Heart of Darkness Essay

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a portrayal of the evil and darkness of the African jungle. In his novel, Conrad makes the Europeans out to be civil and humane people, but when they enter the jungle, Conrad portrays the African people in the jungle as savage inhumane people. He demonstrates racism in his book by describing the Europeans as civil normal people, but then when he describes the African people he shows them as diseased savages who are bent to kill. He first tells how the Africans kidnapped Kurtz and corrupted him into becoming one of them. Then Kurtz slowly dies because of disease from the Africans, Conrad’s racism is shown throughout the book.
Marlow and Kurtz, both sailors venture the African jungle on a steamship. They first see the darkness portrayed by Conrad when they are traveling down the river and see the native camps and hear the drums roaring. They first start to see the savageness of the Africans. Then, they encounter a pile of wood left for them, when they gather it they are ruthlessly attacked, it was a trap. The natives attack the steamship ferociously and Kurtz goes missing. When he is later found, he has been corrupted. Kurtz thinks he is the god of the natives; he has become one of them. Conrad shows how the natives of the jungle can take over and corrupts the “civil” European sailors, how they can corrupt them into becoming one of them, a savage. He depicts how the natives as inhuman “beasts” that are bent on killing and ruling the jungle.
“They were dying slowly—it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, and they were nothing earthly now— nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation….” (Conrad, p.48) This quote represents how the European people see the natives; it tells how they think of the African people as diseased animals. They are not civil, not clean, and not humane; they are beasts of the jungle. Conrad displays racism in this point by treating the Africans of the jungle not as people, but animals. He compares the Europeans to the Africans, he shows how the Europeans are civil people who live a normal life, but then he describes how the Africans are beasts or “evil” of the jungle. He makes them out as savages, when in actuality Africans are just like Europeans, they are people like everyone else, it is a racist act to depict them as savage animals who attack and corrupt people.
"When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages--hate them to the death." (Conrad, p.54) In this quote, Conrad tells his idea of the natives. He tells what the Europeans think of the natives. It describes how they all have come to hate the Africans. How they kidnapped their friend, and corrupted his mind. How they attacked their ship and tried to kill them, how they made their friend and shipmate plan and escape away from them so he could stay with them. Conrad makes the natives out to be diseased savages. Conrad makes the Europeans think that the natives are corrupt and starved animals, not people. He makes them out to be the “beings” of the jungle that live to kill and hunt in the jungle, not civilized people like the Europeans who live by rules, order, and cleanliness.
The natives were primarily portrayed as savages that hunted and killed in the jungle, but they also hade a metaphorical representation in the novel. They were metaphorically shown as the “dark” or “evil” of the jungle. If they were not there, the jungle would be a nice place to stay, no harm or worry, but since they are there, the sailors must be cautious of what they do. Conrad wants the reader to think that the natives are the ones that corrupted, almost possessed the jungle, they are the ones that made it a bad dangerous place to be and if they were not there it would be civilized. He wants the reader to think that since they are natives of the jungle that they are savage and evil, and that they are corrupting the jungle and the people that enter it. He wants people to see that the “civilized” Europeans are the “good guys” of the novel and that the natives are the “bad guys” who are causing all the havoc. This is racist because not all Africans or natives are this way. They are the same as us, or even the Europeans, they are civilized and well mannered like everyone else and that they do not corrupt and cause chaos.
"And this also... has been one of the dark places of the earth." (Conrad, p.112) This phrase demonstrates what the Europeans think of the natives and the jungle that they live in. It says how they think that the jungle is one of the darkest or most evil places that they have been to and how they thought the natives were the darkness that corrupted it. This shows how Conrad made the natives out to be the “bad guys” or savages of the jungle. This tells the reader to think that the Europeans were the civilized people going into the jungle, and encountering the dark savage natives. It shows Conrad’s opinion on the natives, and how he thought that they were the evil of the jungle, how they corrupted it and made it the way it was. If they were not there, it would have been a civilized place to be, but since they inhabited it, it was a dark diseased place that only the natives could live in.
"The horror! The horror!" (Conrad, p.124) Kurtz last words, a summary of life in the jungle. Kurtz dies because of an illness, an illness he would not have gotten if he had not ventured in the jungle and met the diseased natives. Conrad portrays them as the diseased, dirty darkness of the jungle, the reason why Kurtz died. Kurtz got corrupted by them, and then got killed by them, they are the darkness and evil of the book. Conrad depicts this in a racist way because he targets the natives as the diseased dark ones, and not the Europeans. He could have made some Europeans dark or evil like the natives but he choose to only make the natives evil, all the Europeans were civil, well mannered. The only way a European became “evil” was because the corruption of the natives. He shows how they corrupt everything and make it dark and savage like themselves. Many readers, like myself would find this racist and offensive because he is targeting a certain race in a bad way. He shows a certain race of people being evil and dirty, and then another race being clean and civil, this is a form of racism in the novel.
Racism was a big part of this novel. In showed up throughout the book, from beginning to end it targeted one race, the Africans, or “natives” of the jungle. Conrad showed how the Europeans were civilized, well mannered people. How they ate normally, were clean, and didn’t kill. He then showed the reader the Africans. He showed how they were diseased, dirty, savage, and inhumane to the Europeans. He gave the reader the idea that the Africans corrupted the jungle and Kurtz, one of the venturing Europeans. He gave the idea that the Africans were the “bad guys” of the book, how they diseased and corrupted the “civilized” Europeans. He displayed racism through the way that he described them, how they were never civil, they were always chanting or hunting or corrupting the jungle, they were never civilized like the Europeans. To me this is a form of racism, he targeted a race and shot them down, he portrayed them as dirty savages, but then when it came to another race, they were civilized “normal” people. He showed racism throughout the book, he made the reader think that the Africans were the darkness that corrupts the jungle and that it was one of the darkest places the Europeans have ever visited. He made the reader think that they weren’t even civilized humans; they were beasts of the jungle that acted like animals. This form of racism was constant throughout the book; it almost showed Conrad’s opinion of races. It showed what he thought of the natives of the jungle, and the civilized Europeans.