Conrad: a Complicit and Unwitting Correspondent of European Colonisation

Many of today?s modern issues of racism stem from the programmes of aggressive colonisation taken on by European nations during the nineteenth century. At the time, the underlying attitudes of racial superiority and hence the altruistic nature of civilising more primitive cultures, were accepted within European communities and rarely challenged within contemporary literature. Consequently, the few texts that did attempt to challenge these notions have been praised for awaking people to the evils of colonisation. One such text is Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Conrad quite obviously sets out to portray the inherent evil within colonisation, even summarising the message of his novella as:

[q]The criminality of inefficiency and pure selfishness when tackling the civilising work in Africa?.
(The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, p139)[/q]

However, due to the historical context of the late nineteenth century, when Conrad wrote his novella, the text contains many underlying assumptions which uphold the racist and Eurocentric ideals of colonisation. Heart of Darkness unwittingly foregrounds the disempowerment of the African continent and peoples, dehumanises individual African characters, and by overly emphasising the binary opposition of light and darkness, upholds the moral imperative to civilise the primitives, the driving ideal behind colonisation. The text operates with direct reference to an implied white audience socially and culturally conditioned to overlook these faults and contradictions in the text?s message, however, these faults exist. Though attempting to comment on the evils of colonisation, Heart of Darkness contains basic racist assumptions, which make it a complicit correspondence of the enterprise of European colonisation in Africa.

The noted African literary critic Chinua Achebe in his analysis of the text first noted that in focussing on the power struggle between Europe and Africa, African culture is never given an opportunity to be expressed. The novella?s geographic world is extremely Eurocentric, with the focus always on Europe as the world?s centre. Opening descriptions of the Thames and famous European explorers such as Francis Drake enforce this European supremacy. They provide readers with the idea that the ocean is important only in so much as it transports Europeans, and assume that a place does not exist until discovered and colonised by Europeans. Non-European sea-use is looked down upon, such sailors described as ??dark ?interlopers???(p17) and thereby disempowered on the sea. These assumptions made early in the text permeate the entire novella, as they form the basis of descriptions of a ?dark? continent. When Marlowe describes Africa as ??the biggest, the most blank??(p22) he discounts any previous culture and the millions of people living there because they are non-European. Europe is the centre of the novella?s world, with all places judged in terms of their relationship with that centre. This assumption is inherently racist and supports colonialist views that in order to exist in the world, a country must be Europeanised. Such assumptions disempower the African continent in the text, providing a complicit correspondence of European colonisation.

Africa is also completely disempowered culturally as a continent. Throughout the text no attention is given to African culture or history, although Europeans of the time were well aware of it?s existence. It is described that the African people:

[q]?still belonged to the beginnings of time ? had no inherited experience to teach them?
(p69)[/q]

This discounts the centuries of African civilisation before European discovery. Not only do such assumptions disempower African peoples within the cultural discourse of the text, it also creates a situation where it is seen as the moral duty of the white colonists to enlighten and teach these savages. This automatically assumes the supremacy of European ways and value systems, categorising African ways as savage and ignorant. These underlying racist assumptions of the text undermine even the more explicit messages of the evils of colonisation. Though Marlowe comes to an understanding at the novella?s conclusion that the African people deserve respect and dignity, the disregarding of African culture and tribal knowledge in the text undermines any such revelations. Thereby, Conrad?s great tale is and unwitting accomplice of European colonisation.

Conrad also foregrounds the power relationship between Europe and Africa through the relationships between Marlowe and African minor characters. This is most evident in his relationship with the helmsman. Marlowe states he ??had him on his back?.for months?.? (p84), yet instead of being a genuine friend, the helmsman was ??an instrument?? (p84). It is a working relationship where it is expected for the European to take the position of leadership and even to educate the supposedly lesser African in the ways of the world. This expectation is foregrounded even at the beginning of Marlowe?s adventure in Africa, as readers are informed of the ??scuffle??(p23) which killed the previous skipper. It is assumed that there will be a violent struggle for power and that the European is the only one with a right to that power. Hence, when the past skipper is murdered, he is described as the victim in the situation. This power struggle takes precedence in the novella, rather than working as an avenue for describing the unbiased merits and faults on either side of the ocean. Such assumptions remove opportunities for presenting the truth about African society, thereby effecting a disempowerment of the Dark Continent within the text. The text is therefore acting in accordance with the enterprise of European colonisation in Africa.

