Imperialism In Heart Of Darkness

Submitted By Dominic-Tringali

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Dominic Tringali
Winkler
AP Lit
October 5, 2013
In the novel “The Heart of Darkness” one of the main themes can be seen as the madness as a result of imperialism. When the character Kurtz dies, his last words were recorded as “The horror! The horror!” There have been many interpretations to what Kurtz could have been referring to as the “horror.” Some say that Kurtz is talking about Europe’s imperialism of Africa as a whole, but the horror Kurtz is referring to was his actions toward the native people
What exactly is the horror that Kurtz is talking about, was it the judgment of his actions? There is no clear answer for this, but we all have our own interpretations. Mostly everyone else in the novel besides Marlow thinks Kurtz has the potential of greatness. In the eyes of others, Kurtz is a great musician, an amazing politician, or a wonderful humanitarian. All of those opinions contradict what Marlow thinks of Kurtz. In the beginning Marlow is disgusted with Kurtz character claiming that he is “mad”, then by the end he has some sort of respect for Kurtz.
Kurtz is one of many men sent into the jungle to rape the land and its people of its natural resources. Kurtz goes into the jungle and becomes obsessed with the people and the land. Though Kurtz has an obsession with ivory this is not the only reason for him to stay in the jungle. His power over the native people kept him in the jungle for so long. If you were given that much power of a population, how could you resist. Can you really blame Kurtz for letting the power get to his head. You may say yes now, but what if you were in that same situation you might think differently. Since you are not in his shoes, you are probably thinking that if anyone who could

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