Literary Analysis Essay on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Introduction

Between the 1870s and 1900, Africa confronted European military invasions, diplomatic pressures, imperialist aggression, and inevitable conquest and colonization. The "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad narrates the trip of Marlow through the wilderness in Africa and his look for Kurtz who abuses the locals by forcing viciousness on them. It is for the most part in light of the author's own involvement in Congo where he figured out how the natives were mistreated and sold by the Europeans amid his own voyage. The publication is viewed as an assault on imperialism and disregards ill-treatment of the natives by the colonizers from Europeans in Africa amid 19th century. The book addresses gender, racism, capitalism, and imperialism.

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Lois Tyson indicates that " colonialist ideology was based on the colonizers' assumption of their own superiority, which they contrasted with the alleged inferiority of native (indigenous) peoples, the original inhabitants of the lands they invaded " (Gholipour et al. 54). The colonizers argue that the reason they characterize native people as savage or undeveloped is that their predecessors' way of life of was greatly acculturated. (Samet 79) Also, the colonizers view themselves as superior to the native communities. Comparatively, the colonizers feel that they set up cases for the provincial individuals, so the colonized individuals "were viewed as 'other', extraordinary, and in this manner, sub-par compared to the point of being not as much as completely human" (Samet 80).

In the "Heart of Darkness," the locals remain an imagination element for Marlow until he comes across them. The natives are genuine and a stun for him, they speak to the intrusion of European dream, he depicts the locals as; " They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now- nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom" (Samet 79).

The Brutality of Colonialism and Embarrassment of Kurtz's Actions

The reiteration of "devil" highlights the fierceness of colonialism brutality that the colonizers applied on the Africans. They ruled about all parts of Africa to profit by the locals. Marlow feels embarrassed about Kurtz actions in the country when he takes in his indecent demonstrations, which is the reason he fails to articulate them in their meeting. It is difficult for Marlow to uncover the reality that he encountered amid his adventure, " No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence, - that which makes its truth, its meaning - its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream - alone...." (Daniel 380). The "Heart of Darkness" works so successfully in light of the fact that its legislative issues and style are, as it were, radical, which appeared to be in the meantime an aesthetic, governmental issues, and even epistemology inescapable an unavoidable in the end of the nineteenth century, " (Said 24).

A Comparison Between Historical and Contemporary Imperialism

In comparison to today, our country is and dependable has been an exceptionally multicultural nation. However, the minority communities in the country are lamentably regularly subject to prejudice, extending from supremacist remarks to vicious loathe violations. Notably, discrimination and racism are widespread all through the US, in spite of the fact that they can be felt most unequivocally in moderate districts such as the South and Midwest. Muslims, Hispanics, and African Americans are the groups frequently victimized sometimes explicitly and openly.

Another comparison is that the 'old' imperialism was simply military colonialism; however, the present government shows itself in a few structures. The new dominion varies from the more seasoned, to begin with, in substituting for the desire of a solitary developing domain the hypothesis and the act of contending realms, each motived by comparative desires of commercial gain and political glorification (Loomba). Furthermore, in the strength of monetary or contributing over trade interests, the imperialism is the " sudden demand for foreign markets for manufactures and for investments which are avowedly responsible for the adoption of Imperialism as a political policy [...] They need Imperialism because they desire to use the public resources of their country to find profitable employment for the capital which otherwise would be superfluous" (Norman). Along these lines, this new imperialism is significantly more economical than military. In order to present the perfunctory comprehensible meaning of imperialism, we should state that the restraining infrastructure phase of private enterprise is the government is. In this way, the new colonialism cannot be depicted as a 'policy', yet as an inalienable phase of our economic framework.

Johan Galtung (in a basic hypothesis of colonialism) would stretch out the examination to the economic and military areas as well as the cultural, communicative, and political fields (Stig 103). Therefore, imperialism is for the most part auxiliary and it just depends on its more direct and physical division (the military) when various choices are depleted. The Kurtz-an figure in the world today originate from the hegemonic imperialist power, the United States, practicing its strength through the financial power that exudes from it. Notably, it utilizes the enormous monopoly organizations from the US and that are spread everywhere throughout the world, hunting down profits wherever at any cost (Bagdikian).

