Heart of Darkness

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Conrad’s novella shows how higher powers naturally look down towards others despite the fact of who’s supposedly superior in reality. He remarks how Africa is used by the West to establish its own authority as a "civilized" culture against the “darkness" of a "primitive" Africa. However, Conrad states the white European people as civilized, while the black people of Africa have been portrayed as savage. A bitter irony lies in the fact that the people who look apparently civilized in the novel are most savage in reality. In fact, power, jealousy and greed for ivory or money have transformed the Europeans into corrupt, brutal animals. Thus the Africans aren’t the savages. Additionally, as the story progresses, the novella depicts these African "savages" in a far more respecting light. For instance, Marlow hires a group of "cannibals" to help run the boat and each has their own duty. During the journey upriver, the cannibals' main source of food, a piece of rotting hippo, is thrown ...

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