Dichotomy Between Culture And Imperialism

The Scarlet Letter is made by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This book took place in a puritan town during the 1600s. The scarlet letter is about a woman named Hester Prynne who committed adultery with a minister. She was punished for her sin and had to wear a scarlet letter on her bosom for the rest of her life. As for the minister who is named Arthur Dimmesdale hid in the shadows for years and never took the blame for the sin he also committed. Hester never told anyone that Dimmesdale was the baby’s father so, Dimmesdale always looked like the good guy in any situation. As a result for the sin both Hester and Dimmesdale committed they had a daughter named Pearl. Pearl was an odd child they would say, they also say she was born out of darkness. Pearl

In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the imperialism of Africa is described. Conrad tells the story of the cruel treatment of the natives and of the imperialism of the Congo region through the perspective of the main character, Marlow. Throughout the novel, Marlow describes how the Europeans continuously bestow poor treatment to the native people by enslaving them in their own territory. Analyzing the story with the New Criticism lens, it is evident that Conrad incorporates numerous literary devices in Heart of Darkness, including similes, imagery, personification, and antitheses to describe and exemplify the main idea of cruel imperialism in Africa discussed throughout the novella.

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has allowed me to view the world through a multitude of new lenses. In seeing Kurtz and Marlow’s disintegration when removed from society’s watchful eye, I began to understand that all people have a streak of darkness in them under the right circumstances. While the narrator, and many readers at the time of this novella’s publication, believed that the African natives being colonized were “savages”, this book sheds light on the true brutes in this scenario: the thoughtless Europeans. The other complexity that I never truly understood until reading this book, is the idea that there is a single story told about Africans in Western literature. Africa is portrayed as weak, primitive, and impoverished in most books

Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness is both a dramatic tale of an arduous trek into the Belgian Congo at the turn of the twentieth century and a symbolic journey into the deepest recesses of human nature. On a literal level, through Marlow 's narration, Conrad provides a searing indictment of European colonial exploitation inflicted upon African natives. By employing several allegoric symbols this account depicts the futility of the European presence in Africa.

Chinua Achebe, a well-known writer, once gave a lecture at the University of Massachusetts about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Throughout his essay, Achebe notes how Conrad used Africa as a background only, and how he "set Africa up as a foil to Europe,"(Achebe, p.251) while he also "projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization."(Achebe, p.252) By his own interpretations of the text, Achebe shows that Conrad eliminates "the African as a human factor," thereby "reducing Africa to the role of props."(Achebe, p.257)

Imperialism has been a constant oppressive force upon societies dating back hundreds of years. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, illustrates this oppression by providing an instance of its occurrence in the Congo of Africa, while simultaneously setting the stage for The Poisonwood Bible, which is essentially the continuation of the story. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, demonstrates how the Congo is still affected by modern circumstances and ideology. Conrad’s novella acts as a sort of precursor to the events later depicted in Kingsolver’s novel, and this very connection between the stories illustrates the perpetual oppression of imperialism. This oppression is shown through the characterization of the pivotal characters

He uses derogatory and offensive remarks that devalue people of color and make them out to be savages. Chinua Achebe, a well-known writer, talked about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Throughout his essay, Achebe notes how Conrad "set Africa up as a foil to Europe,"(Achebe) while he also "projects the image of Africa as “the other world”. Africa is said to be a “prehistoric” world. Conrad described this land as non-advanced and inferior to the western countries.

Joseph Conrad often mocked the African peoples. In his novel, Heart of Darkness, he referred to the African people as “savages” and used strong language that looked down upon them. Conrad describes a passing native, “They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages.” Conrad depicts the Africans in very vivid descriptions and uses negative language with an almost disgusted tone. He sees the Africans as inhuman, feels they are not civilized, and believes himself to be far more superior than them. Conrad does not bother to try and understand their culture or language. He insults their language and believes it is merely just incomprehensible grunts. Conrad remarks that looking at an African “was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs.” The comparison he uses is very insulting to the African people and so degrading that Conrad found an African working as so surprising. He was taken away that an African could be civilized and Conrad was just mocking the natives. By using such cynical language, Conrad changes what the readers think of Africans to become negative. This view of African peoples from Conrad contrasts Achebe’s perspective of African peoples and their lives which was more influenced by his own race, culture, and beliefs just as Conrad’s novel was.

