American Colonialism

Colonialism, the hunger to expand and conquer causes the world, becomes an endless arena for the fight for dominance and inevitable discrimination that follows. Even once colonization ends, the natives are not immediately free because of the aftermath that remains in the dust colonization leaves behind.

The Spanish war gave the United States an empire. At the end of the Spanish war the United States took Spanish colonies such as Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and many other islands. The creation of the American Empire leads to the end of the Spanish Empire. The United States wanted to build up the countries so that markets would open up and purchase American goods and to improve the American economy.

Classical Colonialism occurs when metropolitan nations fuse new territories or peoples through means which are virtually involuntary such as war, conquest, capture, and additional forms of enforcement and control. (Biauner 1987,150) Classical colonialism is distinguished by economic exploitation, forced entry, and cultural imperialism through the establishment of new institutions and methods of thought. (

This isolation lends Marlow a sort of objectivity, allowing him to keenly assess the true damage Europe has inflicted upon the Congo. Unbound by friendships or any close ties, Marlow is able to survey the Congo and its colonists from an outsider’s perspective. As previously noted, he refers to them as “pilgrims” as a means of detaching himself. He comments on how when attacked by natives, “The pilgrims had opened with their Winchesters, and were simply squirting lead into that bush” (Conrad 41). By distancing himself from the others, Marlow is able to recognize the pointlessness of the chaotic violence the Europeans perpetuate. Though his distaste for European methods is not always well defined, it is definitely evident, seeming to escalate as he travels further along the Congo. Perhaps, then, the “heart of darkness” that Marlow so frequently says he is journeying into is not the jungle itself, but rather the truth about European brutality. At the core of this heart, both physically and symbolically, lies the Inner Station, where Marlow finds Kurtz. When Marlow first hears about Kurtz, he is fascinated. The colonists rave, “He is a prodigy…He is an emissary of pity, and science, and progress, and devil knows what else” (Conrad 22). These colonists are naïve, uninformed, beholding Kurtz as

Kurtz acts as an emblem of the imperialist, taking possession of not only the native people of the Congo, but also everything around him. Marlow notes Kurtz’s ignorance in thinking that he can own all of these things, expecting to hear “the wilderness burst into a prodigious peal of laughter” (Conrad 1989). Kurtz’s privilege and, therefore, lack of understanding of the native people leads to his corruption by the heart of darkness. Losing his morality and sanity, begs the question as to whether or not Kurtz was moral to begin with and questions the standards of Victorian and Imperial England.

There is an abundance of literature in which characters become caught between colliding cultures. Often, these characters experience a period of growth from their exposure to a culture that’s dissimilar to their own. Such is the case with Marlow, Joseph Conrad’s infamous protagonist from ‘Heart of Darkness’. Marlow sets off to Africa on an ivory conquest and promptly found himself sailing into the heart of the Congo River. Along the way he is faced with disgruntled natives, cannibals, and the ominous and foreboding landscape. Marlow’s response to these tribulations is an introspective one, in which he calls into question his identity. This transcending of his former self renders the work as a whole a

The country’s history begins when the Maya Empire first colonized the area and flourished until about AD 800. (culturegrams.com) One of their greatest accomplishments in Honduras was the city of Copan, a city that was abandoned by the Maya people, and eventually became a colonist magnet for the area when imperialism in Spain took off. Honduras was first inhabited by Spaniards after Christopher Columbus landed on the Northern Coast of Honduras under the control of the Spanish King and Queen in 1592. Explorers such as Henry Cortez and Cristóbal de Olid explored the country and formed colonies. (nationsonline.com) Around this time imperialism already began to affect the native people already there. The formation of colonies caused conflicts as the nationalistic and racist ideas the Europeans had were harmful and inconsiderate of the native peoples ways. An example of this was the battle at Comayagua between the Lenca Indians and the Spanish settlers. This battle was fought by the Lenca Indians in an attempt to stop further expansion of the Spanish ways and exploitation of their native culture. The arrival of the Spaniards and their colonization set the scene for a slippery slope of imperialism’s negative effects that were to come.

