《黑暗的心》所体现的康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度英语论文

XXX大学本科毕业（）任务书 编 号： 论文（设计）目：《黑暗的心》所体现的康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度 学 院： XXX学院 专业：XX 班级： XX班 学生姓名： XXX 学号：XXXX0 指导教师：XX 职称：XXX 1、 论文（设计）研究目标及主要任务 中国曾经作为半殖民地，对中国独立后的文化取向和吸收发展方向有重要意义。在世界范围内，殖民主义是一个重要的文学风格，康拉德《黑暗的心》又是殖民主义的代表作。本文研究的目标是《黑暗的心》所体现的康拉德对后殖民主义的矛盾态度。任务是探究其在小说中对殖民主义的矛盾态度。 2、 论文（设计）的主要内容 通过对语言运用、人物性格、语言分析分析表明康拉德在《黑暗的心》中对后殖民主义的矛盾态度，说明在帝国主义扩张时期，资本主义及帝国主义的人们不能够完全摆脱时代的烙印和限制，对殖民主义存有一种既反对又拥护的矛盾态度。 3、 论文（设计）的基础条件及研究路线 在学习过程中对有关问题产生了浓厚的兴趣并总结了相关的知识，对论文写作有一定的帮助。结合已有的对此问题的研究，从语言、人物、表达方式上入手，深入探讨了康拉德在小说中对殖民主义的矛盾心理和态度。 4、 主要参考文献 [1] Albert J Guerad. 1950. Introduction in Heart of Darkness[ M] . New York: New American Library Edition, [2] Joseph Conrad, 2010.7.8, Heart of Darkness, Collins Classics, Harperpress, [3] 齐努瓦·阿切比, 2001 ,“ 非洲的一种形象: 论康拉德《黑暗的心》中的种族主义” , 杨乃乔等译,《后殖民批评》, 北京:北京大学出版社 [4] 约瑟夫`康拉德 (作者), 薛诗绮 (译者), 智量 (译者)，2006，世界文学名著典藏·全译本:《黑暗的心》， 湖北人民出版社; 第1版 5、 计划进度 阶段 起止日期 1 提出初步论文题目 2013.3.10-2013.3.16 2 填写#开题#和任务书 2013.3.16-2013.3.30 3 完成初稿和文献综述 2013.3.31-2013.4.20 4 交终稿和评议书 2013.4.21-2013.5.8 5 论文答辩 2013.5.16 指 导 教师： 年 月 日 教研室主任： 年 月 日 注：一式三份，学院（系）、指导教师、学生各一份 XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）开题报告书 XXX 学院 XX 专业XXX 届 学生 姓名 XXX 论文（设计）题目 《黑暗的心》所体现的康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度 指导 教师 XX 专业 职称 XXX 所属教研室 商务英语系 研究方向 20世纪英国文学 课题论证：宗主国和殖民地的关系一直是长达几个世纪以来人们关心的问题，殖民主义也是一种流行的思想，这关系到殖民地的解放和人类平等。本文通过对约瑟夫·康拉德的《黑暗的心》中人物、语言及其运用的分析，得出康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度，也从一个方面显示出资本主义和帝国主义对殖民行为和殖民主义的既反对又支持的矛盾态度。 设计：简介 第一章 小说叙述视角 第二章 康拉德心中殖民主义的现在与未来 第三章 康拉德的反殖民主义思想 第四章 康拉德的亲殖民主义思想 第五章 康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度 进度计划：提出初步论文题目 2013.3.10-2013.3.16 填写开题报告和任务书 2013.3.16-2013.3.30 完成初稿和文献综述 2013.3.31-2013.4.20 交终稿和评议书 2013.4.21-2013.5.8 论文答辩 2013.5.16 指导教师意见： 指导教师签名： 年 月 日 教研室意见： 教研室主任签名： 年 月 日 XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）文献综述 Literature Review This literature review aims to provide a general introduction of the novel Heart of Darkness and some scholar’s view about Conrad’s paradoxical attitudes towards colonialism. Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Colonialism is a set of unequal relationships between the metropolis and the colony and between the colonists and the indigenous population. Collins English Dictionary defines colonialism as “the policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker people or areas.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers four definitions, including “something characteristic of a colony” and “control by one power over a dependent area or people.” Heart of Darkness is a novel, written by Joseph Conrad, that is presented in the form of a frame narrative (a story within a story). Conrad retells the story of Marlow's job as an ivory transporter down the Congo River. Through his journey, Marlow develops an intense interest in investigating Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent. Heart of Darkness explores the darkness potentially inherent in all human hearts, and deals with the themes of colonialism, racism, and savagery versus civilization. About eight and a half years before writing the book, Conrad had been appointed by a Belgian trading company to serve as the captain of a steamer on the Congo River. Upon arrival at his station in the Congo, he found that the steamer he was to command had been damaged and was in need of repair. Yet the next day he headed up river on a different steamer that was captained by another. When that captain became ill during the journey Conrad assumed command. At the company's inner-most station they picked up its agent, Georges-Antoine Klein, who died on the return trip. Conrad himself became very sick and returned to Europe before serving out the full three-year term of his contract to the trading company. The tale was first published as a three-part serial, February, March, and April 1899, in Blackwood's Magazine (February 1899 was the magazine's 1000th issue: special edition). Then later, in 1902, Heart of Darkness was included in the book "Youth: a Narrative, and Two Other Stories" (published November 13, 1902, by William Blackwood). In a post-colonial reading, the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, famously