Heart of Darkness and Postcolonial criticism

Postcolonial literature and postcolonial criticism

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As my term paper, I decided to analysie the work of Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness. I will examine this work according to methods of Postcolonial criticism. he 1!th cent"ry is also known as the era of #"ropean domination. he $ritish #mpire emerged as the largest and most powerf"l imperial states. In the %& th cent"ry the $ritish #mpire controlled almost '"arter of the #arth(s total land area, with colonies s"ch as India, A"stralia or Canada and significant holdings in Africa, )est Indies, *o"th America, +iddle #ast and *o"theast Asia. he coloni,ers -elie.ed that their own Anglo/*axon c"lt"re was more sophisticated, ci.ili,ed and metropolitan. 0ati.e people of colonies were considered to -e "nderde.eloped, sa.age and -ackward. he coloni,ers -elie.ed that their c"lt"re was more ad.anced -eca"se their technology was far more s"perior. they s"-1"gated. he postcolonial era refers to the phase, when the hird )orld co"ntries finaly got o"t of the grasp of their oppressors and were in the process of reco.ery. Among the many challenges that postcolonial a"thors were facing were attempts to res"rrect their c"lt"re -"t also to com-at the preconceptions a-o"t their c"lt"re. D"ring this era a new form of literary criticism was -orn 2 the postcolonial criticism. he postcolonial criticism defined the formerly coloni,ed people as any pop"lation that had -een s"-1ected to the political domination and oppression of another pop"lation. It analy,es literat"re prod"ced -y c"lt"res that de.eloped in response to colonial domination, from the first point of colonial contact to the present. he main themes on which the postcolonial literat"re foc"se were iss"es s"ch as the initial enco"nter with the coloni,ers and the disr"ption of indigeno"s c"lt"re3 1o"rney of the #"ropean o"tside thro"gh an "nfamiliar wilderness with a nati.e g"ide3 othering and colonial oppression3 mimicry 4an attempt of coloni,ed people to imitate the coloni,ers53 the feeling of nati.e people that they are o"tsiders in their own land3 disill"sion of nati.e people and the loss of hope for -righter f"t"re3 str"ggle for indi.id"al and collecti.e c"lt"ral identity and related themes of alienation, "nhomeliness, do"-le conscio"sness and hy-ridity3 the need of the coloni,ed people to ret"rn to their pre/colonial state3 self/definition of the political f"t"re. he literary text can -e analy,ed as colonialist or anti/colonialist, which can -e detected from the way how the text is oriented 2 whether it reinforces the idea of colonialism or it resists the idea of colonial oppression. +ost of the postcolonial literat"re was written -y coloni,ed or formerly coloni,ed people, -"t there were also a"thors from the ranks of coloni,ers. % hey also ignored, or e.en swept aside the religions, c"stoms and codes of -eha.io"r of the people

Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a no.ella written -y Joseph Conrad, which tells "s the story of +arlow, an i.ory transporter. he main setting of the story is in Congo, Africa, which was a $elgian territory. he main narrati.e of the story is +arlow(s .oyage "p the Congo ri.er, which he took as a yo"ng man. here are 6 men on the ship 2 captain and Director of Companies, the 7awyer, the Acco"ntat, the "nnamed 0arrator and +arlow. )hen the darkness falls, +arlow says that it is one of the dark places of the world. 8 (And this also,( said +arlow s"ddenly, 9has -een one of the dark places of the earth.( :
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his statement

