Imperialism and Racism in The Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness (1899), written by Joseph Conrad, follows the journey of Charles Marlow upstream the Congo River, which at first starts off as an adventure but soon becomes one man’s exploration of the damaging effects of imperialism and colonization. Marlow will throughout his travel, further into the African jungle, encounter the greed and brutality of the Company, with a mindless destruction of the native population. The main focus of this analysis will be on the imperialism and racism portrayed in Conrad’s work, as well as how it relates to opinions and ideas of the time it takes place.

The concept of civilization by the white community is seemingly at the core of Conrad’s intent, to expose the reality of what transpired in the Congo in Africa. In 1878, Leopold II of Belgium took over Africa, gaining wealth by stripping Africa’s of its natural resources. He described his motives to the rest of Europe as civilizing them, which Marlow and his aunt in the beginning of the novel believes that “the Company” is doing. In truth, Europeans were only motivated by pure greed, and the Company’s rhetoric about ‘enlightening’ the natives were only a facade for extracting ivory, minerals and other valued commodities. European colonizers remained to starve, mutilate, and murder the indigenous population for profit.

Conrad’s work have been criticized for being racist due to African natives being treated by multiple characters as if they are subhuman, for instance referring to them as “savages”: “They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” which is a historically accurate representation of the way in which many native populations were looked upon during the colonial era. The confusion among readers largely stem from the fact that Conrad presents the imperialist zeitgeist of its setting with unapologetic honesty and does not inject his own opinions into the narrative.

Furthermore, the Europeans in the novel have a belief of being superior, which reflects the opinions and ideas of the time being a consequence of a concept of human society, inspired by the natural selection, which were developed in the 19th century. It was called social Darwinism and postulated that those who are eliminated in the struggle for existence are the unfit, basically that the strong survives while the weak dies. Wherever Europeans went, they managed to take control of the land and its people, which must mean that they were superior. An example of this is Marlow describing that Kurtz “began with the argument that 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,’ and so on, and so on. ‘By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded.”

Marlow remarks, when he heard about the possibility of employment going up Congo river, that ‘The snake had charmed’ him and describes himself as a ‘silly little bird’ being ‘charmed’ by a snake before it is killed. One could argue that this is foreshadowing the tragic events that Marlow will witness and undergo on his journey. However, simultaneously the snake and the river seems to be used to symbolise temptation and evil, comparable to the snake in the Book of Genesis. The snake leads to the heart of darkness in exposing the true evil to which all men are capable of surrendering or being tempted by, with its prime example in Kurtz.

One could argue that the “darkness” in the title refers to the African continent itself, and its ominous and dark jungle, along with the travel up the Congo River being the journey to the “heart” of the jungle, the inner station. A more figuratively interpretation is that the journey through the jungle is rather a symbol for the journey through a man’s soul. The uncovering of humanity’s inherent darkness, which is suppressed by society’s laws and regulations, is done through Kurtz, who in Marlow’s belief, has had his moral soul completely destroyed. After meeting Kurtz, Marlow realizes the potentiality of mankind’s wickedness and seeing the “inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraints, no faith, and no fear…”. Because without the society’s restraints, darkness prevails in each man’s heart.

Early on, Marlow identifies European civilization, along with its knowledge and ideas, as a sort of ‘lightness’, conversely, he identifies the lack of such civilization, including the harsh African landscape and its savage citizenry, as a kind of ‘darkness’, something imperialism and colonialism are meant to rectify. However, Marlow’s views begin to change as he glimpses the evilness generated by civilized society’s lust for ivory. This is best embodied in the Kurtz character, a product of European civilization who has been corrupted by greed, seduced by power, which Marlow elaborates on as that ‘power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ In essence, Kurtz has become the savage, causing Marlow to reassess his views on ‘lightness’ and ‘darkness.’  

Works Cited:

1. Roblin, J. (2007). The influence of advertising on children’s food choices. Pediatrics & Child Health, 12(2), 105–108.
2. Pollert, G. A., Kauffman, M., & Veilleux, J. (2016). The effects of poor nutrition on children. In V. R. Preedy (Ed.), Handbook of Children’s Health: Global and Local Perspectives (pp. 149-159). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14526-8_13
3. Brown, K. A., & Ogden, J. (2004). Children's eating attitudes and behaviour: A study of the modelling and control theories of parental influence. Health Education Research, 19(3), 261-271.
4. Cimino, A., Cerniglia, L., Paciello, M., & Alicart, H. (2019). An exploratory study on eating habits and their relation with psychological well-being in a sample of Italian primary school children. Eating and Weight Disorders, 24(4), 723–733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-019-00680-3
5. Contento, I. R. (2008). Nutrition education: Linking research, theory, and practice. Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
6. Nwokocha, L. M., & Williams, D. E. (2021). Understanding the global burden of childhood malnutrition: An overview of the causes, consequences, and solutions. Journal of Global Health Reports, 5, e2021035. https://doi.org/10.29392/joghr.5.e2021035
7. Lopes, L., Pinto, A., Rodrigues, L. P., & Moreira, P. (2020). Impact of parents’ eating habits and behavior on children’s food intake and preferences. Appetite, 146, 104512.
8. Serra-Majem, L., Ribas-Barba, L., & Salvador Castell, G. (2006). What and how much do we need to know about food and nutrition in children and young people? British Journal of Nutrition, 96(S1), S3-S9.
9. Skouteris, H., McCabe, M., Swinburn, B., Hill, B., & Busija, L. (2006). A parent-focused intervention to reduce infant obesity risk behaviors: A randomized trial. Pediatrics, 117(5), 1629-1638.
10. Veugelers, P. J., & Fitzgerald, A. L. (2005). Effectiveness of school programs in preventing childhood obesity: A multilevel comparison. American Journal of Public Health, 95(3), 432-435.