In narrating the story to his
friends while voyaging in the River Thames, Marlow makes comparisons between
London and Africa.
The essay aims to argue that Conrad’s novel has an overtone of imperialism,
which is depicted through the situations and the characters as well. In doing so, the
essay will first provide a brief overview of the novel and then explain the concept of
imperialism. In addition, the essay will explain the presence of imperialism
demonstrated by the characters in the novel. Evidences from the academic field will be
used to support the argument presented in the essay.
Discussion
The novel revolves around the story of Charles Marlow and his expeditions in the
continent of Africa along with Kurtz, a man known for his great abilities. The novel

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begins with Marlow describing the day in London and the River Thames. The
description continues and includes the boat and its captain, the weather and so on. The
readers are introduced with the other four members on the boat along with the narrator
– the Lawyer, the Accountant, Marlow and the Director. When the members on the boat
begin to chat, Marlow narrates his experience of Africa and thus, marks the beginning of
the novels actual story. A sailor by profession, Marlow grabs a job as a captain of a
riverboat with the Company based in Belgium. During his voyage to and stay at Congo,
Marlow comes across brutality and inefficiencies in the stations run by the Company.
The natives of Congo have been compelled to work under the Company in harsh
conditions and extreme situations. While the inhabitants face cruelty and nastiness, the
settlements of the white people were surrounded by expressionless and royal jungle,
which made the settlements appear as miniature islands amid a vast darkness. Marlow
encounters Kurtz for the first time when he arrives at the Central Station to repair his
boat. He finds that Kurtz is a cunning person who goes to any extent to make profit.
While on his way to his destination, Marlow receives assistance from the native agents
who he calls “pilgrims”. “They wandered here and there with their absurd long staves in
their hands, like a lot of faithless pilgrims bewitched inside a rotten fence” (Conrad). At
the end of the story, Kurtz hands over a document to Marlow before dying containing an
articulate pamphlet on humanizing the savages.
Many instances in the story indicate imperialism and that too, of the cruelest
form. Prior to examining the situations with evidences of imperialism, it is important to
understand what imperialism means. In general, imperialism refers to the policies,
practice and advocacy of expanding powers through territorial acquisition. Imperialism

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was at its peak throughout the centuries preceding the 21st century. The 19th and 20th
century in particular, had the worst effects of imperialism (Abu-Snoubar, Tamador
Khalaf). Even today, many are obsessed with the concept and consider nonwhite
nations as inferiors. Joseph Conrad belonged to the era when the whites, especially the
English had dominance over a major part of the world. Patrick Brantlinger, makes
interesting observations about imperialism and its prominence in Conrad’s novel.
According to the author, The Heart of Darkness is an embodiment of imperialism
although the author pretended to show that he despised imperialism. “The voices that
come from the heart of darkness are almost exclusively white and male, as usual in
imperialist texts”, observes the author (Brantlinger). Chinua Achebe, one of the most
accomplished African writers, has been openly critical about the portrayal of Africa and
its people in Conrad’s novel. His essay, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart
of Darkness outlines the racism that Conrad engaged in through the characters and
situations (Hamadi). Achebe found the novel to a demeaning piece of work where the
African people were not even given an intelligible language, let alone giving them due
respect. Imperialism has dominated the texts produced by the European writers during
the 19th and the 20th century. These texts were ridden with visualization of the non-
European countries as dark places with savages residing there. Paul Young states that
Conrad’s novel is not the only piece of art that engaged in slaughtering the African
culture; other writers too had enjoyed doing the similar thing. The author points to
Robinson Crusoe, the work of celebrated English writer Daniel Defoe where he delves
happily into showing the whites as superior to the African people (Young). Imperialism
in these works was evident clearly from the way the characters spoke and reacted to

