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Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness: A Postcolonial Reading

  • Unique Paper ID: 166203
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 2
  • PageNo: 689-692
  • Abstract:
  • Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a critical theory analysis of the history, culture, literature and discourse of (usually, European) imperial power. Now the question is-can Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) be considered as a postcolonial novel in the light of above concept? Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) may be read from many perspectives. Written in the Victorian period this short novel covers many issues which are equally relevant even for today. Imperialism, Capitalism, racism, white man’s burden, civilized-savage binary, Western or European discourse and many other issues that have been touched upon within this short canvas. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) tells the journey of Marlow through the African jungle and his search for European Mistah Kurtz who exploits the natives by imposing violence. It is actually based upon Conrad’s own experience in congo. Conrad virtually learned how Europeans exploited and traded the natives for their own benefit during his own journey. Inspite of diverse criticism, the book is regarded as a subtle attack on imperialism and criticizes immoral treatments of the European colonizers on African in the late 19th century. Keith Booker states that “the book deals with issues such as imperialism, capitalism, race, and gender that were very much at the forefront of the turn-of-the century European mind. Conrad’s ambivalent treatment of these issues is extremely representative of the way they were treated in any number of European discourses of the time” (217). Besides, chinua Achebe in his “An image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” comments that Heart of Darkness (1899) 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 triumphamt bestiality’ (338). Although Achebe advocates that the novel genuinely champions the cause of colonialism and mercilessly comdemns Conrad as “a bloody racist”, I personally consider that Conrad does not intend to write the novel to appreciate colonialism and to justify the imperial enterprise as a way to civilize the savage. Rather Conrad very skilfully hints the failure of the European discourse through the depiction of the pictures of excessive greed, exploitative mentality and capitalistic attitude of the so called European civilized people like, Kurtz, Manager, Brick-maker and many others. In doing so Conrad has given us an opportunity to undergo a contrapuntal reading of the novel which will help us to understand how Conrad has deconstructed binary oppositions of colonialism by subverting the grand-narrative of European discourse about African in 19th century.
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  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 2
  • PageNo: 689-692

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness: A Postcolonial Reading

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