Journal #1
Heart of Darkness had brought up numerous amount of discussions to the reader 's attention. The historical content of the novel released the questioning of the motives that fueled European imperialism and how Joseph Conrad characterized it within his writing. Conrad presented a basically naturalistic worldview in Heart of Darkness, but he did not answer all the questions through his novel, with reading the novel readers begin to question human life and the nature of external reality, that is , the world around us. The novel was heavily influenced with the literary movement that is connected to worldview. Literary realism and naturalism were both exploited in this novel , the movement that they were revealed as tainted the reader and left it issues within the reader and the novel. Conrad 's approach to characterising the imperialism in Africa commence with Leopold 's aims. He required to be extract as much wealth as possible the from the Congo, although he also claimed the altruistic motive of bringing western civilization to the "backward" African people. While imperialism in certain parts of Africa had beneficial results, in the Congo, where Heart of Darkness is set its results were truly horrific, leading to the enslavement, mutilation, and death of many Africans. It is estimated the ten million Africans were killed while the Congo was under Leopold II 's control. This part of the horror that Joseph Conrad powerfully exposes in Heart of Darkness. The life experiences that Conrad has experienced prepared him to write the novel. European imperialism is the most obvious topic in the novel; the other one is the "the heart of darkness." Conrad uses the phrase and several variations of it in different ways throughout the book. Kurtz is closely associated with the darkness of the jungle and might himself be called the embodiment of the darkness. Kurtz represent the darkness of man; he is the symbol of the depths of
References: : http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/imperialism.html http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nPfqhqv5k2oC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=heart+of+darkness+imperialism&ots=ddg831Fflj&sig=bRkqowhGZopr3JzQVnCYcAbFCOQ