Lévi-Strauss (Lévi-Strauss, 1955/1992) proposed that throughout human history, people have employed two

strategies in dealing with the Other, the foreign, the deviant or the stranger – one is to incorporate them, as in
the case of cannibalism, eliminating any boundaries between the same and the other; the second strategy it to
expel them and exclude them (‘spit them out’) by erecting strong boundaries and special institutions in which
they are kept in isolation. These strategies can be observed in many contemporary situations. Finally, Levinas
(Levinas, 1969) based his moral philosophy on the face-to-face encounter with another human being, viewing
the moment of this encounter as the one irreducible and concrete way of establishing a relation with the Other,
Commented [F1]: Others
as against relying on abstract and impersonal rules of ethics to do so.

 Some authors (notably Said, 1985, 1994) have argued that Western identity and culture are
fundamentally forged by an othering logic, one that dehumanizes or devalues other people, such as
primitives, uncivilized, orientals, blacks, non-believers, women and so forth. An essential feature of
othering is denying the Other his/her own voice, denying him/her the opportunity to speak for him/herself
Commented [F2]: Said on Identity and otherness
and instead attributing qualities, opinions and views that refer to one’s own identity and culture.

 Marlow cannot exactly define the natives; however, the only thing he is sure is that they suffer under the
control of the Europeans. Besides, he is aware that the Europeans also give harm to nature in order to
earn more. In other words, Marlow realizes that Europeans destroy not only the natives but also the
Commented [F3]: HOD other
jungle. He states,


I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! These
were strong, lusty, redeyed devils, that swayed and drove men—men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I
foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending,
weakeyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly. How insidious he could be, too, I was only to find out several
Commented [F4]: Voilence of Europe in disguise of Kurtz
months later and a thousand miles farther (18).

Natives were addressed by derogatory terms such brutes, savages and cannibals, ironically the bearer of torch
are the ones who became brutes and cannibals.

Booker asserts that “[t]he characterization of Africans as cannibals make the European loss of life ‘civilizing’ the
continent seem worthwhile, while at the same time it justified European rule of Africa by demonstrating the
superiority of Europeans to their primitive African counterparts” (223). The Europeans deliberately regard the
natives as cannibals so as to justify their colonialism. In other words, cannibalism is produced as the proof of the
Commented [F5]: Mission Civilization
savagery of the natives by the Europeans according to Conrad.
The relationship between the colonizer and the colonized had been a recurrent feature in fictions and novels.
The relationship was usually an unequal one based on the 'Self' and the 'Other', meaning the 'ruler' and the
Commented [F6]: Colonization
'ruled', the 'civilized' and the 'uncivilized' and so on

In 1975, author Chinua Achebe analyzed Conrad’s portrayal of Africans in the book and accused the Conrad
and his novel of racism:

Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as “the other world,” the antithesis of Europe and therefore of
civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality.
ission Commented [F7]: Derogatory terms for Africans

At this point Kurtz is starting to reject the restraints that the society has placed on him by turning away from
civilization and by facing the wilderness and the darkness in his own heart.

When Marlow finally makes his way too find Kurtz, he realizes that Kurtz is not the emissary of light that he had
imagined him to be. Nonetheless, Marlow defends him by saying that it is very difficult to keep oneself civilized
without the societal restraints and when one has faced total solitude.
Commented [F8]: Mission civilization failed and Kurtz
Kurtz ignored all of the external restraints and allowed himself to be controlled by his desires
went mad

.“ But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible vengeance for the fantastic
invasion. I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no
conception till he took counsel with this great solitude �and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It
Commented [F9]: Quote on Europe’s failure on staying
echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core”
their mission

The origin of light evidently dazzle the one who is near it.