already s"ggests that we are dealing with an iss"e of foreign co"ntry, which is seen as wild, dangero"s and may-e e.en primiti.e -y e"ropean occ"pants of the -oat. Also ri.er hames is mentioned. hames e.okes images and memories of famo"s $ritish ad.ent"rers and explorers that set o"t on glorio"s .oyages from ri.er hames. Pro"dly and with praise, the narrator mentions many achie.ements and s"ccesses that these explorers gained, calling them 8knight/errants: of the sea. his title implies that he considered their deeds to -e something that helped the $ritish #mpire to achie.e greater glory and it was for no-le p"rpose. he narrator -elie.es that these men contri-"ted to the spread of ci.ili,ation and enlightement to the rest of the planet. Here we can see significant signs of colonialism. Praising the #mpire and gloryfying is a typical sign of coloni,ers. his also s"ggests the main topic of the story, which will -e the pre.ailing factor d"ring the whole -ook 2 the imperialism and the desire to gain more and more infl"ence o.er foreign co"ntry, to s"-1"gate and coloni,e it thro"gh political, economic and military oppression. At the time the -ook takes place, the $ritish #mpire was at the peak of its power, there was e.en saying that 8the s"n ne.er sets on the $ritish #mpire:, which was in fact tr"e, -eca"se the $ritish #mpire had colonies and territories all o.er the world. In those times, the opinion that the imperialism is worthy and glorio"s thing, pre.ailed. Howe.er, +arlow slightly differs from this direction. ;rom the first moment he opened his mo"th, he sets himself as a kind of an opposition to his co/passengers. Instead of agreeing with their praise and glorification of the $ritish #mpire, he says that also $ritain was once a sa.age land and the hames was not always a starting point of fantastic and glorio"s 1o"rney into the heart of wilderness.
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his characteri,es +arlow thro"gho"t the whole -ook. He is depicted as >

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness 4Harlow, Peng"in $ooks, %&&<5=.

a slightly ironic narrator that gi.es the impression that his co/passengers are wrong, -"t offers no alternati.e opinion. ;rom +arlow(s way of storytelling, we can see that he is a -ig critic of imperialism, howe.er he does not critici,e the things that the coloni,ers do to the nati.e people, -"t he critici,es what the imperialism does to the #"ropeans. He despises the fact that the imperialism l"res the #"ropeans o"t of their ci.ili,ed homes and draws them toward the .iolent wilderness and lawlesness of Africa. He does not appro.e the attempts to ci.ili,e and ed"cate the nati.e people. $"t this disappro.al has not its origin in +arlow(s -elief that the nati.es ha.e a de.eloped and ci.ili,ed c"lt"re of their own, -"t he -elie.es that these attempts are f"tile, -eca"se the nati.es are too sa.age. Howe.er he watches with horror the .iolent mistreatment of the nati.es. He -elie.ed that there is a sort of kinship -etween white #"ropeans and nati.es of Africa. An "gly, horrifying and extremly distant kinship, -"t still a kinship. 8 hey howled and leaped, and sp"n, and made horrid faces3 -"t what thrilled yo" was 1"st the tho"ght of their h"manity? like yo"rs?the tho"ght of yo"r remote kinship with this wild and passionate "proar. @gly. Aes, it was "gly eno"gh3 -"t if yo" were man eno"gh yo" wo"ld admit to yo"rself that there ywas in yo" 1"st the faintest trace of a response to the terri-le frankness of that noise, a dim s"spicion of there -eing a meaning in it which yo"?yo" so remote from the night of first ages?co"ld comprehend.: 2 here is also a passage where +arlow sees a map of Africa in the Company offices. he map shows .ario"s colo"rs, which represent .ario"s colonies owned -y .ario"s #"ropean powers. he map itself may appear as an insignificant o-1ect, -"t it is '"ite important and clear sign of colonialism and imperialistic presence in Africa. +arlow comment on the map tells "s that not all imperial powers are same. 0ot that one is good and the other is e.il, it is more a-o"t fact that one is e.il and the other is e.en more e.il. +arlow was in ser.ice to $elgian king 7eopold, who treated Congo like his personal property and $elgians were known as the most cr"els and inh"mane coloni,ers. 8I(.e seen the de.il of .iolence, and the de.il of greed, and the de.il of hot desire3 -"t, -y all the starsB these were strong, l"sty, red/eyed de.ils, that swayed and dro.e men?men, I tell yo". $"t as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the -linding s"nshine of that land I wo"ld -ecome ac'"ainted with a fla--y, pretending, weak/eyed de.il of a rapacio"s and pitiless folly.: 3 In this '"otation Conrad shows "s another of +arlow(s opinions a-o"t imperialism.
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he Cweak/eyed de.il8 represents the colonists and their -eha.io"r. I tis

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness 4Harlow, Peng"in $ooks, %&&<5<%. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness 4Harlow, Peng"in $ooks, %&&<5%!.

