Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

Paper Summary:

This paper describes Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" in racist terms because of the way Conrad contrasts the civilization of white Britain and the non-civilization of black Africa. The author feels that the character of Marlow is a persona for the Conrad, which he used in several stories and novels. This paper explains that Marlow makes a journey from civilization into the darkest part of Africa to bring back a man named Kurtz who has gone into the interior and shed his civilized exterior to degenerate into a primitive.

From the Paper:

"David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary who explored the Congo between 1840 and 1872 and brought the region to the attention of the world when Henry Morton Stanley, a journalist, was commissioned by the New York Herald to conduct a search for him. After this, Belgium's King Leopold II turned his ambitions to the area. At the time, the Congo River basin remained for the most part unknown to Europeans. Leopold II founded the International Association of the Congo, financed by an international consortium of bankers. The north bank of the river had been claimed by France, leading ultimately to the creation of the colony of French Congo. Leopold II sent Stanley to explore the territory, and he sailed up the Congo to Stanleyville (now Kisangani), signing more than 450 treaties on behalf of Leopold II with persons described as local chieftains who had agreed to cede their rights of sovereignty over much of the Congo Basin."

More papers on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness":

• Analytical Essay # 63084 : "Heart of Darkness"
• Analytical Essay # 141458 : "Human Nature in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"
• Book Review # 100803 : "Heart of Darkness"
• Analytical Essay # 149305 : "Marlow in Heart of Darkness: A Colonial Co-conspirator or A Subversive Sympathizer?"

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