criticized Heart of Darkness in his 1975 lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", saying the novella de-humanized Africans, denied them language and culture and reduced them to a metaphorical extension of the dark and dangerous jungle into which the Europeans venture. Since the middle 20th century, many colonies have won their independence from their colonizers through fighting and struggle. These countries have made great contributions to the emancipation of human beings. The culture and current situation of those ex-colonies are of great importance to the development of the world civilization. Heart of Darkness as one of the greatest works reflecting the life in colonies provides people abundant resources to investigate into the being of colonialism and anti-colonialism. Huang Yulan, a scholar from Yichun College, holds the opinion that Heart of Darkness reveals the greedy, hypocrisy, cruelty of the colonizers. Besides, Huang Yulan also points out the cultural superiority the colonizers bear. Although she agrees that the novel to some extent defend for the colonizers and for their deeds, generally speaking, she believes that Heart of Darkness has a strong inclination of anti-colonialism. Wang Songhuai, vice professor of Hubei Normal University, believes that Heart of Darkness reveals anti-colonialism from the angle of capitalism humanity. Conrad said in his book “I became a new man with new attitude to morality.” (Joseph Conrad, 1917) Wang, by reciting Conrad’s description of the miserable life of the native in colonies to show Conrad is on the opposite side of colonialism, which is anti-colonialism. Professor Wang holds that Conrad’s thought is complicated. Conrad’s novel partially depicts the reality of the colonies, but his capitalist status has undermined the effect of the novel in anti-colonialism. Even though Conrad has made progress in seeing what colonizers did, but finally he didn’t give a clear picture of the whole condition. Zou Quan and Zou Yan, think that Heart of Darkness bears a sense of superiority of the colonizers and their countries, particularly, the Untied Kingdom. They cite the descriptions in the novel as evidence, saying those primitive people are nothing and their (the colonizers) task is to spread their advanced technology and culture to them so as to make them more civilized. In the end of their essay, Zou Quan and Zou Yan conclude their opinion. “From the analysis above, we can draw such a conclusion. Since Conrad lived in the later age of Victoria, he was inevitably influenced by his living environment, a culture of Western colonialism. Influenced by his living environment, Conrad had to observe the colonies from an angle of the colonizers. Conrad himself could not get rid of the thought of colonialism and colonizers. Thus, while Conrad was revealing and criticizing the crimes which the colonizers committed, he couldn’t completely get rid of the superiority of colonizers in his writing.” Xu Ping, from Teachers College Qingdao University, and Zhang Xuan, from Nanjing University, generally hold the opinion that Heart of Darkness is a great work with a strong sense of anti-colonialism. The mainstream of the academia commenting on Heart of Darkness is from the anti-colonialism. However, these opinions do not have a comprehensive grasp of the meaning which Conrad wants to express. The features in the novel have both connotative and denotative meanings. A deep and careful reading will do a lot in helping to understand the novel better. Conrad himself has a paradoxical view to colonialism. His work Heart of Darkness (1899), written by Joseph Conrad is in itself an ambivalent novel regards to its motif. On one aspect, the novel, by criticizing the crimes those colonizers committed in colonies as well as its hypocrisy, showed the progress in anti-postcolonialism. On the other, the language of this novel manifested its cultural hegemony. This thesis, by analyzing the ambivalence of the language in the novel, reveals the ambivalent view of Joseph Conrad toward colonialism. To conclude, throughout history, many scholars and critics have commented on Conrad’s work, Heart of Darkness. There are three basic views. The first is that Conrad approves colonialism. The second is Conrad opposes colonialism. The last is Conrad has his paradoxical view towards colonialism. This thesis aims to further discuss Conrad’s paradoxical attitude by analyzing the novel Heart of Darkness and his life experience. XXXX大学本科生毕业论文（设计）评议书 姓 名 XXX 学院 XXX 专业 XX 年级（班） XX级笔译X班 论 文 题 目 《黑暗的心》所体现的康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度 完成时间 XXX.5.8 论 文 内 容 摘 要 殖民主义是随着西方资本主义不断发展而产生的，它来源于资本主义自身的发展和对财富及发展的需求。