Heart Of Darkness - Racism
Darkness and Racism in Heart of Darkness
In Joseph Conrad's novel, 'Heart of Darkness', the term "darkness" can be related to a few different meanings. Conrad uses this term in many ways to characterize social, political and psychological affairs in order to help the reader get a feel of his attitudes towards things, such as colonialism, Africa, and civilization. The first impression of the word "darkness" in relations to this novel that I understood was its reference to racism. This, I got from the way Conrad writes about the White people and how they treated the natives (Black), in Africa. During the colonization of Africa, forced ideals of a race that thought of themselves as more ...
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natives were not "helpers", but slaves who were forced to work till physical exhaustion under the orders of the White colonist. To further support the idea of racism as seen in this novel, consider the description that Marlow gives about an incident he encounters, "And whiles I had to look after the savage who was a fireman…to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind-legs…he was useful because he had been instructed" (63-64). From this, Conrad acknowledges that although the natives take on some White Lai 2 characteristics, they are still seen as inferior. In that passage, the fireman is seen as a joke. Not as a man, but a "dog in breeches". Therefore, no matter how educated or similar in appearance the Blacks become, they are still seen as being beneath the Whites. The natives are not given any personal traits or uniqueness unless they possess a similarity to the Whites. Even then we see no glimpse of humanity in their ...
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It prevents men from reverting back to their darker tendencies. Civilization, however, must be learned. London itself, in the book is a symbol of enlightenment, was once "one of the darker places of the earth" before the Romans forced civilization upon Lai 3 them (18). While society seems to restrain these savage lifestyles, it does not get rid of them. These primitive tendencies will always be like a black cloth lurking in the background. The possibility of reverting back to savagery is seen in Kurtz. When Marlow meets Kurtz, he finds a man that has totally thrown off the restraints of civilization and has de-evolved into a primitive state. Marlow and Kurtz are two opposite examples ...
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"Heart Of Darkness - Racism." Essayworld.com. April 12, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness-Racism/82023.
"Heart Of Darkness - Racism." Essayworld.com. April 12, 2008. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness-Racism/82023.
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