The first reason has to do with the need to gather scientific knowledge about the unknown. Africa, then referred
to as the “Dark Continent,” provided just the right kind of challenge. It held a lot of mystery for European
explorers, who traveled and observed and recorded what they saw. Many of the early explorers of Africa were
geographers and scientists who were beckoned by the mysteries and exotic qualities of this new land.

it will suffice to say that the writings of some of these foreign travelers increased knowledge of Africa in their own
Commented [F10]: In the beginning of the assignment in
countries and ultimately helped Africans to know their continent better.
the portion of colonization, In ideology as well

. Achebe believes that Marlow uses specific language to create a negative image of the natives through his word
choice. However, through the concept of restraint, Conrad introduces the idea of the noble savage, showing that
the natives can also be seen as a symbol of pure and natural humanity. By taking the concept of the noble
savage into consideration, the reader can understand the struggle that Marlow faces in regards to categorizing
the two racial groups as either fundamentally good or evil in Heart of Darkness.
Achebe is a firm believer that the language Marlow uses to describe his story in the novel is degrading towards
Africans due to the implied negative connotations associated with his word choice. He claims that the novel,
“projects the image of Africa as, ‘the other world’, the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization,

Achebe believes that through this language Marlow portrays the natives as dark and savage while contrasting
them with the white and civilized European men. According to Achebe, Marlow is attempting to use language to
show that the natives are inferior to the imperialists due to their uncivilized actions such as cannibalism.

Nidesh Lawtoo, another critic of Heart of Darkness, also believes that, “accordingly, this description reinforces
the violent hierarchy between ‘blackness’ and ‘whiteness;’ ‘savagery’ and ‘civilization’” (Lawtoo)

The understanding of the concept of the noble savage opens different interpretations to Conrad’s work. A noble
savage is a literary term used to explain the belief that, “primitive human beings are naturally good and that
whatever evil they develop is the product of the corrupting action of civilization and society”

This is most apparent by the evaluation of the concept of restraint shown in the novel.Conrad’s use of the
concept of restraint highlights the idea that the natives are morally superior to the civilized colonists. This offers a
different perspective than the one derived from the language that Conrad chooses to use in order to describe the
two groups of people. The natives are shown to be able to restrain themselves and understand what is morally
acceptable and unacceptable even through the arising difficulties they face with imperialism. This can be seen
when Marlow is traveling on the river with the natives that have been starved and he says, “Why in the name of
all the gnawing devils of hunger they didn’t go for us – they were thirty to five – and have a good tuck in for once,
amazes me now that I think of it. They were big powerful men, with not much capacity to weight the
consequences, with courage, with strength, even yet, though their skins were no longer glossy and their muscles
no longer hard. And I saw that something restraining, one of those human secrets that baffle probability, had
come into play there” The European men are shown to have very little restraint, regardless of their civilized
status, as they are not able to remain concrete in their moral conduct throughout the text. This indicates
irony because the uncivilized men show more restraint and human compassion than the Europeans,
making them morally superior; however, the Europeans still view the natives as savage and inhumane
“No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it – this suspicion of their not being
inhuman”

Throughout the text Marlow makes a clear divide between the natives and the imperialists, creating two separate
groups based on their racial differences. However, he struggles to be able to label either one of them as either
Commented [F11]: Conquered ones are more civilized
good or evil.
than conqueror
Heart of Darkness is set in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of
the Congo) at the beginning of the last decade of the 19th century. But the tenebrosity of the
title alludes more to the blackness of white men’s hearts than to the interior of Africa. The
novella begins, unexpectedly,

He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, ‘must necessarily
appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings… By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a
power for good practically unbounded,’ etc. From that point he soared and took me with him. The peroration was
magnificent…This was the unbounded power of eloquence— of words—of burning noble words.22

Our mission is to help developing countries and their people reach the goals by
working with our partners to alleviate poverty. We address global challenges
in ways that advance an inclusive and sustainable globalization—that
overcome poverty, enhance growth with care for the environment, and create
individual opportunity and hope.23 Kurtz Commented [F12]: Kurtz bost about the position
prospects of Mission Civilization

What followed was what Conrad called “the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human
conscience”4 and the Africa specialist Michela Wrong describes as, “the most brutal colonial system ever practised
on a continent which saw more than its fair share of oppressive regimes.” (Plundring Colonization)

They were compelled to work unpaid throughout the colony, given a bare minimum to eat, often in chain-gangs and
labouring to a set timetable from dawn to dusk til in the end they literally dropped dead… Casement made it
perfectly clear that hundreds of thousands of slave labourers were being worked to death every year by their white
overseers, and that mutilation, by severing hands and feet, and execution by revolver, were among the everyday
punitive means of maintaining discipline in the
Congo.