However, there are other cultures more imperial than the US, imperialism also comes from Russia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, UK, etc. Notably, imperialism originates from where there is bigger capital concentration (Callinicos 533). Just a nation that concentrates incredible measures of capital in its outskirts can impact different nations to support it through military, cultural, communicative, and political means. Therefore, the best cases of colonialism often will be not the ones that look more obvious or clear at first sight, however, those that look covered up, relatively characteristic and inalienable to the general public.

Notably, the United States does not relate better to outside societies, for instance, the blacks are completely socially incorporated into American culture and foundations. Yet, over a century after the banning of subjection such as bad health conditions, malnutrition, underdevelopment, and poverty. Notably, these are the most profound cases of present-day colonialism and not the Iraqi attack by the US or the Crimea annexation by Russia (Amobi 29). On the off chance that we contemplate any military attack or war amid the twentieth century it generally has a financial purpose for it, regardless of whether here and there this does not appear to be so apparent.

Along these lines, covetousness is a typical character of colonizers, which demonstrates their extraordinary want for notoriety, influence, and riches in the greater part of the modern world. Conrad's illustrative work which investigates the heart and in addition the outward appearance of progress and furthermore uncovers the dimness, many-sided quality, and deception of human instinct by Marlow's pursuit of Kurtz from Europe to Africa. The British colonialism and our contemporary world are similar in a way. Some aspects such as racism and imperialism have remained the same although they do not appear to be so apparent. Also, it is still okay with our government to invade another country, for instance, the recent Syria bombing. However, the United States is better than the British Empire at that time even though issues such as racism remain a big problem.

Conclusion

In the modern world, imperialism is for the most part auxiliary and it just depends on its more direct and physical division when various choices are depleted. The Kurtz-an figure in the world today originate from the hegemonic imperialist power, the United States, practicing its strength through the financial power that exudes from it. it utilizes the enormous monopoly organizations from the US and that are spread everywhere throughout the world, hunting down profits wherever at any cost. Also, the United States does not relate better to outside societies, for instance, the blacks are completely socially incorporated into American culture and foundations. Yet, over a century after the banning of subjection such as bad health conditions, malnutrition, underdevelopment, and poverty. Notably, these are the most profound cases of present-day colonialism and not the Iraqi attack by the US or the Crimea annexation by Russia. Finally, there are other cultures more imperial than the US, imperialism also comes from Russia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, UK, etc. Notably, imperialism originates from where there is bigger capital concentration. A nation that concentrates huge amounts of capital can influence many nations to support it through military, cultural, communicative, and political means.

References

Bagdikian, Ben H. The new media monopoly: A completely revised and updated edition with seven new chapters. Beacon Press, 2014.

Brudney, Daniel. "Marlow's morality." Philosophy and Literature 27.2 (2003): 318-340.

Callinicos, Alex. "Does capitalism need the state system?" Cambridge Review of International Affairs 20.4 (2007): 533-549.

Chiamogu, Amobi P., Eugene Nweke, and Mba Cornelius Chukwudi. "Making Poverty a History in Africa: The Role of the G8." International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Policy 1.1 (2012): 29.

Guven, Samet. "Post-Colonial Analysis of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Journal of History Culture and Art Research 2.2 (2013): 79-87.

Gholipour, Mojtaba, and Mina Sanahmadi. "A Postcolonial Perspective on the Short Stories of Jhumpa Lahiri." International Journal of Humanities and Management Sciences 1.1 (2013): 54-56.

Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/postcolonialism. Routledge, 2007.

Etherington, Norman. Theories of Imperialism (routledge Revivals): War, Conquest and Capital. Routledge, 2014.

Said, Edward W. "Two visions in Heart of Darkness." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations (2008): 5-19.