1. Andre Lall Nicholas Boodhoo Pamela Nonato
HUMN Final Project A Literary and Historical Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Andre Lall Nicholas Boodhoo Pamela Nonato

2. Heart of Darkness – Visual Art
Monument of
King Leopold II’s
in Arlon, Belgium
"I have undertaken
the work in Congo in the interest of civilization
and for the good of Belgium.“
(Congo Reform Association)

3. Heart of Darkness – Literary Analysis
General term “Darkness”
Connotates fear, death, sadness, greed, corruption, and evil
Utilized by Conrad to describe both Africa and imperialism itself, wherein Africa is seen as a stark contrast to Europe
Quite simply it is the desire -- one might indeed say the need -- in Western psychology to set Africa up as a foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in comparison with which Europe's own state of spiritual grace will be manifest. (Achebe, 1977)
Rationale: need to bring civility & modernity to dark Africa” to bring it into the light
Europe’s unchecked freedom
brought out inner darkness = abuse of Africans supposedly helping

4. Heart of Darkness – Literary Analysis
Progress to Africa = MASK
“‘Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing’” (Conrad, 1902, p. 52).
Outpost = center for trade & institutions for African self-improvement
TRUE MOTIVE = rob the land of its valuable resources
I gathered in snatches that this was some man supposed to be in Kurtz’s district, and of whom the manager did not approve. ‘We will not be free from unfair competition till one of these fellows is hanged for an example,’ he said. ‘Certainly,’ grunted the other; ‘get him hanged! Why not? Anything—anything can be done in this country. That’s what I say; nobody here, you understand, HERE, can endanger your position. (Conrad, 1902, p. 52)
UNRESTRAINED FREEDOM
Anything can be done in Africa, including murdering the competition
Are in “uncivilized” Africa = justification for uncivilized behaviour
Nobody to keep Company’s power in check

5. Heart of Darkness – Literary Analysis
MR. KURTZ
Living embodiment of EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM
You should have heard him say, ‘My ivory.’ Oh, yes, I heard him. ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—’…Everything belonged to him— but that was a trifle. The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. That was the reflection that made you creepy all over. It was impossible—it was not good for one either—trying to imagine. He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land— I mean literally. (Conrad, 1902, p. 80)
GREED within the Darkness that is IMPERIALISM
Greed & Lust for Power – like Cecil Rhodes & King Leopold II
Claimed ownership over resources - ivory, river, stations
Best ivory trader in the land with highest authority
Demanding, crazy, greedy, selfish, entitled

6. Heart of Darkness – Literary Analysis
SUPPRESSION OF SAVAGE CUSTOMS
…we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at ‘must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings – we approach them with the might as of a deity,’ and so on, and so on. ‘By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded,’ etc., etc. (Conrad, 1902, p. 82)
Arrival In Africa = immediate discrimination based on skin colour
Are seen as Gods by Africans due to wealth, machines, & destructive weapons
Used means of doing good as cover
Used unbounded freedom to extend own wealth at expense of African lives & resources

7. Heart of Darkness – Literary Analysis
Evilness and greed that European Imperialism brought to Africa
Demonstrated primarily through KURTZ
Admired by all other characters
Feared by Africans
His greed and resourcefulness for getting more ivory than any other trader symbolizes exploitation of Africa despite the narrative of bringing modernity and civility to Africans

8. Heart of Darkness – Historical Analysis
Historical Event = “Scramble for Africa”
Started with Berlin Conference of (Stelios Michalopoulos, 2016, p. 1802)
Central Africa divided without regard for local conditions (Stelios Michalopoulos, 2016, p )
Recognized Leopold’s claims to Congo Basin (Marsella, 2017, p. 13)
One of worst company abuses (Marsella, 2017, p. 53)

9. Heart of Darkness – Historical Analysis
Captures what KING LEOPOLD II of Belgium did in Congo
prospered from the “wholesale extraction and export of rubber, hardwoods, and metals from the Congo” (Weinstein, 2000, p. 17)
“robbing the citizenry of the country’s natural wealth” by means of “force to sustain his autocratic rule” (Weinstein, 2000, p. 12)
“declares all uncultivated land as ‘vacant land’” (Marsella, 2017, p. 54)
allowed private companies to go unchecked and pillage land for natural resources
IVORY

10. Heart of Darkness – Historical Analysis
Private Ivory Trade
KURTZ
best at obtaining ivory
through brutal means
by integrating himself with the surrounding tribe and becoming their leader
Operated freely without restraint
Leopold II’s offer to companies in order to get resources
Companies too advantage

11. Heart of Darkness – Historical Analysis
Kurtz and King Leopold II
Spurred by GREED to further extort natural resources
Leopold II conquering Katanga – richest province in Congo Free State
motivated by “a general imperialist surge, the desire for compensation for the Niari-Kwilu, and the objective of making the new state as large as possible and filling as much of the Congo basin as possible” (Michalopoulos & Papaioannou, 2016, p. 1808).

12. Heart of Darkness – Historical Analysis
Conrad’s Response to King Leopold II Opening up Congo for Private Companies
Setting up fictional company in the Congo
Demonstrated day-to-day operations
Any means necessary
Free of any persecution
What mattered to Kurtz & Company - similar to Leopold’s motives
Obtaining BEST and MOST resources in the land to INCREASE own WEALTH, INFLUENCE, and POWER
No regard to who got hurt in process

13. Heart of Darkness – References
Achebe, C. (1977). An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness. Massachusetts Review, 18, Retrieved from
Conrad, J. (1902). Heart of Darkness. United Kingdom: Blackwood's Magazine. Retrieved from
Marsella, M. (2017). The ‘Scramble for Africa & Methods of Rule Unit 4 [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from
Stelios Michalopoulos, E. P. (2016, July). The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa. American Economic Review, 106(7), doi: /aer
Weinstein, J. M. (2000). Africa's "Scramble for Africa" Lessons of a Continental Wa. World Policy Journal, 17(2), Retrieved from go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=EAIM&sw=w&u=ko_acd_shc&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA &it=r&asid=f5aca34e80ca7b39245bebe75b582d61
Congo Reform Association. (n.d.). Leopold's Philanthropic Guise. Retrieved from