another cl"e that +arlow thinks the imperialism and colonisation of foreign co"ntries in s"ch way is wrong. $"t again he does not critici,es the typical de.ilish attri-"tes, which the colonists possessed and "sed on the nati.es 2 .iolence, greed, desire 2 -"t he critici,ed the foolishness and ineffecti.ity of their actions. In another section of the -ook, +arlow sees a pict"re painted -y E"rt,. +arlow is slightly astonished -y the pict"re 2 a -lindfolded woman wieldeng a torch. Africans. 8It was "nearthly, and the men were?0o, they were not inh"man. )ell, yo" know, that was the worst of it?this s"spicion of their not -eing inh"man. It wo"ld come slowly to one. hey howled and leaped, and sp"n, and made horrid faces3 -"t what thrilled yo" was 1"st the tho"ght of their h"manity? like yo"rs?the tho"ght of yo"r remote kinship with this wild and passionate "proar.:
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he pict"re itself

represents the -lindness of #"ropeans to horrors and atrocities commited on the s"-1"gated

In this part +arlow feels like he is entering the

prehistoric earth. his is in accord with the common #"ropeans( .iew of African nati.es as primiti.e -easts. Howe.er +arlow reali,es that this what Freat $ritain co"ld look like h"ndreds years ago d"ring the era of Goman coloni,ation of $ritain. he whole idea of #"ropean c"lt"ral s"periority and African primiti.ism is p"t into contradiction when depicting the 8pilgrims8 and the 8canni-als8. Pilgrims are ro"gh, .iolent men, while on the other hand the canni-als, despite their sit"ation, -eha.e with dignity. #.en in their condition 2 h"nger and exha"stion 2 they perform their d"ties witho"t any compliant and e.en show sense of h"mor when 1oking that they wo"ld like to eat the .oices they hear. 7ater in the story, E"rt, starts to -e nearly insane. He appears to -e .ery drastic, .iolent and e.en -loodthirsty towards the nati.es. He starts to maintain a godlike attit"de especially towards the Africans and claimed that the i.ory is only his own. He wrote a doc"ment of 1< pages that s"ppresses the sa.age c"stoms of nati.es in order to ci.ili,e them. Howe.er this attempt to ci.ili,e the locals is in strong contradiction to the postscript which states that all the -r"tes m"st -e exterminated. his can -e "nderstood as Conrad(s hidden message stating that the proclaimed attempts to ci.ili,e the sa.ages is 1"st a poor exc"se for exploiting the locals. his part of the story also re.eals E"rt,(s hipocrisy. Despite the fact that he considers the locals to -e nothing more than sa.ages that need to -e ci.ili,ed or exterminated, he maintains a relationship with a -lack woman. Howe.er, later in the -ook when E"rt, dies, despite the fact what he has -ecome, +arlow -lames the
D

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness 4Harlow, Peng"in $ooks, %&&<5<%.

#"rope promises of -ringing ci.ili,ation and enlightement, and e.en Africa itself for E"rt,(s corr"ption. +y o.erall feelings and "nderstanding of the story is that Heart of Darkness is -ook that condemns the colonialism. Conrad shows "s the mistreatment and in1"stice commited on the African people. ;or me, the title is a metaphor that says that the real darkness is not in Africa, -"t in #"rope and its ideals of colonisation. he end of the -ook offers "s the most important '"estion 2 can the e.ils of colonisation -e exc"sed in the name of tr"th or knowledgeH I think that e.eryone will find the answer after reading this -ook.

Bibliography:
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. HarlowI Peng"in, %&&<.

Internet sources:
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Postcolonialism, Accessed Jan"ary !, %&1>, httpIJJwww.enotes.comJpostcolonialism/ essaysJpostcolonialism A Postcolonial and Psychological Approach to Heart of Darkness, Accessed Jan"ary 1&, %&1>, httpIJJep"-l.lt".seJ1D&%/166%J%&&=J&!&J7 @/D@PP/&=&!&/*#.pdf Post/Colonial theory and Heart of Darkness, Accessed Jan"ary 1&, %&1>, httpIJJwww.1%>helpme.comJ.iew.aspHidK<<%& Post/Colonial Criticism, Accessed Jan"ary 11, %&1>, httpIJJowl.english.p"rd"e.ed"JowlJreso"rceJ<%%J1&J

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