(Labour of natives) Commented [F13]: What the Europeans were actually

doing there in the name of Enlightening the Black continent

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or
slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea
only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea—
something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to…48

Western nations, individuals and corporations enrich themselves on those people’s resources on a truly colossal
scale—and feel good about themselves in so doing. Commented [F14]: In Colonization portion

According to Joseph Conrad the Western civilization is worrisomely fragile and anxiously
breakable. Its claims and slogans are empty and dangerous hollow. Its basic context lacks a
sense of profundity when Kurtz came in the face of confrontation with Congo, the symbol
of Barbarism, an antithesis of civilization; Kurtz began to show his hidden barbaric self. His
unrestrained greed just increased unbelievably. His civilized self didn't moderate and
subdue the sudden emergence of the barbaric self. As Kurtz's living in Congo continued he
gradually changed into the most cruel and exploitative. Had the western civilization been as
strong as it was told, Kurtz should not have degenerated into the lusty, licentious, cruel and
exploitative figure. Not only Kurtz, but the group of pilgrims who were on Christianization
mission turned out to be exploitative figure. Their so called mission of Christianization in
Congo was a mask behind which the ghost of economic exploitation dances joyously.
Kurtz's much- boasted mission to civilize the African native is a hollow white man's burden.
The real target was ivory. The outer face of the European civilization is tantalizing. But
inwardly it is fragile and breakable. It topples down consequent upon its contact with
barbarism. Hence, to dramatize the fragility of the veil and veneer of the Western Europe
Civilization is the powerful and prominent theme.

In the novel also Kurtz says that he wants to educate, help and enlighten the African
people, but in reality he controls all the means of economic production, social conditions
and even politically and he himself ties in the powerful, superior condition rather than all
the native people. Commented [F15]: What was going on in the Congo
Commented [F16]: Ideology

Nowhere do we find any mention of any service being rendered by the Whites to the
natives. This is an irony to the white man's so called 'mission to civilize the natives' and ‘the
white man’s burden’.

He seen African American slaves be beaten nearly to death and hung for what they did
wrong. Even some of the women who were slaves were raped along the time he was there. Commented [F17]: True face of White Civilization

The natives were cannibals, but in contrast, had higher moral standards than
some of the raiders, who were plundering their country and even though they
were paid "royally", for their services, with useless wire with which they were
expected to procure food, they did not stoop so low as to threaten the lives of
the pilgrims, even when they were bordering on starvation.

They had given them every week three pieces of brass wire, about nine
inches long; and the theory was they were to buy their provisions with
that currency in river-side villages. You can see how that worked.
There were either no villages, or the people were hostile, or the
director, who like the rest of us fed out of tins, with an occasional old
he-goat thrown in, didn�t want to stop the steamer for some more or
less recondite reasons. So, unless they swallowed the wire itself, or
made loops of it to snare the fishes with, I don�t see what good their
 extravagant salary could be to them. ... - ... Why in the name of all the
gnawing devils of hunger they didn�t go for us - they were thirty to
five - and have a good tuck in for once, amazes me now when I think
of it. Commented [F18]: Europeans were cannibals in Disguise

Technology and progress, in contrast with simple existence of the indigenous

inhabitants of the land, afforded the colonists a God-like powers over the
natives. Hidden behind a veil of lofty ideas like expansion and progress,
colonists were committing unspeakable atrocities, not unlike the treatment of
Native Americans in our own country. Commented [F19]: Immense plans and Ideology

by Juliet Paez

Marlow�s wilderness is not vibrant nor majestic, nor is it boisterous in its

vitality, illuminating and nurturing its lush bounty within its sensuous bosom. It
is not a wondrous place, intoxicating with radiant color and a symphony of
sounds those who journey into its interior. It is not quiescent nor serene, willing
to reveal its secrets, easily subdued or tamed. His wilderness is a primeval,
mysterious enigma that swallows light and sound, rationality and language,
imprisoning them deep within its immense folds. It is fascinatingly savage,
menacing in its power to mesmerize and lure, and finally to seduce the �bearers
of a spark from the sacred fire� (67).

