Analysis Of Conrad s The Heart Of Darkness - 794 Words

The world a century and a half ago was a radically different place. Not all land in the world had definite geopolitical boundaries. Many people of more advanced civilizations looked down upon those with lesser technology. There were still places to be colonized and civilized. Imperialism in the 1800s and 1900s generally followed five stereotypes. Black people are a separate and lesser species. Natives are generally thought of as being savages. Under the right circumstances, anyone can lose touch with his/her humanity. Greed can drive people to extremes. Imperialism hurts those conquering and those being conquered. The main stereotype presented was that black people are a separate and lesser species. In Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, the†¦show more content†¦Besides people dying from war, Europeans in the Congo did not have immunity to the African diseases so many suffered and died. Under the right circumstances, anyone can lose his/her humanity. Marlow transplanted himself into a land nearly the opposite to his home country. England was civilized and unified while the Congo was neither. Marlow was exposed to death and despair and became a changed man. He saw human heads posted on stakes and instead of being shocked, he surprised another onlooker â€Å"excessively by laughing† (Conrad). Instead of one individual losing sight of his humanity, an entire nation did when the Andrew Jackson â€Å"sealed the Red Man’s problem† during his presidency (Johnson). The American people stood idly by in the name of Manifest Destiny while thousands of people were forced out of their homeland. Greed can drive people to extremes. Kurtz was hauled away from his fort in the jungle and instead of being thankful for being rescued, he could only speak â€Å"my ivory, my station, my river† (Conrad). Kurtz was lying on his deathbed and was entirely consumed by the thought of losing material things. Kurtz wanted to stay with his riches so passionately that he sent natives to kill the people who were supposed to be retrieving him. Another extremely lucrative trade item besides ivory was sugar which was easily grown in Hawaii. Planters, mostly U.S. citizens, made an effort to overthrow the queen in order to get Hawaii