While Conrad expounds a number of themes in this short tale, none are more important than the institution of colonialism and the negative effects that come from it. The Company’s control of the Congo (which in real life was a ruthlessly-administered Belgian colony during the reign of Belgium’s King Leopold II) is downright disgusting in its treatment of the continent. Both natives and the resources of the land are shamelessly exploited for the enrichment of the “civilized” Europeans who are supposed to be bringing society and “light” to this continent of darkness. But the Africans are not the only people shattered by imperialism. So too are many of the Europeans, who lose their ways and minds in the wilderness of the savage land.
European imperialism always carried with it the hypocritical goal of civilizing the native populations as a sort of political cover for the shameless money grabs the colonies really were. In this system, the natives were routinely exploited and abused instead of civilized and taught. In Heart of Darkness, this abuse is symbolized in a grove of trees that Marlow stumbles upon where “‘Black shapes crouched, lay...clinging to the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair” (Conrad 20). These “creatures,” as Marlow describes them, had been dragged out of the darkness of the continent’s vast interior to work the land for the greedy white capitalists. When their bodies withered, they were allowed to crawl away and die in this grove, as they could be easily replaced by further raids into the jungle. The land itself was treated little better. It was defaced by the existence of what Marlow describes as “a vast, artificial hole somebody had been digging...the purpose of which I found it impossible to divine” (Conrad 20). Furthermore, the natural resources of the continent were ruthlessly pursued. The stations, which one Company Manager asserts “should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course but also for humanising, improving, instructing” (Conrad 34). In reality, the trade was always remembered, but the other things were tossed by the wayside. Marlow alleges that, as he journeyed upriver past various stations, “The word ‘ivory’ would ring in the air for a while” (Conrad 36). The stuff had made Kurtz famous among men of the Company, but also driven him mad.
Kurtz’s descent into madness is the other dark side effect of the imperial system. Some Europeans, so used to the rigid social constructs of their own continent, were unprepared for the wilderness and freedom afforded by Africa or other exotic locales. Without checks on their behavior, many colonials saw themselves spiraling out of control and letting the inherent savagery that lives inside each human consume them. In Kurtz’s case especially, the lack of other Europeans to temper his ambitions and tactics leads to his “going rogue” and resorting to such measures as putting the heads of slain natives on stakes as a warning. The man goes so far as to install himself as a sort of demi-god among the Africans, all in the pursuit of ivory and the profits and prestige that come with it.
Marlow feels this same force tugging at him, but is able to navigate the treacherous waters of Africa (both literally and figuratively) and keep his sanity and humanity.
