Evolution of an essay (part III)
The Prompt:
Take a few examples and descriptions from the book Heart of Darkness to illustrate how Conrad’s depictions of the Congo and its inhabitants (natives) seemed very removed from “civilization” and do not deserve to be considered equal to Europe. Use Said and apply the theories. 7-8 pages.
In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad portrays the Congo as a wild frontier world that is constructed as a sharp contrast to European civilization. He pays special attention to the exotic, the unknown, and the dangerous elements of the land, as if to emphasize the differences between European civilization and the savage jungles of Africa. As he highlights this dichotomy, Conrad carefully affirms for his readers the impression that, for the Congo, no civilization existed before it was introduced by the Europeans.
He carefully omits any portrayal of native jungle communities and there is a complete absence of any reference to Congo civilization. There are simply small groups of dull-eyed natives trudging down jungle paths as they do the bidding of their white masters. The picture offered by Conrad suggests that at best there are remote villages in which these unsophisticated savages live inconsequential lives. The few glimpses of these villages conjure images of wild, animalistic orgies consisting of drums, chants, and human sacrifices. They are everything they are expected to be by the 19th century reader.
There are a few sections of the book in which Conrad diverges from the expected, or traditional, depiction of African natives. One scene in particular describes Marlow’s reaction to the howling, leaping men on the shore of the river. These ugly men with horrid faces are shocking to Marlow because, for one moment, he allows himself to feel a sort of kinship with them. He has a fleeting suspicion that these men aren’t entirely inhuman. While this passage does border on a vague form of empathy, it is important to note that this is the closest Conrad ever comes to a genuine recognition of basic human equality. It is as though this is the closest he is able to come to admitting that the Congo inhabitants are humans in the same way Europeans are.
It is apparently more important to Conrad to illustrate the differences between Europe and the Congo. To this end, he makes extensive use of adjectives which convey the sense of the unfamiliar and the mysterious. He continuously reminds the reader how distant and alien this unknown world is by referring to the land or its inhabitants as incomprehensible or impenetrable. For Conrad, not only is the land unknown, it is thoroughly unknowable. He summarizes this view in one beautifully succinct line: “It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over and inscrutable intention.”
With phrases such as “the earth seemed unearthly,” and “the earliest beginnings of the world” he brings the breathtakingly exotic nature of the landscape into sharp focus for the reader. His reference to hippos and alligators serves as a powerful reminder of exactly how exotic, ancient, and dangerous the Congo is, especially compared with the more refined and cosmopolitan settings of Europe.
This idea that the Congo is something ancient, lost in time, and out of sync with the modern world is one which betrays a deeply ethnocentric hubris on the part of the European colonizers. Accompanying this view is the belief that to improve the Congo would be to bring it into the present. The conversation between the Manager and his uncle states this belief quite blatantly: “Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a center for trade of course but also for humanising, improving, instructing.” It is significant that nowhere during the course of this conversation, nor anywhere else in the novel, is it suggested that this improvement and instruction could possibly be a two-way exchange. Indeed, the idea of exchange never enters the minds of those involved in the Congo expedition. Rather, the goals are extraction from and instruction for the Congo.
Said discusses this need to instruct in detail in Orientalism, saying “an assumption had been made that the Orient and everything in it was, if not patently inferior to, then in need of corrective study by the West.” Similarly, in his analysis of the impact and significance of the Description de l’Egypte he lists the many goals of Orientalism. These include the need “to restore a region from its present barbarism,” “to instruct (for its own benefit) the Orient in the ways of the modern West,” and to save it from “silent obscurity where it has lain neglected.”
This pretense of helping to restore the Congo to its potentially prominent place upon the modern world stage is thinly veiled and unconvincing to the modern reader. To the 19th century reader, however, this is not only plausible, but quite likely taken for granted as a basic fact. Since Europe was the very model of modern civilization, it was assumed that what worked for Europe would work for Africa. Technical sophistication was often seen as a measurement of progress and civilization. A land with no roads, no industry, and no trains was a land in need of European instruction and improvement.
Marlow describes a boiler in the grass along with an overturned rail car. These can be seen as one of Conrad’s rare criticisms of industrial imperialism. They are symbolic of the failures of introducing European “progress” into the Congo. To the 19th century European, it would be unthinkable for a society to advance without the conveniences of a railroad. But the question must be asked, why has there been no railroad developed by the Conganese? The question can be answered in part by asking yet another question: why did the European explorers want a railroad in the Congo.
