Critique of imperialism :
“Heart of Darkness” (1899) is a novella by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad about a voyage up the Congo river into the Congo Free State in the heart of Africa. Charles Marlow, the primary narrator and the mouthpiece of Conrad, tells his story to his friends on a boat anchored on the river Thames. The historical context of King Leopold and the Belgian colonialism in Congo along with Conrad’s journey to Congo in 1890 confer upon this novella a realistic hue. The exploitation of African people at the hands of the charismatic colonial master, Mr. Kurtz comes to the fore when we talk about the imperialistic layer of the narrative. How Kurtz was initially very idealistic concerning his “heavenly mission to civilise” the Africans and how he helplessly surrendered before his subconscious avarice is all the story presented by Conrad’s imperialistic metanarrative.
The poor and innocent Africans in Congo undergo a wrecking exploitation exerted upon them by the ivory trader, Mr. Kurtz. Marlow’s first impression of this gentleman is that he is a “very remarkable person” who “sends in as much ivory as all the others put together”. From Maslow’s viewpoint or from any other European’s, this might seem a covetable achievement but Kurtz is reduced to an inhuman perpetrator who robs the poor Africans. When viewed under the magnifying glass of reality, Conrad’s appropriate choice of the title itself satirizes the imperialistic greed of Kurtz. The term “Heart of Darkness” indicates – only on a superficial level – the centre of Africa, the continent wrapped with the darkness of ignorance and barbarity. Deep inside, “Heart of Darkness” hints at the darkest corner of the human mind, that is, Kurtz’s desire to suck up Congo. Conrad’s critique of imperialism is clearly evident in the ironic parallel created between the camouflaged colonial avarice and the ignorance of the so-called “uncivilized” Africans.
His imperialistic treatment is evident both in physical and verbal-emotional abuse. Although he initially intended to civilize the uncultured people of the dark continent, he eventually forgot his noble mission and started to underestimate the indigenous people as a genuine colonialist would do. The term “Black shadows of disease and starvation” is indubitably a heinous insult to the native Africans. Typically inspired by the theory of “white man’s burden” and possessed with the notion of what Marlow calls “an exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence”, Kurtz is expected to do anything but impose insulting treatment on those innocent and hardworking people.
The physical torture inflicted upon the guiltless natives also accounts for Kurtz’s ruthless imperialistic treatment. The physical suffering these native Africans have to bear in the Company’s Outer Station leads to the disenchantment of Marlow’s myth of glorious colonisation. When he enters a narrow ravine to stroll in the shade under the trees, he finds himself in “the gloomy circle of some inferno”. While rock explosion was going on for railroad construction, a cliff was blasted though it wasn’t in the way of the railroad. Those unnecessary workloads were compellingly given to the workers who had to abide by it unquestioningly. The physical weariness is clearly visible in the following description : ” All their meagre breast panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered… with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages “.
Conrad very tactfully used Charles Marlow as his mouthpiece in order to satirize and critique the highly imperialistic view of the ruthless colonialism in Heart of Darkness. Marlow’s remarks on various situations highlight the lacunas and vacuities of the “Enlightened” European colonialists. In the very beginning he refers to London as “the biggest and the greatest town on the earth” since it was the most powerful center of imperialistic aggression and colonialism in the nineteenth century world. However, this superficial praise appears to be a far more intelligent irony when he talks of London : ” And this also… has been one of the dark places of the earth”. The apparent affluence and cultural supremacy is overshadowed by the dark intentions of the flag-bearers of Occidental imperialism. Our narrator makes the first allusion to imperial values while reflecting on England’s “knight-errant” : ” What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth? The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires “. This germ-imagery is the subtlest but the greatest slap on the face of imperialism because the colonial mindset is a malignant and infectious tendency which can easily affect a man’s moral well-being. This medical metaphor enables the reader to draw a medio-pathological analogy by means of which one can better understand the organic irony inherent in the plot itself. Marlow’s comparison between the ancient Roman imperialism and the modern British colonialism brings out the dual yardsticks of imperialistic durability : efficiency and the underlying idea. The icon of colonialism in Heart of Darkness, Mr. Kurtz violates both these principles. His mindless torture and unnecessary orders of toiling defy the rule of efficiency. Moreover, his master-like ego of imperialistic superiority rejects the underlying idea of civilizing the uncultured people of the dark continent. In lieu of leading this untaught natives to the light of education from the “heart of darkness”, Kurtz is busy in looting ivory and ” exterminating the brutes” which Conrad himself hints at as “The criminality of inefficiency and pure selfishness”.
Therefore, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a critique of Eurocentric power-mongering imperialism. A stringent irony of the imperialistic mindset and aggressive colonialism, Heart of Darkness lays bare the unavoidable breach between what it professes and what it actually translates into action.