近代最大规模、影响力最大的殖民主义是欧洲的殖民主义。十七世纪时，英国、法国和荷兰继续建立更多殖民地，建立起一个海外大帝国—并取代了葡萄牙和西班牙 的地位。到了十九世纪，英国的殖民扩张达到顶峰，统治的领土包括北美、澳洲、南亚等等，地球上五分之一的土地也在大英帝国的占领和统治之下。殖民主义为殖 民帝国提供了市场和资源的供给，很大程度促进了这些帝国本身的发展。 殖民主义国家通常会控制该地区的自然资源，人力和市场。殖民主义国家亦会强加自身的社会文化，宗教和语言于被征服的民族身上。所以殖民主义实质上是一个比较强大的国家直接干预比较弱小的国家的政治、经济和文化的系统。虽然殖民主义一词常与帝国主义交换使用，但帝国主义一词较常被使用，因为该词包括到非正式的对该地区的控制，以及正式的军事控制或经济杠杆作用。 本文通过西方殖民主义文学作品中的代表作《黑暗的心》中人物、语言、思想的分析，说明得出小说作者约瑟夫·康拉德对殖民主义的既反对又支持的矛盾态度。说明在西方帝国主义的环境中，人们难免会受其影响，影响人们的思想和取向。 一方面，小说通过人物、语言表现出殖民主义给殖民地人民带来的灾难，但另一方面，又摆脱不了资本主义和帝国主义对思想意识的束缚。康拉德的《黑暗的心》具有代表性，代表资本主义、帝国主义对殖民主义的矛盾心理。 指 导 教 师 评 语 年 月 日 指 导 教 师 职称 初评成绩 答辩小组 姓名 职称 教研室 组长 成员 答辩记录： 记录人签字： 年 月 日 答辩小组意见： 组长签字： 年 月 日 学院意见： 评定成绩： 签章 年 月 日 本科生毕业论文设计 题目 《黑暗的心》所体现的康拉德对后殖民主义的矛盾态度 作者姓名 XXX 指导教师 XX 所在学院 XXX学院 专业（系） XX 班级（届） XXXX 完成日期XXXX年 5 月 8 日 Joseph Conrad’s Ambivalence Towards Post-colonialism In Heart of Darkness By XXXX Professor XXXTutor A Thesis Submitted to Department of English Language and Literature in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of B.A. in English At XXXX University 摘要 约瑟夫·康拉德所著的《黑暗的心》是一个矛盾体。一方面它抨击了殖民者在殖民地犯下的暴行，罪恶和殖民活动的虚伪性, 表现了反殖民主义的进步性。另一方面, 它自己的语言使用也正好体现了殖民主义的文化霸权, 表明康拉德也难以摆脱自身的帝国文化。本文主要通过分析《黑暗的心》中的矛盾性，从而揭示康拉德对殖民主义的矛盾态度。一方面他在小说中揭露了欧洲殖民者的虚伪、残忍和贪婪，另一方面他又在一定程度上捍卫了支撑殖民侵略的西方意识形态。 关键词：《黑暗的心》 矛盾性 殖民主义 反殖民主义 Abstract Heart of Darkness (1899), written by Joseph Conrad is in itself an ambivalent novel with regards to its motif. On one aspect, the novel, by criticizing the cirmes those colonizers committed in colonies as well as its hypocrisy, shows the progress in anti-postcolonialism. On the other, the language of this novel manifests its cultural hegemony. This thesis, by analyzing the ambivalence of the language in the novel, reveals the ambivalent view of Joseph Conrad toward colonialism. Keywords Heart of Darkness ambivalence colonialsim postcolonialsim Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. .1 ChapterⅠ The Angle of Narration…………………………………………...…….... 4 Chapter Ⅱ The Present and Future of Colonialism in Conrad’s Mind........................ 7 A The Misery Present Showed by the Word “Sea”………………...………….7 B The Way to Future Showed by the Words “Boat” and “Captain”…..……....7 C The Future of Colonialism Showed by the Word “Horror”……..………..... 8 Chapter Ⅲ The Anti-colonialism View……………………………………..……….. 9 A Sympathy to the Native People………………………………………...........9 B The Disappearance of Humanism……………………………………….…..9 Chapter Ⅳ The Approval of Colonialism………………...……………………….... 12 A The Superiority of Colonizers……………………………………………...12 B The Use of Language……………………………………………………….12 C The Eagerness for Fortune…………………………………………..……...13 D The Spreading of Elite Culture of Colonizers………………………...……13 Chapter Ⅴ Conrad’s Ambivalence towards Colonialism…………………………...15 A A Review of the General Theme of Heart of Darkness.................................15 B Conrad— an Offender of Colonialism………………………...…..………15 C Conrad— a Defender of Colonialism………………………..………...…..16 Conculsion…………………………………………………………………………... 17 Notes………………………………………………………………………………….18 Bibliography…...……………………………………………………………………. 19 Introduction Heart of Darkness (1899), written by Joseph Conrad, is a short novel, presented as a frame narrative, about Charles Marlow’s job as an ivory transporter along the Congo River. During the period of his commercial-agent work in the Congo Free State (1885–1908), the seaman Marlow becomes very interested in and investigates Mr Kurtz, an ivory-procurement agent, a man of established notoriety among the native Africans and the European colonies. The story is a thematic exploration of the savagery vs civilization relationship, and of the colonialism and the racism that make imperialism possible. It was first published as a three-part serial story; in ‘Blackwood’s Magazine’ and the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh top-novel of the hundred-best-novels in English of