Heart of Darkness Argumentative Essay

En 206-002

13 Apr 2016

Heart of Darkness

In Heart of Darkness, a brilliant novella and showpiece of the early modernism era, Joseph Conrad contrasts the savagery of the natives with the destructive brutality of Imperialism. While Imperialism made European countries rich through the exploitation of Africa’s primal land and its people, it also ended in death and sorrow for many colonists and their loved ones. Many of the Europeans who went to Africa started their journey with good intentions, but were soon corrupted and began to abuse their power. Conrad reveals through descriptive imagery that the oppressive and destructive force of Imperialism in the name of civilization and progress, not the center of Africa, is the real heart of darkness.

Conrad portrays the protagonist, Marlow, as a philosophical mariner who starts out believing traditional European ideals including those of imperialism. Marlow wants to venture into the heart of Africa in order to help civilize the continent and its people, believing that imperialism will help the natives advance into European like countries. He gets a job as a river boat captain because the previous captain, who was “the gentlest, quietest creature that walked on two legs” was killed when “he whacked the old nigger mercilessly” (Conrad 1958) over two hens. The irony of “the gentlest” man mercilessly beating an old man for a trifling matter foreshadows the rampant cruelty Marlow would witness. He soon experiences first-hand the true nature of imperialism when he arrives at the outer station and sees a line of chained Africans. He tells his fellow mates what it was really like: “They were dying slowly – it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now – nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation”. This is one of the first examples of manipulation used by Europeans to continue the charade of imperialism. He then walks to the shade of some trees only to see exhausted natives that resembled “some picture of a massacre or a pestilence” (1964). They dehumanize the natives and correlate them to death and sorrow. Marlow uses irony again when he sarcastically says, “I also was a part of these high and just proceedings” (1963). He obviously does not believe these proceedings were high or just. Marlow continues to use irony. While conversing with the manager’s spy, the young aristocrat hears the groans of a wrongfully beaten African and apathetically says, “What a row the brute makes” (1971). It is evident from this short sentence that the European man is the real brute here. Marlow humanizes the native savages when he describes his native crew: “Fine fellows—cannibals—in their place. They were men one could work with and I am grateful for them” (1978). On the journey to the inner station the