Individual African characters in the text are dehumanised, leading to a further acceptance of the superiority of European characters in the text. Though Heart of Darkness strives to provide a message that ??they were not inhuman??(p62) this is undermined by subtle assumptions made in the crafting of the text. A binary opposition between the physical and the mind is established and serves to categorise characters. Whereas white characters have a mental presence in the text, black characters remain purely physical in their descriptions. It is stated:

[q]?they had bone, muscle, a wild vitality, an intense energy of movement, that was ? natural and true?
(p30)[/q]

These descriptions are seen as a positive representation of the savages, yet they disregard any mental or spiritual capacity of the African people, defining them as purely physical presences, no more than animals. In fact, the text goes on to employ animalistic imagery in the description of African characters:

[q]Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind wagged to and fro like tails?
(p33)[/q]

These ??tails?? and animalistic traits are imposed upon the African characters in accordance with the expectations of the implied white audience. The text does nothing to remove these preconceptions of the faults in African humanity, but instead by upholding such prejudices, also works to uphold the precept behind colonisation, that these people are less than human and therefore need to be helped to see the European way of life. In such subtle ways, Conrad has acted as a correspondent of the enterprise of European colonisation in Europe.

The major binary opposition within the text is that between darkness and light. In the majority of imperialist literature, such opposites work to create an ?us? and ?them? mentality in the text, thereby enhancing racial inequalities already present. In Heart of Darkness Conrad makes a conscience effort not to produce this attitude. He does this by referring to the Roman colonisation of Europe and the ?...darkness ? here yesterday??(p19) present in that situation. By making that historical link, Conrad portrays ?darkness? as not associated with a specific cultural context but as inherent to the process of colonisation. However, within the language of binary opposition there is still an implied moral imperative to bring the darkness into light. This results not only from subconscious links made between directly denoted ?dark? skin of the Africans and the connotation of evil, but also through specific events of the plot. The text describes the setting of Africa as a ??sinister black-cloth??, a negative image which is passed on to all African characters and customs. The use of this binary opposition also serves to simplify a more complex issue. People are not just black or white, but have many shades of skin colour, just as there are many shades of grey within moral issues presented in the text. However, by reducing this truth to such a clear-cut binary opposition, the divide between the races is highlighted, and an arbitrary judgement as to who is good and who is evil is sought. This fails to give justice to the complex issues of racism, and therefore aid the cause of colonisation by preventing readers to identify it as a complex issue. By reducing the magnanimity of the racist issue, Conrad has furthered the enterprise of colonisation.

The negative connotations of ?darkness? and ?savagery? are also enforced by Kurtz?s downfall. The character of Kurtz is established not only as the focus of the novella?s journey, but also as the ultimate symbol of the enterprise of colonisation. Readers are invited into an understanding of Kurtz, as is Marlowe, yet they are positioned to view him differently at different stages of the plot. At first readers are made aware of Kurtz as an ideal adventurer and leader, yet by the novella?s conclusion, the man has mutated into a horrible image of corruption and madness. His pronouncement at his death, ??The horror! The horror!??(p112) passes judgement not only on colonisation, but on the capacity for corruption inherent in all human hearts and which had played such a dominating role in his own life. Though the exploration of Kurtz is used by Conrad to illustrate the evils of colonisation, the means in which his downfall is expressed contradict this very theme. As Kurtz sinks into corruption, he is aligned more closely with the natives, with the height of his inhumanity signified by his establishing himself as a tribal deity. This inextricably links notions of African tribal society to inherent evil, upholding the assumption that African culture is inferior to European culture, and that Africans therefore need to be colonised and civilised if they are to achieve any level of civilisation and humanity. Even if a slightly less harsh reading is taken of African tribal lore, Kurtz, in becoming a deity, enforces notions of white racial superiority, leading to the assumption that they are the natural leaders of the world who should lead the way through such enterprises as colonisation. Though Conrad sets out to expose the evils of colonisation, due to his own cultural and social conditioning, as well as the conditioning of the text?s implied audience, underlying assumptions are made which uphold the precepts on which colonisation stands. In this way, the text becomes an unwitting and complicit correspondence of European colonisation in Africa.

Heart of Darkness, while setting out to expose colonisation for the aggressively racist programme which it is, fails to overcome the social conditioning which effects both the texts implied readership and Joseph Conrad, its author. The text continues to make basic assumptions in accordance with racial attitudes of the time, which undermine any opportunity to pass judgement on colonisation. The African continent is disempowered in the text, as all geographic and cultural knowledge is Eurocentric in nature. Featured African characters are dehumanised, as a binary opposition between physical and mental descriptions of African and European characters respectively, removes from the Africans any sense of mental capacity. The Africans are described using animalistic imagery, which further enforces notions of white supremacy and altruism in offering to help supposedly less fortunate societies through colonisation. The major binary opposition between light and darkness, combined with an exploration of the character Kurtz, while the spearhead of Conrad?s campaign against colonisation, also serves to describe Africans as evil and in need of civilising through colonisation. Heart of Darkness, though seen upon first publishment as a Buddah of racial enlightenment and teacher of the evils of colonisation, can not be rightly praised as one, as it fails to remove underlying assumptions of European racial supremacy which both author and audience were socially conditioned to accept. Conrad has acted as an unwitting and complicit correspondent in the enterprise of European colonisation in Africa, undermining even his own message with racist assumptions.