Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness, by Polish author Joseph Conrad, was written in a period of great imperial expansion, when unrelenting and undeterred eurocentricity was the dominant ideology. Conrad uses many different techniques to both challenge and reinforce this underlying view of white superiority. The Europeans saw themselves as superior due to their advanced technology and their religion, which, naturally, was the 'only' religion used by 'civilised people'.Although it is true that Conrad naturalises and centres many ideologies of the late nineteenth century, he essentially attacks the exploitation of Africans inflicted by the European colonisers, challenging and criticising imperialist practices and their negative effects upon Africa and its people. Conrad achieves this by exposing the colonisers sinister and ulterior motives of economic gain behind the moral facade of bringing 'light' [civilisation] to the 'Dark Continent. By doing this, he rejects the traditional symbolic associations of the dichotomous light and dark imagery with 'civilisation' and 'savagery'. This presents to the reader imagery of death and waste, which was brought forth by European imperialist ventures, and the representations of Africans and Africa as the victi
"I don't think a single one of them had any idea of time as we at the end of countless ages have. 42)Africa was not considered to possess a 'history' as such and was thus disempowered as Africa was seen as savage. This imagery of blacks being left to die questions the moral superiority of anyone who would allow another human to die in such conditions. For example, the text depicts the African setting in which the Europeans exist as "a scene of inhabited devastation" (p. Conrad tries to keep the text challenging the imperialist praxis but is often drawn to side with the society he originates from. Conrad reinforces the belief in white superiority in his views towards the Africans. had no inherited experience to teach them. 19) and the "objectless blasting [which] was the only work going on" (p. Conrad is an excellent example of how one can never fully escape the dominant ideologies of one's time, as he is guilty of naturalising and endorsing the eurocentricity rife in the period, thus problematising his efforts to destabilise the imperialist praxis. Conrad was not entirely immune to the dominant ideologies and attitudes of his age but he was further ahead of his time than most. The images of devastation are not only limited to the land. 29) and performed "unspeakable rites", thus again disempowered.
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Darkness Polish,
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