Nindy Naditha

1209617030 (17SASB)

Literary Criticism (FINAL EXAM)

Analysis of Racism Issue and Imperialism in Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ with
Post-Colonialism Theory

I. INTRODUCTION
Joseph Conrad, or Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowskione, is of the greatest Polish-
British novelist that ever existed in the 20th century. He wrote many stories with a
nautical setting that depict his fascination of an individual when one is faced with
nature’s invariable unconcern that shows man’s malevolence, battling with their good and
evil within them. He influenced many authors with his works, and many of them have
been adapted into movies. The novel titled ‘Heart of Darkness’ is one of his famous work
that was firstly published in the 1890. This literary work was a serial in a magazine called
Blackwoods before the stories were compiled into a short novella in the 1902. This
novella specifically carried so many social problems that dominated the society within
that time, such as colonialism and also racism.

Heart of Darkness is a story that mainly centered around a sailor named Charles Marlow,
and his journey to the Congo River in order to meet Kurtz, an ivory trader that employed
with the same company with him. On his way, he encounters many brutality coming from
the company’s stations. He had to witness the native inhabitants of the region have been
forced to work as the Company’s service. He witnessed how they had to suffer from
overwork and ill treatment coming from the Company agents. In the novel, we are also
being told that Marlow saw a group of black prisoners walking along with hands in chain,
another black man guard them while carrying a rifle. On the following chapters, we will
see the dark side of the European colonization of Africa and what kind of implied racism
and colonialism that Conrad put inside this story.
 In this paper, I will analyze the colonialism and also racism that Conrad put throughout
the story with the help of Post-colonialism theory from experts, and quoting some parts
from the novel that indicate those aspects.

II. DISCUSSION
Before we start the in depth analysis of ‘Heart of Darkness”, we need to know that this
novel is heavily talking about the imperialism that existed in Congo in the 1890. There
are a lot of other aspects that rotates around psychology and also metaphysic but as we
live in the era of decolonization, the topic of imperialism is the main topic that people
would talk about as the strongest aspect of the novel. In order to understand better, we
can use one of Literary Criticism approach called Post-colonialism. The Post-colonialism
theory usually investigates the impact of European conquest upon their colonized
countries to study their responses and also their counter to resist the imperial domination
upon their cultural appropriation. This theory does not only imply the situation that
happened at the end of colonialism but also after the era of colonialism started.

 Racism in Heart of Darkness

In order to analyze the case of racism in ‘Heart of Darkness’ we can use Gayatri
Chakravorty Spivak’s theory of subaltern. Subaltern is a concept where the issues
of domination and power, citizenship and democracy, transformation and
resistance. The term subalternity is a position where someone has no identity. It’s
where the lines of mobility don’t exist and they have no access to permit a basis
of action. It’s also used to refer someone who has inferior rank or status like
subordinate class, lower caste, certain races, language and culture. According to
Spivak, the subaltern can’t speak. They have no rights in the society that has the
concept of hegemony, therefore they have no rights to be heard by the higher
ranking.

We can link this theory to the racism case that happened in Congo when the
Belgian colonizer invade their land. Beside of treating them less than a human
being, they also oppress them by putting the native in the subaltern position. Not
only getting oppressed, the natives inside the story are also considered as lowly
because the white colonizer believe that they are the one that fit the term ‘brute’.

In the 1975, Conrad got criticized because of his description about the non-
Europeans in his novel, Heart of Darkness. Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist,
declared a strong remark about Conrad being a racist. He stated that Conrad put a
little to none humanity aspect in his novel to refer the Africans that are also the
main complement in his novel. Conrad associated the Africans by calling them
‘satan’ as it shown in this passage below.

“But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that
land I would become acquainted with flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil
rapacious and pitiless folly.” (Heart of Darkness pg. 30)

This passage shows us that Conrad, by using Marlow as his narrator, saw the
natives as nothing humanely but like a devil with a dark shadow. In the novel, we
can barely find the Congolese’s name, and it’s like an intended purpose that
Conrad put as his conscious mind show the trace of racism over the Africans.
Beside of this, he also uses a lot of terms that work with derogatory meanings. In
the novel we can also spot the term of words that Conrad put such as calling the
natives as “savages”, “niggers”, ‘satanic”, “devils”, and many more that has
similar meaning that are intended to portrayed them as something lower than a
human being. The fact that they are seen like this is over the fact that racism over
lower race with black skin is already existent even many years before this novel
got released. But his attitude in this novel is rather abstract because it could also
be his way to show the mindset of people who still get swayed by racism, in this
case, Marlow. It could also be used to people who are racist or doesn’t know
about the concept better to see how much suffering that the Africans should
endure.
 “Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks,
clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the
attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.” (Heart of Darkness pg. 31)

