Empire And Heart Of Darkness

Joseph Conrad (1857—1924) was born in Poland dominated by Russian and then served as a seaman and later became a citizen of the British Empire, who called himself as "a Polish noble man cased in the British tar". He has produced a particular imperial complex influenced by his complex personal and penetrating dominant imperial ideology and showed it in his works, which serves a new perspective of observing his works and his time. Among his numerous works, Heart of Darkness comes the first one that presents his conflicting imperial complex.The term imperialism was used from the third quarter of the 19th Century to describe political control by a greater power over less powerful territories or nationalities. It comprises two concepts: economical exploitation to weaker power under the camouflage of trade; political oppression over the colonies justified by the fallacy of "white superiority". Said's "culture and imperialism" argues that during imperial times every artist is influenced by his times and shows it in his works. Faucault's "power discourse" believes that knowledge is inextricably connected with power, such that they are written as power/knowledge. Power is exercised within discourses in the ways they constitute and govern individual subjects. Every individual is placed under surveillance of this power/knowledge for what he does, writes, thinks, and etc.Heart of Darkness tells a story in which captain Marlow directed a steamship deep into Africa along the Congo River; hearing that a white named Kurtz breaking away from "civilized world" was worshipped as deity and leader by the local aborigines. Marlow finally saw him who, however, has long corrupted. This book manifests conflicts between civilization and barbarism, and expresses discontentment to colonialism.This book of Heart of Darkness is full of humanism and anti-imperialist sentiments while pervasive were a sense of white superiority and a sense of indifference toward racial discrimination against other races. It is believed that it serves a racialist and a defender of the imperialism while it denounces the brutal behaviors of colonialists in the colonies.In the light of Said's theory and Faucault's theory, we analyze the ambivalence between anti-imperialism and racialism in Heart of Darkness and its historical necessity through decoding Marlow and Kurtz. It is found that Conrad's anti-imperialism comes from his morality and his personal experiences. Conrad's opinion of "The human nature is evil" is at the same time an important reason for his using humanitarianism to oppose colonialism and imperialism. It is the right purpose of this essay to relocate Conrad in history from these perspectives.