The answer to this is based on the vast differences in the priorities between the two civilizations. The function of a railroad in the Congo, for the Europeans, is to aid in the extraction of resources. This has little to no benefit for the natives of the jungle. Not only does it have no benefit, it seems to bring with it only disastrous consequences. The very fact that they don’t have one gives European explorers and colonizers justification for building one. It also confirms the Europeans’ view that the Congo is not civilized at all. In short, the lack of technological sophistication shows a lack of civilization, which justifies the exploitation by those with a higher level of technological sophistication.
The approach that most effectively seems to offer justification for enslavement and exploitation is the dehumanizing of the native population. Conrad, through Marlow, continually speaks of the natives in dehumanizing terms. He does this in a matter-of-fact way that seems to indicate that he is not making an argument for their inferior nature, but rather stating obvious facts which are well known to him and his readers. He describes the natives either as objects or animals, often employing the pronoun “it” as opposed to “he.” He refers to them as shapes, phantoms, bundles of angles, and shadows. The manner in which he describes their slow death is one of detached curiosity, rather than sympathetic concern.
This dehumanizing view of the natives is fundamental and beyond question. It is inextricably intertwined with a refusal to acknowledge the basic human status of these inhabitants. Moreover, it is equally bound up with the refusal to ascribe the status of “civilization” upon the Congo. A civilization is a community of roads, ships, factories, and steel. It is held together by commerce, legislation, trade, and bureaucratic administration. As none of these things are evident in the jungle, it is obvious that no civilization exists. At least, this is how it would have appeared to Marlow and many other Europeans.
Since the Congo natives had no recognizable system of commerce, the colonizing Europeans offered them a parody of a trade system. The Europeans wanted ivory, a material that was useless in any real practical sense, but valuable as a decorative commodity. For access to this, they paid the natives in copper wire, a material equally useless in a practical sense. And if Kurtz’s mistress is an indication, it was quite possibly equally as valuable in a decorative sense. Though this exchange seems reciprocal, it is shown to be unfair as Marlow notes the absurdity of paying hungry workers in useless trinkets. This is another instance in which European systems are thrust upon the Congo without much thought given to whether or not such systems can function similarly in such different contexts. It is simply assumed that since this type of monetary system works for Europeans, it will work for the Conganese.
Conrad uses many contrasting elements throughout the novel to emphasize the difference between Europe and the jungle. These differences also serve to highlight the perceived inequality of the two worlds. A subtle, but striking contrast constructed by Conrad is between the filth of the jungle and the immaculately starched shirts of the accountant. In fact the whole meticulously arranged wardrobe of the accountant is so conspicuously out of place in the jungle that it arouses the respect and admiration of Marlow. Marlow considers it an “achievement of character” to keep up such an appearance in “the great demoralization of the land.” To Marlow this man represents the bright and shining (if much idealized) Europe, amidst a land of filth, disease, and degeneracy. One can imagine that a sight which so strongly represents familiar domestication would be a welcome sight to anyone facing the terrifying darkness of the jungle.
In analyzing this curiously groomed accountant more closely, it is possible to see more than just a comforting representation of Europe for Marlow. The accountant represents adaptation. The particular form of adaptation being demonstrated and appreciated is not one of man to his environment, but of precisely the opposite. Marlow respects the appearance of this man because he has forced the jungle, along with one of its native women, to adapt to his tastes. Despite having been surrounded by the dirty conditions of the jungle for three years, this man looks as though he is still dressed for European society.
somewhere near the conclusion:
Europe is taken for granted as the apex of civilization and this basic assumption is never questioned throughout the novel, even as some of its institutions or values are criticized.
continuum of civilization – many unrecognizable forms
Conrad seems to want to shed light on the mysterious depths of the dark Congo jungle. But the inner secrets of the dark heart of the jungle which are illuminated by his novel are nothing more than the expectations held Iin the mind of the reader from the first page.
Polarization
Binary opposition
conversation between manager and uncle (p31)
value of ivory vs. englishman lost to the darkness
-indicates way of life more important than resources
kurtz has lost english sensibility; given up english identity/civility to survive in congo
anxiety about over the effect of the orient upon the colonizers
-return less civilized (kurtz)
-reason he tells the story is based on his understanding of this fear. he has begun to relate to the congo and its natives, slipping down that same slope kurtz did. begins to empathize culturally, historically.
kurtz as a representative of the congo
marlow’s knowledge of him is indirect, disjointed, collage-like
marlow wanting to hear kurtz talk, not see kurtz do
not a complete and substantial person
-hollow (p.58,68)
civilization/civilized:
p.6 little to eat for a civilized man
p.22 neither civil nor uncivil
p.25 stood by civilly
p.34 try to be civil
p.42 said with marked civility
darkness – inability to see
-as in recognizing another person or culture or civilization
fog has similar function
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