Supremacist Ideologies in Joseph Conrads Heart of...

Supremacist Ideologies in Heart of Darkness nbsp; Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness colludes with the ethnocentric attitude of Europeans towards the native people of Africa. At the turn of the century, European imperialism was viewed as a crusade worthy of this century of progress by King Leopold of Belgium. Although Conrad was critical of imperialism, his novella reveals to the reader an undeniable Victorian provenance. It endorses cultural myths of the period and reinforces the dominant ideology of the British gentleman. Its Victorian provenance is revealed in the representation of race, which is constructed through the character Marlow. His powerful narrative viewpoint reinforces what Chinua Achebe called Europes comforting†¦show more content†¦nbsp; It is further suggested that this ambivalence towards other races is part of the deliberate belief which is necessary in order for British gentlemen to resist the appeal of descending into the natives primordial fiendish row which takes place on shore during to the trip to the Inner Station. In this encounter, the Africans are seen as a howling mob. Marlow does admit a remote kinship with them, but he explains that he was prevented from going ashore for a howl and a dance because of his dedication to efficiency and his redeeming work ethic. Marlow describes the native who works as a fireman on board the steamer as an improved specimen who had been given the gift of improving knowledge by the Europeans. Yet the narrator is condescending towards his intrepidity in working the boiler and calls him a fool-nigger for having deserted his post during the attack. The ideologies of the British gentleman are consistently privileged over any attempt to understand the natives. nbsp; In almost all of these encounters, black Africans are denied speech. Marlow is content to describe their attempts at communication as a violent babble of uncouth sounds or short, grunting phrases. The two occasions on which the natives are granted speech only further serve to marginalise them. The helmsmans cry to catch im... Eat im! when asked by Marlow what he would do with the natives on shoreShow MoreRelatedJoseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1198 Words   |  5 Pages Joseph Conrad, in his novel Heart of Darkness, comments on the nature of imperialism, the individual psyche, and the evil inherent in the human condition. Chinua Achebe, a contemporary literary critic, argues that as the protagonist, Marlow, travels through the Congo, Conrad maintains a Western imperialist attitude towards the African natives. According to the novel, the natives are a sort of animalistic backdrop, a part of a landscape to merely house Kurtz and Marlow’s metaphysical battle. TheRead MoreOne Sig nificant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pages(2006): 1–28. 46. Patrick K. O’Brien and Leandro Prados de la Escosura, â€Å"Agricultural Productivity and European Industrialization, 1890–1980,† Economic History Review 45, no. 3 (1992): 514–536. 47. Moya, Cousins and Strangers, 150–153, 266–276. Joseph P. Ferrie, â€Å"History Lessons: The End of American Exceptionalism? Mobility in the United States since 1850,† Journal of Economic Perspectives 19, no. 3 (2005): 199–215 also shows exceptionally high levels 50 †¢ CHAPTER 1 of upward mobility