JOSEPH CONRAD’S; HEART OF DARKNESS – COLONIAL IMPERIALISM IN AFRICA (Essay Sample)

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness - Colonial Imperialism in Africa. Student Name University Name This represents a primary source that was written by Joseph Conrad; a prominent English novelist during the period of British Imperialism. Having gained significant experience as a mariner as well as a ship captain and specifically as an officer during the imperial period on river steam boats on the Congo River in 1890, he was able to give the world his point of view as well as a firsthand and eye witness account of his experience of Africa, the Congo, and European colonization nine years later (1899) in his historic fiction novel, “Heart of Darkness.” Though fictional, the novel succeeds in creating a semblance or reality attributable to Conrad’s familiarity with the place and time. In this particular excerpt from the novel, Marlow, Conrad’s narrator informs us of his expedition up the Congo for a rendezvous with the European Kurtz; a supposed prominent ivory trader that we learn at the novel’s end has gone crazy in the process. The target audience for this novel was the Europeans and the colonial masters. In the first page, it is said that it introduced generations since to Africa, the Congo, the era of colonialism as well as the European ideas of the “other.” By revealing the horrors and cruelty of the imperial company in exploiting resources as well as it inhabitants, it aims to proffer a voice of conscience on the hypocricy and evil of imperialism. Additionally, it provides a powerful condemnation of colonial actions and moral ambiguity during the imperialism era. The title of the novel is also symbolic and alludes to the nature of colonialism given the atrocities and evil that came with it. In Conrad’s historic fiction, the continent was perceived by the Europeans as a thing of wonder that defied comprehension yet demanded exploration and conquering to further trade agendas. In the second page, mention is made of the” overwhelming realities of this strange world of plants and water and silence.” This was however to be achieved by all means possible including force and use of slaves to meet these objectives. The driving motive for the imperialist was profit and power accrued from utilization of the continents rich resources. From the excerpt, a good example is Marlow’s own trip to meet Kurtz who was a prodigious ivory merchant under the employ of the Belgian company. The few and scattered white men they come across in stations that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, also spoke of ivory, an implication that they were explorers too seeking fortune in the rich continent. Their perception of Africans was also abysmal, seeing ...