It is incredible that a single character can bring such wonder, curiosity, and darkness. Anyone who has read further into the novel “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad will see the ironic, and mind-twisting aspects of imperialism, colonialism, racism, savagery, and insanity throughout the book, brought by the unique characters. One of these characters was Marlow, who was a thirty-two-year-old sailor who longed adventure and fulfilled his dreams of exploring the “blank places” of the map as a young man by taking a job as a riverboat captain with the Belgian company as he travels into the dark heart of Africa. The most important character that truly brings those aspects to the story is Kurtz. Repetitively throughout the journey, Marlow hears

Emily Dickinson has been known very well by many to have a strong opinion on many aspects of her life and the world around her. In I’m Nobody! Who are you?, Dickinson clearly states her negative output on the world’s obsession with fame and ignorance of meaningful talent. Dickinson’s acknowledgement of this unfortunate case is most certainly a timeless concept, a characteristic that lets this poem’s main idea continue to be relevant just as much today as it has been in the past. Moreover, despite the poem’s short length, there is much for one to ponder as they look deeply into this idea.

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he explores the hypocritical and false nature of colonialism. Throughout the novel, almost everyone but Marlow continually describes colonialism as a noble endeavor, yet Marlow’s experience while in the Congo constantly and thoroughly disproves such claims.

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he explores the hypocrisy and false nature of colonialism. Throughout the novel, everyone but Marlow continually describes colonialism as a noble endeavor, yet Marlow’s experience while in the Congo constantly and thoroughly disproves such claims.

In 1865, Europe authorized King Leopold’s claim on the Congo. Presenting himself as a philanthropist longing to civilize the savage Africans, Leopold’s fabricated facade demonstrates the basis of colonialist ideology. While much of European society bought into the noble ideals of colonization, they failed to see the reality of the immoral subjugation of the native population. According to critics, the Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, appears to bolster Leopold’s facade. However, when examining the novella through the postcolonial lens, the novel surfaces to be more than Marlow’s journey up the river. In fact, it records the struggles of an European breaking free from “colonialism...within the individual psyche” (Tyson 428). Although the

To combat these fears, Conrad and Marlow set the scene of the story in a dark, unknown land, and as their burdens increase and threaten their identities, the white men react with racism and cruelty. With his burden of insecurity and struggle to maintain his identity, Marlow attempts to cover up the truths about the inhumanity of the Europeans. To justify the horrors he uncovers and to rebury these threats to his power, Marlow depicts the natives as primitive savages deserving of the white men’s rule. He calls them “not inhuman” as he describes their ferocity and wildness because he feels threatened by the idea of his “remote kinship” to these uncivilized natives (Conrad 45). Like many Europeans, Kurtz enters the African setting with

“‘The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much,’”. (21) This is the lesson that remains with Joseph Conrad’s protagonist, Marlow, as he travels the world and moves through life. That which is paraded as a glorious, noble cause reveals itself to be, in actuality, an act of thievery and brutality enrobed in the trappings of humanitarianism. In achieving his goal of exploring places unknown to him, Marlow is forced to remove the comforting blindfold of European colonialism. He finally is able to see the light of truth, which illuminates the darkest places known to civilization and reveals that sometimes that which is believed to be pure is merely carefully concealed corruption. Through meticulous imagery and diction, Conrad manipulates literary representations of light and dark to challenge preconceived notions of race and truth, and reveals imperialism to be the heart of darkness for which his novella is titled. He delivers this message through a character who, even in the face of horror, favors his ignorance over reality and thus serves as a warning to those who claim to value virtuousness and humanity.

Kurtz is ambitious, eloquence and charisma to achieve greatness as he initially begins his colonization. His Intended depicts him as “a man of promise, greatness, a generous mind, and a noble heart” (Conrad 95). The Intended is totally obsessed with Kurtz and considers him as the ideal. In Kurtz’s report to the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs, he thinks that Europeans’ dominance and colonization would benefit and civilize the Africans: “we approach them with the might as of a deity….‘By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded’ ”(Conrad 60). Kurtz initially travels to Africa in search of adventure with the passion for colonization. He deems that by the benevolence of the Europeans and by the exertion of God he will be able to work collaboratively with the Native he is able to civilize Africans.