How Does Joseph Conrad Define Imperialism

The Heart of Darkness’ author Joseph Conrad’s idea that imperialism has an extensive impact on African natives and their ways of life is entirely correct; along with the idea that imperialism and colonization are simply a guise of a so-called “noble cause,” used as a veil to shield underlying problems. This idea is portrayed through Conrad’s use of touching on the time before, the period of, and the era following the harshly imperialized and unnecessary colonization of African natives in their lands. Conrad also used symbolism, imagery, and figurative language to bring light to the surface of what lurks inside of the Heart of Darkness in the Congo and the white man’s burden brought along with it. In the novel, the idea that noble cause is a
The same for colonization is “to create a colony in or on [a place] and to take control of [an area] and send people to live there” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), which is exactly what the explorers did who came to Africa, to the people who lived there. They decided that since the people who lived there were lesser individuals than they were just because physically their skin was different, they would try to colonize them and take control to make their living situations better and be more civilized; which is where the idea of noble cause comes from with Kurtz and his men dragging others into this endeavor, even though the Africans were content with how they lived and needed no intervening. The reason being for trying to colonize the area and further expand the territories of the European nation and America was “the pursuit of mineral wealth and territorial conquest…and infrastructure development,” (Maswana Journal 1) which was shown in the scramble for Africa, which occurred near the time the book, was published. The scramble for Africa was a situation when explorers wanted to travel to Africa to get copious amounts of mineral and other types of wealth, as well
Aside from revealing reasons for venturing to Africa, Conrad also worked to show the “cultural complications of discovering unknown lands and people and unraveling the mysteries of the human soul” (Beyond 1) which is shown in the section of the book when Kurtz says towards the end of the novel, “Oh the Horror!” (Conrad 64) when he lay dying on the floor and Marlow realized just how awful and out of hand the period of post imperialism had gotten. Not soon thereafter Marlow realized the Ivory trade and imperialism was far darker and extremely corrupt and Africa was no longer a place on the map he had dreamed of traveling to due to what he had seen in such a short time of being there. He had recognized firsthand how corrupt society is, and the Congo river, the symbol for discovery and the truth, was not something you wanted to travel down for what it would show you when you got past the dense lies of the jungle, and through the truth that followed on the banks with Kurtz’ reservation. Imperialism did not help African way of life because where the original