European Colonialism in Heart of Darkness
...comes a different person, for example he cheats on his fiancé. He continues to search for more and more ivory, even though it seems that he would have remained in Africa just for the purpose of being worshipped by the natives, rather than only respected by the Europeans. Another character that portrays the Europeans’ desire to get rich rather than “civilize” Africa is the brickmaker. He was sent by the Europeans to start a production of bricks, which would have been a step towards improving the continent, however, no bricks were being made but the character still remained in Africa and was able to keep his title. The truth is that he had no real job and everyone was aware of it. His stay in Africa was simply in hope of following Kurtz’s steps and becoming rich through the exploitation of ivory. The brickmaker was not able to find materials in order to produce bricks, but at the same time he didn’t do anything else while staying in Africa. The Europeans could have used his time there for a better purpose, for example he could have been assigned a different job. Another characteristic of the Europeans presented in this book other than greed and selfishness is the lack of respect for the natives, and perhaps even a lack of respect for humanity. The Africans are presented as wild and unruly and most of the time Marlow refers to them as savages. However, he makes the point that the white men did realize the fact that the natives were also human, and that was very difficult for them. Perhaps the reason is because they did not want to be associated with that part of humanity. What is most horrifying is the fact that the colonists did recognize that the natives were also human like them, and yet that didn’t stop them from treating them like animals. The sight of death became so natural among...