examples from heart of darkness

1. EXAMPLES OF
IMPERIALISMRACISM IN
HEART OF DARKNESS
Andrea Pescador, Aida Olvera, Sebastian Chavarria,
Joshua Pinera, Regina Fragoso

2. Example #1

Chapter 2
 Page
4
"The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there-there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were--No, they were not inhuman. Well,
you know, that was the worst of it--this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled,
and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity-- like yours-the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly.…..”

This is an example of racism because they are describingtalking about
a native and they describe him in rude ways and say they’re ugly
because the europeans thought the were sueprior than the natives.

3. Example #2

Chapter 2
 Page
7
"I went forward, and ordered the chain to be hauled in short, so as to be ready to trip the anchor and
move the steamboat at once if necessary.

In the times of imeprialism the steamboats were used and invented as a way of
transportation.

4. Example #3

Chapter 2
 Page
7

`Will they attack?' whispered an awed voice. `We will all be butchered in this fog,' murmured
another. The faces twitched with the strain, the hands trembled slightly, the eyes forgot to wink. It
was very curious to see the contrast of expressions of the white men and of the black fellows of our
crew, who were as much strangers to that part of the river as we, though their homes were only
eight hundred miles away. The whites, of course greatly discomposed, had besides a curious look of
being painfully shocked by such an outrageous row. The others had an alert, naturally interested
expression; but their faces were essentially quiet, even those of the one or two who grinned as they
hauled at the chain. Several exchanged short, grunting phrases, which seemed to settle the matter
to their satisfaction. Their headman, a young, broad-chested black, severely draped in dark-blue
fringed cloths, with fierce nostrils and his hair all done up artfully in oily ringlets, stood near me…”

In this page there's an example of imperialism because the boat with
Europeans was attacked by the natives who were defending themselves. The
Europeans that were in the boat started attacking the natives but couldn’t see
anything because of the fog so it was like blind power and they kept shooting
without knowing where they were aiming.

5. Example #4

Chapter 2
 Page
10
‘Then I had to look at the river mighty quick, because there was a snag in the fairway. Sticks, little sticks, were flying about--thick: they were
whizzing before my nose, dropping below me, striking behind me against my pilot-house. All this time the river, the shore, the woods, were very
quiet-- perfectly quiet. I could only hear the heavy splashing thump of the stern-wheel and the patter of these things. We cleared the snag
clumsily. Arrows, by Jove! We were being shot at! I stepped in quickly to close the shutter on the land side. That fool-helmsman, his hands on the
spokes, was lifting his knees high, stamping his feet, champing his mouth, like a reined-in horse. Confound him! And we were staggering within
ten feet of the bank. I had to lean right out to swing the heavy shutter, and I saw a face amongst the leaves on the level with my own, looking
at me very fierce and steady; and then suddenly, as though a veil had been removed from my eyes, I made out, deep in the tangled gloom,
naked breasts, arms, legs, glaring eyes,--the bush was swarming with human limbs in movement, glistening, of bronze color. The twigs shook,
swayed, and rustled, the arrows flew out of them, and then the shutter came to. `Steer her straight,' I said to the helmsman. He held his head
rigid, face forward; but his eyes rolled, he kept on lifting and setting down his feet gently, his mouth foamed a little. `Keep quiet!' I said in a
fury. I might just as well have ordered a tree not to sway in the wind. I darted out. …”

In this page they talk about some of the things the natives used as weapons to defend
themselves from the Europeans in the time of imperialism. For example sticks and
arrows.

6. Example #5

Chapter 3
 Page
4

"Some of the pilgrims behind the stretcher carried his arms-- two shot-guns, a heavy rifle, and a light
revolver-carbine-- the thunderbolts of that pitiful Jupiter. The manager bent over him murmuring as he
walked beside his head. They laid him down in one of the little cabins--just a room for a bed-place and a
camp-stool or two, you know. We had brought his belated correspondence, and a lot of torn envelopes and
open letters littered his bed. His hand roamed feebly amongst these papers. I was struck by the fire of his
eyes and the composed languor of his expression. It was not so much the exhaustion of disease. He did not
seem in pain. This shadow looked satiated and calm, as though for the moment it had had its fill of all the
emotions…”

In this page they talk about some of the weapons the Europeans had and
used during imperialism. For example the shot-guns, rifles, revolver… The
weapons the Europeans had were very different from the ones the natives
had because the Europeans had more technological advances than the
natives.

7. Example #6

Chapter 3
 Page
3

Marlow is talking to the russian and he tells him how Kurzt almost killed him because he
wanted his ivory. Kurtz found out that some natives had ivory and since he had nothing
to trade the ivory for he did a raid where he killed all the natives just to steal their
ivory.

This is an example of racism because Kurtz didn’t care about the natives and
killed them just to have their ivory.

8. Example #7

Chapter 2

In this chapter Marlow finds how some of the natives are treated. Some natives are
slaves and they have a thread around their neck which is strangling them.

This is an example of racism because the Europeans though they were
superior and used the natives as slaves and had them working for them.
They had the thread around their neck to strangle them and they were
treated badly. The Europeans didn’t care about the natives.

9. CONCLUSION

With this work we learned that Heart Of Darkness
has a lot of Imperialism and racism in it wich we can
relate to what we are learning in world hsitory
class. We learned that the European countries didn’t
care about Africa and their people and they just
wanted more resources, to keep industrializing and
to expand their empire so that they could have
more power.