The trace of racism also shown in this passage, as the Africans are described as
black shapes, and the evidence of their suffering is shown at how they are
described in a lot of pain and despair. The fact that they are in this state shows us
how the colonizer put them in the lowest place as their slave, and the subaltern
can’t even oppose the unfair treatment that they got even after getting their land
got taken over with nothing more left for them.

“They were called criminals, and the outraged law, like the bursting shells, had
come to them, an insoluble mystery from over the sea. All their meager breasts
panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered, the eyes stared stonily
uphill. They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete,
deathlike indifference of unhappy savages.” (Heart of Darkness pg. 80)

Conrad described the Africans here as “unhappy savages” like how someone
would describe a wild animal instead of human being. This passage completely
shows us the way Africans are seen in the eyes of the European colonizer.
Marlow himself shows a “lazy” racism by calling them negative phrase, while at
the same time showing his pity that they are treated so badly by the Belgians, but
his concern nor sympathy does not justify his acts of throwing racism throughout
the story, treating the natives lowly when it’s clear that they are the original
owner of sources and land that the colonizer took over.

 Imperialism in Heart of Darkness

We need to take a note that imperialism is the period when African and Asian
countries were colonized by the European in the 19 th century. People that live in
European country, especially people who went to colonize other countries, believe
that they are mightier than other race and were ahead in making new inventions
and also education. They believe in superiority over other countries and the role
of wanting to be superior over other races is considered as something strong,
which is implied throughout the story by Conrad. He made an image of white
imperialism that exploit the land of ‘dark people’. The main character of the story,
Marlow, might be feel conscious and unconscious about the choice he took inside
the story, or we can imply that it’s Conrad’s way to put an implicit remark about
him siding with the white imperialism, while masking it at the same time by his
actions for the orient people that had been forced into work under the white
imperialism Company.

At the beginning of the story, we can see how Marlow narrated the story by
telling us readers about the ancient conquest of Britain that were using brute force
over the native people. The scale of violence here reached the point where many
of the natives were killed in order to protect themselves and their land from the
invaders that were taking away their things and lands to live. However, we can
see how Conrad tried to put his own thoughts through Marlow character by trying
to justify such acts of white colonizer. Many of experts believe that Conrad
believes that the conquest over African and any other countries that are weaker
than them is not something that completely wrong. It could be interpreted as his
wish to say that conquest is acceptable if they perform and show fairness like
constructing the countries that are being colonized, and it’s only fair for the white
conquers to punish whoever denies to subject their orders as they were ruling the
land. Marlow character in the story showed a two-sided imperialism where he
thinks the act of colonizing other country is something unpardonable, but such
brute acts like torturing them and killed them are considered as something
unnecessary.

“Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and
slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time
with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends
behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their lambs
were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were
connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically
clinking. They were called criminals, and the outraged law, like the bursting
shells, had come to them, an insoluble mystery from the sea.” (Heart of Darkness,
pg. 28-29)

From the passage above we can see the bold trace of imperialism that the
colonizer did to oppress the natives, specifically the Africans in this story. Beside
of showing the racism aspect, this passage shows us the image of white colonizer
abused and forced the colonized to work by force under them. They want to
civilize the natives by pushing their power over them, and putting them in low
names such as criminals and the outraged law to force their authority on them,
with the mindset of European is better than people outside their race. Marlow
character here is used to represent a ‘positive side’ of imperialism. He realizes
about the fact that the force and brute acts from the colonizer is something that
unnecessary. In the novel, he stated that he had a heavenly mission to ‘civilize’
them as in to assure the natives that he is going to treat them humanly and help
them from the colonizer, but at the same time he also cannot deny the fact that he
is also one of the invader in their land. We can see his double perspective in the
story by the way he behaved in the story. Marlow would turn his head after seeing
the blunt force and abuse that the natives should got from the imperialism, and
accepted the fact that it’s ‘normal’ to get it. His thoughts and action over the
imperialism does not support his convictions.

Another example of indirect imperialism shows in this passage.