During the 19th century, imperialism was created to change the world. It promised economic success, global improvement, and ethical changes. It was not simply promising, it was also beautiful, alluring, and mysterious. Like that of the black Congo river, winding it’s way through Africa into places man had never dared venture. “Where some nations tended high-mindedly to regard overseas expansion as an organic extension of their destiny, Heart of Darkness can suggest a powerfully alternative vision: of imperialism as historical deformation, whose working out involves an inevitable principle of degeneration”(Conrad xxiii). In Joseph Conrad’s novel the Heart of Darkness, he uses the esteemed character Mr. Kurtz as an allegory of the descent of

Imperialism and its oppressive processes have affected societies as well as individual lives for centuries. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, oppression through imperialism demonstrates how a certain civilization, the Congolese, is affected negatively by imperialism. By focusing on Africa, it allows for a graphic recount of the many years spent reigned by foreign oppressors and tyrannies. In Heart of Darkness, the Congo is oppressed by the imperialists economically and geographically. As well, the oppressed people are taken advantage of spiritually. Conrad describes how the ruling tyrant is affected by the process of conquering a local people and this draws a parallel to the ruling empire. Conrad, through his novel, attempts to

The term “progress” often brings to mind images of advancement and moving forward; how ironic it is then that nineteenth-century Europe was viewed as a collection of progressive people. Claims of bringing salvation, religion, culture, and commerce through Imperialistic rule were used to justify European expansion. However, despite the fanciful ideas and propaganda spread across the populace, the harsh reality of colonialism told an incredibly different story. Joseph Conrad explores the relationship between the European idea of progress and the colonial reality of Imperialism in Heart of Darkness. Filled with figurative and literal metaphors, Conrad’s novella exposes the tenuous threads that bind civilization together and follows naive Marlow

In “An Image of Africa”, Chinua Achebe comes to the bold conclusion that Joseph Conrad “was a bloody racist” (788), with his discussion centering primarily on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a racist text. Achebe’s reasoning for this branding rests on the claims that Conrad depicts Africa as “a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar in comparison with which Europe 's own state of spiritual grace will be manifest” (783), that Africans in Heart of Darkness are dehumanized through both the characterization of individual Africans and the Congo as a setting, and finally that Marlow is no more than a mouthpiece for Conrad’s personal views on race and imperialism. However, Achebe makes critical oversights and contradictions in the development of each of these argumentative pillars, which prove fatal to the validity of his overarching contention. This should not be construed, though, as a yes-or-no assessment of whether Conrad was a racist outside of what his written work suggests—Achebe himself has “neither the desire nor, indeed, the competence to do so with the tools of the social and biological sciences” (783)—but as an assessment of claims specific to Heart of Darkness and their implications for Conrad’s views and attitudes.

In Chinua Achebe’s essay, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad 's Heart of Darkness,” Achebe purports that Joseph Conrad’s short story, Heart of Darkness, should not be taught due to it’s racist caricature of Africa and African culture. In Conrad’s book, Marlow, a sea captain, is tasked with venturing into the center of the Congo, otherwise known as the Heart of Darkness, to retrieve a mentally unstable ivory trader named Kurtz. Marlow narrates his adventures with a tinge of apathy for the enslaved Congolese who are repressed beneath the foot of the colonizing Belgians. In Heart of Darkness, the Africans are reduced to “savages” and cannibals with little or no moral values. It is Achebe’s argument that due to these characterizations, it is an abomination that Heart of Darkness be continued to be taught. Despite Achebe’s vehement opposition to the teaching of Conrad’s novel, academics should not only continue to teach Heart of Darkness in a lyrical sense, but also a historical one.

On 9/11 2001 one of the most tragic events happened of all time. It was a clear sunny day in the fall when 4 planes were suddenly hijacked. The first plane was the American Airlines Flight 11 with 92 people aboard. The plane leaves from Boston’s International Airport going to Los Angeles. The second plane was the United Airlines Flight 175 with 65 people aboard. It leaves from Boston also going to Los Angeles. Then the last plane was the American Airlines Flight 77 leaves from Dulles International Airport is headed to Los Angeles with 64 people aboard. The last was plane was the American Airlines Flight 77 with 64 people aboard. Almost 3,000 people were killed that day.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, emphasizes the need for civil disobedience when faced with unjust laws. This refutes Socrates’ claim made in “Crito”, that one must follow the law under all circumstances. In this paper, I will argue that Socrates is a proponent of civil disobedience. This will be described based on King’s definition of civil disobedience, Socrates’ claims that his charges are false, and how both Socrates and King’s actions resonate with one another.