Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Good Vs Evil

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Madeline Koldos
AP Senior English—8
Mr. Besch
January 12th, 2015
The Lesser Evils In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a story centered upon the introspective sailor Marlow takes us on his journey on the Congo River while employed by a Belgian trade company. He closely works with a seemingly reputable ivory trader, Kurtz, but soon learns of the nightmarish treatment that he and other Europeans impose on the natives due to their lack of regime, as well as Kurtz’s corrupt sales and distribution of stolen goods. As he sees the imperialism of England rear its ugly head, he questions what civilization truly is as he sees the abuse of its institution in Africa and the hollowness of it in Europe.
The darkness within the hearts of the European traders in Africa makes Marlow question the way they are forcing rule upon the natives, and notices the way they use their sense of superiority to control those they see as “savages.” Even though he is European and one would think he would have more kinship with the other workers, he rather looks down on them with disgust at their actions. He refers to the colonists that come to Africa as representing “the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires” (36). This is due to their greed of ivory, as well as their desire of the “conquest of the earth, …show more content…
Marlow sees this conquest of bringing sophistication to Africa for what it really is: an opportunity to oppress and dominate the native people. He refers to Kurtz as
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