Heart of Darkness: A Congolese Trove of Pain

Abstract

Abstract: This paper is a serious attempt to examine Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness from a postcolonial perspective. It focuses on Europe’s major colonial powers in Africa, particularly in the Congo, and studies the relation between the coloniser and the colonised during the period of King Leopold II of the Congo Free State and presents the impact of colonialism on the colonised. Further, it endeavours to historicise the arrival of the Belgian colonialism in the Congo and documents the atrocities and exploitations carried out against the indigenous local populations. It also seeks to conduct an investigation into the stance of Conrad in accordance with colonialism and imperialism and answers the duality behind Conrad’s position in terms with the oppressed peoples of Africa.