Many had set out to conquer it, dreaming of creating splendrous empires; others
had embarked on a quest to extract riches, fame, and glory from deep within its
heart; yet others had been beckoned by the irresistible call of the
unknown. Lucky were those that could �glide past [it], veiled...by a slightly
disdainful ignorance� (68), shielding themselves with the mantle of civilization,
secure in their invincibility. Marlow was luckier than most, for the wilderness
called to his �very heart [with] its mystery, its greatness, the amazing reality of
[its] concealed life� (95); yet he was able to realize in time that it was but an
illusion, a �deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness� (124),
and to step back from the edge of the abyss.
He was good man in search of purpose and adventure, believing he would find
his aspirations by sailing the waters of a mighty river. Upon arriving at his
destination he was disheartened by the actions of his brethren, by their
�conquest of the earth�, which to him mostly meant �taking it away from
those who [had] a different complexion...than [themselves]�
(70). Contemptuous of their beliefs and brutal behavior, their greed and
deceitfulness, he went in search of a man considered �the emissary of
pity...science and progress� (94); believing that in him he would finally find
someone to guide him through the �silence of the land� (95).
The intelligent, resourceful, Kuntz, the beacon of light in the darkness, the guide
he had hoped for, was not to be found. He had proven to be too weak to the lure
of the whispering shadows; neither his vision nor his �magnificent
eloquence�(138) had saved him. Instead Marlow found �an animated image of
death� (140), �buried in a vast grave of unspeakable secrets
The bewitching darkness had driven Kuntz mad. It had lulled him into a fantasy,
believing himself an omnipotent power, supreme ruler of his world, totally
blinded to the fact that it was but a spell; that in reality the wilderness had
�draw[n] him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal
instincts� (149), and there he would remain its prisoner. Horrified by what he
saw and heard, Marlow tried to �break the spell� (149), but it was to late, it had
been to late long before they ever met. Kuntz�s soul would be release only in
death. Marlow had to save himself; leaving behind the people he had met, �to
dream their insignificant dreams�(156) he escaped, back to the land of his birth
and its river, to �that great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow
in the darkness� (162). Commented [F20]: Conclusion

These emissaries of light are shown to be crude, sordid and violent. They had
no regard for the destruction of Africa�s natural environment, wantonly
destroying hills in a feeble attempt to establish a railway, �No change appeared
on the face of the rock....the cliff was not in the way or anything; but this
objectless blasting was all the work going on.� (Conrad 76) This statement
reveals the real motive for venturing into the Congo which was not to bring a
better, more civilized lifestyle to the poor, underprivileged Africans; but to satisfy
their lust for power. �It was just robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a
great scale, and men going at it blind - as is very proper for those who tackle a
darkness.� (Conrad 65) Commented [F21]: Mission civilization

In �Root of Racism,� the superior attitude is described as

All groups, by their nature, imply to the members that they

are somehow special in particular ways and in many ways
better, than their fellow travelers on this earth. (Ross)

Conrad�s character Marlow describes the natives as having �a wild vitality� and their
�faces like grotesque masks.� These remarks demonstrate his fear and reinforces the
distinction between himself and the natives.

Racial or ethnic hatred is a direct consequence of our Fear

Response. Hatred is really taking the fear response one step
further. We justify that fear by invoking certain attributes to
others by assuming that they may be inferior, evil or harmful.
Your group will reinforce these feelings since all members of
the group will respond to the same fear. This becomes
institutionalized and the accepted norm for group thought.
(Ross)
 Financial worries reach such a stage that he thinks colonizers worship to ivories: “The word ‘ivory’ rang in
the air, was whispered, was sighed.