Race in Heart of Darkness

Note: Instead of citing directly any of the essays which I read in the Norton Critical Edition of Heart of Darkness and will instead generally discuss racial issues in the novella.




The issue of race in Conrad's work has been a subject of extensive discussion. There is a clear disparity between the portrayal of Europeans and Africans in Heart of Darkness which has been criticized for the absence of African characters who possess unique traits. While it is easy to look at this as racism, there are a variety of things which Conrad was discussing. While he is clearly not giving Africans the same interest as the European characters, he is examining a society destroyed by violent exploitation. The disparity of a civilized and calm Europe and a turbulent central African reeling under violent oppression is not an unfair comparison.

There are several intentions which Conrad could have had for his novel. For one thing, within the text there is clearly an in depth discussion of late 19th century imperialism which does not hold imperialism in high regards. Unlike Kipling, Conrad does not feel that there is a "white burden" which Europeans have to fulfill. Instead, Conrad shows that imperialism is not helping either party; the expense is not worth it to Europeans and the devastating toll on Africans does not need to be further described. While Africans could have greatly benefited from trade for European goods, instead Africans were enslaved and slaughtered in order to steal their land and resources. Further, the Belgian were not allowing Africans to trade with anyone but Belgian government officials.

Whether or not Conrad views Africans as being a "lesser race" the system of capitalism is designed as such that it would help everyone; regardless of the abilities of central Africans in economic production, and actual system of free trade would have helped Africans significantly. The system of setting up trading posts and trading with the natives in a mutually agreeable fashion benefits everyone, however the Belgians did not follow a remotely similar policy. Instead the Belgians looted the country dry.

There was a distinct reason that being in Africa was destroying the soul of Europeans, and it was witnessing the brutal oppression of Africans. It is hard to imagine the experience of going up the Congo river at the time to be anything but ghoulish; it seems something that a generally sympathetic person could not emotionally handle. Instead, Kurtz tries to take control of Africans and protect them from other colonizers. Whether or not he does that successfully, it seems that Kurtz is trying to save the people from the violence they were already facing. The primary reason which Europeans seem so disturbed is the violence which they are surrounded by.

Conrad shows no illusions about imperialism, and instead Marlowe sees it as a purely for-profit adventure. As he moves further up the river, it becomes increasingly apparent that this situation is destroying Europeans involved in it while devastating African society. Imperialism in Africa was often a horrific experience, it stands to reason that Marlowe would not see an inspiring pinnacle of human civilization in an area ravaged by marauders.