The Central Irony of An Outpost of

Progress
An Outpost of Progress is a tale by Conrad that shows how controls of a civilization are
necessary for the sanity of individuals. Two ordinary white men, Kayerts and Carlier have
been posted to a distant trading station in the heart of Africa. Their job is to oversee the
collection of ivory at the station. In a strange land, with different customs and different
people, Kayerts and Carlier are essentially isolated- they depend on each other for any
meaningful company.

In this background Conrad exposes how men fall apart if they do not have the strict controls
of a society to discipline them. Kayerts and Carlier are seen to simply while away their time,
waiting for things to happen on their own, resign themselves to their fates. They are unable to
improve their living conditions, they show no enterprise what so ever and are seen set on a
path of gradual degradation.

At the end, we see how these two men, who once had called each other 'my dear fellow', are
consumed by a mutual distrust and fight over very small things. Ultimately one man kills the
other over a trivial dispute and unable to face the consequences of his action, commits suicide
himself.

'To grapple effectually with even material problems requires more serenity of mind and more
lofty courage than people generally imagine.' Conrad shows us how these two individuals are
unable to maintain decent living conditions when left on their own simply because they are
completely isolated from a society with its system of reward and punishment. 'they...do not
know what use to make of their freedom'.

The central irony of the tale is that these two individuals had been sent by a civilized
European country to a 'dark' Africa. Their mission is to bring about 'light, and faith and
commerce to the dark places of the earth'. It is ironical how instead of achieving this goal, the
men fell prey to the dark forces of 'pure unmitigated savagery', 'primitive nature' and
'primitive man'. The men lose the values that civilization had taught them and succumb to the
dark forces within themselves that the shackles of society had repressed for long.

This irony is a common theme running across many of Conrad's tales. Notable among them
are Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. In both the tales we see examples of how men who have
been posted in colonial outstations succumb to a life of degradation.