Resumo de Heart Of Darkness

Heartof Darknesstakes place in a time of mass imperialism by the peoples of Europe on thecontinent of Africa, so it?s no doubt that Europeans seem to control thepeoples of Africa in the novel.Europeans control the rivers by having stations along them where theycan control trade and movement along the rivers. They mercilessly beat the Africans when they make a mistake. They fire on the continent seemingly, for noreason at all but to gain power. And,Europeans manipulate and exploit the peoples for their own good. From the Man-of-war firing randomly on tothe continent, to the men at Marlowe?s station, to the simple manipulations andinfluences Europeans have on Africans we see all throughout the book; therepresentation of ?Europeans? is that of an undeserved power, exploitation andcruelty. The first Europeans in Africa wecome across are the French men on the Man-of-war. They are simply firing at the bush, claiming that there is a campof ?enemies? hiding out in the bush. AsMarlowe put it, ?There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding.? (p. 16) This ship was firing on the continent simplyto show the power they possessed and to try to strike fear into in Africans,making it easier to invade and control.That?s how it was justified, anyway.In reality, the Frenchmen don?t need to sit there and shell thecontinent, but they are doing it anyway.The representation of the French here is of power, and even a bit oflunacy. Next, Marlowe comes to thestation at the mouth of the river. Atthis station he sees the cruelty inflicted on the Africans by theEuropeans. He hears the dynamite of arailway-building project, and sees a group of African men in a chain-gang (p.18-20). He describes them as this,?Black shapes crouched, lay, and sat between the trees, leaning against thetrunks, clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dimlight, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair...They were dyingslowly--it was very clear.? (p. 19)Right after this, he goes and meets the Chief Accountant at the station,a white man dressed in all white clothing, a complete contrast to the men hehad just seen. Here we see how theEuropeans exploit and are cruel to the Africans. While the Africans are hard at work, and even dying, theEuropeans are comfortable and hardly need to work at all. A month later, Marlowe arrivesat the inner station only to find that the ferry he was to use is sunk. At the inner station, Marlowe sees crueltyand exploitation of the Africans by the Europeans again. When a fire breaks out, a young African, whodidn?t even start the fire intentionally (if he even started the fire), isbeaten to almost to death (p. 27-28).He also sees how Africans do all of the dirty work around thestation. They are being exploited ascheap, easy to find labor. Throughall of this, we see the cruelty, exploiation, and ultimately, the power of theEuropeans over the Africans. There is alot of arrogance by the Europeans, who see themselves as the people who mattermost, and if they have to plow over a few Africans to get what they want, so beit. The Europeans seem to rule over theAfricans, only for the purposes of money, and to feel powerful. It is all in vanity. The power, cruelty, and exploitation we seeis all undeserved.

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