the twentieth century; and is categorized into the Western canon. About more than eight years before writing the book, Conrad had been appointed by a Belgian trading company to work as the captain of a steamer on the Congo River. When he arrived in and settled in Congo, he found that the steamer he was to command had been damaged and need repair. Yet the next day he headed up river on a different steamer that was captained by another. When that captain became ill during the journey Conrad assumed his command. At the company’s inner-most station they picked up its agent, Georges-Antoine Klein, who died on the trip return to their station. Conrad himself became very ill and returned to Europe before serving out the full three-year term of his contract to the trading company. The novel also has a contrasting nature. T. S. Eliot’s use of a quotation from Heart of Darkness—“Mistah Kurtz, he dead”—as an epigraph to the original manuscript of his poem The Hollow Men contrasted its dark horror with the presumed “light of civilization,” and revealed the ambiguity of both the evil motives of the Western civilization and the freedom of barbarism, as well as the “spiritual darkness” of many characters in Heart of Darkness. This sense of darkness also lends itself to a relevant main theme of obscurity—again, in various senses, reflecting the ambiguities in the so-called great work. Morality is, by its very nature, ambiguous: that which is traditionally placed on the side of “light” is in darkness, and vice-versa. In the Victorian Era, Africa was known as “The Dark Continent”and Europeans attributed many negative connotations to Africans. Henry Morton Stanley was possibly influenced by Kurtz for the “Dr. Livingstone, I presume” fame, since he was a principal explorer of “The Dark Heart of Africa”, especially the Congo. Stanley was supposedly infamous for his violence against his porters while in Africa, although records indicate this was perhaps an exaggeration and he was later honored with a knighthood. An agent Conrad met when traveling in the Congo, Georges-Antoine Klein, could also have served as a model for Kurtz (in German klein means “small” and kurtz means “short”). Klein died on Conrad’s steamer and was interred along the Congo River, more or less like Kurtz in the novel. Among the people Conrad may have encountered on his journey was a trader called Leon Rom, who was later named chief of the Stanley Falls Station. In 1895, a British traveler reported that Rom had decorated his flower-bed with the skulls of some twenty-one victims of his displeasure (including women and children) resembling the posts of Kurtz’s Station. In order to emphasis the inner darkness of mankind, Marlow’s narration occurs on a yawl in the Thames estuary when tides comes. In the beginning of the novella, Marlow recounts how London, the largest, most populous and prosperous and wealthiest city in the world, was a dark place in Roman times. The idea that the Romans conquered the savage Britons parallels Conrad’s tale of the Belgians conquering the savage Africans. The theme of darkness tempting under the surface of the even so-called “civilized” people appears prominently and is explored by the character of Kurtz and through Marlow’s changing sense of understanding with the Africans with the time passes by. Kurtz embodies all forms of an urge to be more or less than human. His writings show in Marlow’s view an “exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence” and they appeal to “every altruistic sentiment”. His predisposition for benevolence is clear in the statement “We whites...must necessarily appear to them (savages) in the nature of supernatural beings....By the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded”.1 The Central Station manager quotes Kurtz, the exemplar: “Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better things, a centre for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing”.2 Kurtz’s inexperienced, scientific self in the fiery report is alive with the possibility of the cultivation and conversion of the savages. He would have subscribed to Moreau’s proposition that “a pig may be educated”. Themes continue to develop in the later part of the novel. These include the naïveté of Europeans (particularly