Heart of Darkness�Racism:
In Heart of Darkness the writer follows one white man's nightmarish journey into the heart of Africa. Aboard a British ship called the Nellie, three men listen to a man named Marlow recount his journey into Africa up the Congo River in a steam boat as an agent for a Belgian ivory trading Company. Marlow says that he witnesses brutality and hate between the white ivory hunters and the native African people. Marlow becomes entangled in a power struggle within the Company, and finally learns the truth about the mysterious Kurtz, a mad agent who has become both a god and a prisoner of the "native Africans." After "rescuing" Kurtz from the native African people, Marlow watches in horror as Kurtz succumbs to madness, disease, and finally death. The story of Marlow corresponds so neatly with Conrad�s own biography that it is easy to assume that Marlow registers Conrad� own perspective, including his prejudices and perhaps racism. Marlow�s poignant description of native...