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the African people. The Heart of Darkness however, has all the characteristics that not
only make it imperialistic but racist as well. In most of the scenes involving the
Europeans and the Congolese people, the former is shown instructing and ordering
while the latter quietly obliges. In the second chapter of the novel, Kurtz explains to
Marlow, the perception of the natives about the Europeans. The lines, “…we whites,
from the point of development we had arrived at, must necessarily appear to them
(savages) in the nature of supernatural beings – we approach them with the might of a
deity” justify the statement (Conrad). It is not the situations and descriptions only but
also the characters that have contributed towards making the novel highly imperialistic.
The major characters are Marlow and Kurtz with the Russian playing a relatively
significant part and not a single character of the African tribe has been given any role.
Marlow is a typical Englishmen who loves his place and its sophistication while
despising the “places of darkness”. While describing his experience in the Congo,
Marlow talks about the natives, as some savage tribes with little knowledge about the
world. in fact, he relates the natives to objects and instruments – “Perhaps you will think
it passing strange this regret for a savage who was no more account than a grain of
sand in a black Sahara”, “He had done something, he had steered; for months I had him
at my back – a help – an instrument” (Conrad). Referring to a human being as an
‘instrument’ clearly demonstrates the imperialistic and racist attitude of Marlow. Shubhra
Singh Sardar considers the figure of Marlow as “the catalyst of imperialism”. According
to the author, Conrad has tried to decry capitalism through Marlow and his views on the
brutalities in Congo, which Marlow says are the result of oppressive capitalism. The
author states, “Conrad subtly makes jest of religion by using Marlow to compare

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imperialistic occupation of the capitalists in Africa to that of the Roman occupation of
Britain in the fifth century” (Sardar). Kurtz, on the other hand, is the epitome of
imperialism. He is an Englishman who has spent years in the African continent as a
station manager with specialization in selling African ivory. With years of experience,
Kurtz became not only one of the richest men in the Congo, but also became some kind
of a God to the natives. He has established this image with the help of imperialism,
indulging in brutal raids throughout the territory to find ivory. Kurtz’s portrayal actually
shows the ideals held dearly by Conrad regarding imperialism and oppression of the
natives. As Tim Youngs states, “Heart of Darkness is portrait of the deterioration of the
ideal of Kurtz representing the degeneration of the model of colonialism as civilizing
work”. the author tried to mean that the words Conrad has put I Kurtz’s mouth were an
attempt to demonstrate that imperialism is actually good and that is was an attempt to
civilize the savage people. Kurtz had a deep influence on Marlow owing to his
imperialistic, dominant attitude. Marlow was not a wealthy man and was in search of
job, which he could not find in his own country and so decided to explore his imperial
powers. Watching Kurtz exert such influence of the natives, prompted Marlow to be like
him.
Conclusion
It has thus been found from the discussion that Joseph Conrad’s novel is filled
with imperialistic overtone. The discussion in the above sections revealed that through
the situations and characters in the Heart of Darkness, Conrad tried to establish that
imperialism was good not only for the colonials but also for the native people. The
analysis covered the situations that indicated imperialistic tone as well as the

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characters. It was revealed that the novel had phrases and sentences that were very
demeaning of the African natives. The natives were compared to instruments, animals
and what not. They were referred to as savages and the Europeans were shown as
superior, Gods. The analysis also found that other works by the European writers have
also indulged in demeaning the non-European cultures. It has thus been established
from the analysis that Conrad’s novel is imperialistic in tone.

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References:
Abu-Snoubar, Tamador Khalaf. "Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness: Debunking the
Two Basic Imperial Clichés." European Journal of English Language and Literature
Studies5.5 (2017): 1-11.
Brantlinger, Patrick. Rule of darkness: British literature and imperialism, 1830–1914.
Cornell University Press, 2013.
Hamadi, Lutfi. "Edward Said: The postcolonial theory and the literature of
decolonization." European Scientific Journal, ESJ10.10 (2014).
Joseph, Conrad. Heart of Darkness. Strelbytskyy Multimedia, 2017.
Sardar, Shubhra Singh. "A Marxist Approach to Heart of Darkness: Imperialism the
Peak of Capitalism." New Main International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies 1.8
(2014): 24-29.
Young, Paul. "Industrializing Crusoe: Adventure, Modernity and Anglo-American
Expansionism." Journal of Victorian Culture 18.1 (2013): 36-53.
Youngs, Tim. "Travellers in Africa: British Travelogues, 1850–1900." (2017).