“…it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a
camp of—enemies!” (Heart of Darkness pg. 31)

On the underlined words, it’s indirectly telling us about the colonizer thoughts
over the natives. They considered them as enemies and that’s why they tend to
force their power over them by showing that they are capable of doing anything,
even to kill them if they refuse to submit under their authority to take over the
land.

“He encounters scenes of torture, cruelty, and near slavery.” (Heart of Darkness.
pg. 45)

This one practically tells us about Marlow thoughts on the whole scene happening
in Congo, and how the natives are treated by the Belgians invader in order to
make the natives surrender under their power. The mention of slavery here also
commonly attached to imperialism because we can see how people that are
originally came from the said land, are treated like a slave for people who came
from another place to control over them under the term of ‘civilization’. The
natives who got treated badly. People who died from slavery are left on their own
without ever get taken care off. But we also need to pay attention on how Conrad
shaped Marlow description inside the novel.

“Near the same tree two more bundles of acute angles sat with their legs drawn
up.” (Heart of Darkness pg. 36)

Let’s take a notice on how Marlow describe the natives who are dying as a
‘bundles’ not a human being or another term that’s more humanly to be attached
on them. The word bundles here showed that he saw the natives as a thing and not
an actual human being like them. This way, we can see that Marlow is not giving
out his concern because he is opposed completely with the colonizer, and just
showing his pity but not doing something much to fix the situation. We can also
see how inhumanely the colonizer treated the natives until they can’t even be seen
as something close to proper human being. The narrate of this novella shows us
the perspective of imperialism where the Europeans colonizer considered
themselves as a superior that has the authority to civilized the Africans because
 they see them as someone primitive and inferior, therefore they have the rights to
dominate their nature and human sources.

III. CONCLUSION
After analyzing the story with Post-colonialism theories, we can see the traces of
imperialism and racism that Joseph Conrad put in his novella ‘Heart of Darkness”. The
Post-colonialism theory that we use help us to investigates the impact of European
conquest upon their colonized countries to study their responses and also their counter to
resist the imperial domination upon their cultural appropriation. In this case, Europeans
army took over Congo in order to make the natives that live there to submit under their
power. Marlow character in the story, work as Conrad’s narrator to explain the whole
situation that happening in Congo when he arrived there to meet Kurtz. From his
perspective, we can see that the colonizer imperialism put the natives under a misery.
They lost their land and everything they have because the Europeans want to have all of
the sources thinking that they are way more powerful in term of race, intelligence, and
also power. Marlow witnessed how the natives are forced to work like a slave without
any kind of care, and left to die when they are no longer can survive the harshness
coming from the colonizer. They are all treated inhumanely and chained like wild
animals, while at the same time being forced to work under the power of the Europeans.
They want to civilize the natives by pushing their power over them, and putting them in
low names such as criminals and the outraged law to force their authority on them, with
the mindset of European is better than people outside their race.

Beside of the imperialism that they are forced onto, the natives also suffered from racism
coming from the Europeans who thinks that their race are better and that black skinned
people like Africans in this story are considered lower than them, shown in the novella
from the way they are attached with negative nouns to describe them. Conrad himself
didn’t give them any names as they are all remained unnamed, and this caused many
people get on their nerves and criticize him as a racist. We use the theory of subaltern
 here where beside of being put out as a subordinate, they have no other option to life, not
to mention voicing their thoughts nor disagreement over the inhumanely treatment. Heart
of Darkness shows us how bad the force of imperialism and racism, not only in the past,
but also still happening in the present.

REFERENCES

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and Two Other Stories (1902).

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286-299. doi:10.2307/461892

3. Burney, S. (2012). CHAPTER TWO: Edward Said and Postcolonial Theory: Disjunctured
Identities and the Subaltern Voice. Counterpoints, 417, 41-60. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from
www.jstor.org/stable/42981699

4. BRANTLINGER, P. (1985). "Heart of Darkness": "Anti-Imperialism, Racism, or

Impressionism?" Criticism, 27(4), 363-385. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from
www.jstor.org/stable/23110450

5. Hawkins, H. (1982). THE ISSUE OF RACISM IN "HEART OF

DARKNESS". Conradiana, 14(3), 163-171. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from
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and the Congo, 1885–1980 https://doi.org/10.1177/0265691415572796z

7. Maggio, J. (2007). “Can the Subaltern Be Heard?”. Political Theory, Translation,

Representation, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 32(4),
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