David Miller
British Lit.
Heart of Darkness response.
For hundreds of years, humans have migrated to newly discovered parts of the world, taking with them their own cultures and ideas. Many countries have extended their influence and control over far-reaching dependencies. A select few have always seen this as wrong to say the least. Joseph Conrad is one of the harsher critics of colonialism. This is probably credited to the fact thats he’s Russian and is therefore always in a bad mood. Conrad wrote his best selling novel Heart of Darkness, in 1899. In the novel, Europeans establish an “outpost of Progress” in Africa. Throughout the story Conrad depicts terrifyingly brutal scenes in which the colonists take advantage of the natives.
Some might argue that this practice was merely a flaw of the times these men lived in; that humans as a race have “grown out,” of these old habits. In our modern Western society colonization has taken a new identity, globalism. Today we send our armies to other countries under false pretenses and take the resources. There seems to be some unsaid rule that whoever has the most power can freely take from lesser societies.
To succeed in our modern world it seems as though we must out aside any sense of moral understanding, to grow we must make sacrifices. Many of our worlds great minds have recognized this trend. Alfred Sauvy took Abby Siyes’s “One Planet, Three Worlds” description of the French Revolution, and split the said world into three parts: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The trend he noticed is that the 1st and the 2nd Worlds have been coming closer and closer, almost becoming indistinguishable, while the 3rd has been moving further towards extreme poverty.
Conrad used the most extreme example of this trend. Great Britain’s colonization of the Americas, Africa, and the Middle-East saw some of the most horrific treatment of humans by other humans. After England stored up enough wealth on its own land, it spread its reach out across the globe, taking all that it saw fit to be taken. In our modern world, similar Western nations spring up. But with new technologies in communication and education, it has been harder for new powers to justify their modern colonization efforts. But not to fear, excuses can always be made. In modern society world powers are very quick to explain that they are actually educating these less developed third world countries. They tell us that these countries weren’t really happy doing things their way and that they actually wanted chain corporations and shopping malls, where before they had only drab depressing forests and mountains.
But who is to really blame? In Conrad’s example the British are in Africa looking for Ivory. It does seem that in most cases what starts off as a quest for the “mother-land,” turns into a shopping run for K-Mart. Major powers are in search of three things when they’re expanding: new markets, raw materials, and a cheap labor force. So either we are here to steal your people for our cotton farms, to rape your land, or (if your lucky) to have Arbies and KFC shoved down your throat. As major corporations tighten their hold on politics, the corruption also sinks deeper and deeper into our society.
Great minds throughout our history, now including myself, have argued the same point. Conrad told it through his book and for all we know Jackson Pollock told it through his paintings (they could mean anything). But the underlying message through out is that when we let greed and power get in the way of our morals… Well _____ goes down.