women) regarding the various forms of darkness along the Congo river; the British traders and Belgian colonialists’ abuse of the natives and man’s potential ability and desire for duplicity. The symbolism in the book expands on these as a fight between good and evil (light and darkness), not like the fight between the darkness and good in man’s heart. In a post-colonial reading, the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, sharply criticized Heart of Darkness in his lecture An Image of Africa which was published in 1975: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, saying the novella de-humanized Africans, denied the native language as well as their culture and reduced them to a broad extension of the dark gloom and dangerous jungle into which the European colonists venture. Achebe’s lecture raised a vivid debate, reactions at the time ranged from dismay and outrage—Achebe recounted a Professor Emeritus who came from University of Massachusetts saying to Achebe after the lecture, “How dare you upset everything we have taught, everything we teach? Heart of Darkness is the most widely taught text in the university in this country. So how dare you say it’s different?”—to support for Achebe’s view—”I now realize that I had never really read Heart of Darkness although I have taught it for years,” one professor told Achebe. There are other critics, including Hugh Curtler’s Achebe on Conrad: Racism and Greatness in Heart of Darkness (1997). In King Leopold’s Ghost (1998), Adam Hochschild says that so many scholars have made too much of the psychology analysis of Heart of Darkness while dwindling the horror of Conrad’s accurate narration of the methods and effects of colonialism. He quotes Conrad as saying, “Heart of Darkness is experience ... pushed a little (and only very little) beyond the actual facts of the case.” Heart of Darkness (1899), Joseph Conrad both expressed his approval to the expansion and savage of the native Africans, but on the other hand, Joseph Conrad also showed his disapproval to the deeds of the colonizers. The ambivalent view is what this article is going to talk about. ChapterⅠ the Angle of Narration The spiritual world of Conrad is full of contradictory factors, making his literary works also full of contradictions. Among his novels, Heart of Darkness is an outstanding and a paragon representing his spiritual and writing characteristics. The content of Heart of Darkness is based on Joseph Conrad’s trip to Congo. Since it came into being in 1902, it has aroused attention from both readers and critics. Even though, it is one of the best novels in English literature. Scholars represented by Chinua Achebe held the opinion that Conrad is a racist from the beginning to the end, while critics represented by Watts held the opposite view. Joseph Conrad tried to abandon racism and colonialism to the end that he was to reveal or unveil those Europeans who were ravaging the African continent disguised by the so called saint and glorious course. However, as a writer who lived in the prime time of the United Kingdom, Joseph Conrad could not totally get rid of the colonialism, though he tried to get rid of such thought. In comparison, like most of the Western writers, he saw the colonies from the view point of a Westerner. Hence, Heart of Darkness is not a novel with the idea of anti-colonialism, but also a novel full of racial superiority. The novel Heart of Darkness depicts an adventurous story of Charles Marlow. Marlow, as the captain of a steamer, reaches to the bush in Africa along the Congo River. Along his journey, his ears are full of words from others about a white agent named Mistah Kurtz, who was consecrated as a sage and leader by those native Africans. Marlow, with great curiosity, follows Kurtz and eventually finds him through numerous difficulties. However, when Marlow finds Kurtz, Kurtz is on the brink of his death. Marlow sees him dying, hears him saying “Horror Horror” until his last breath. Conrad, by describing the story of Kurtz, deepens the contents and thought. In the novel, Marlow is described as a person who believes in Buddhism, telling readers the mystery of life, in order to reveal a “Horrorsome” fact. The thought of Buddhism can be seen in Conrad’s works due to his extraordinary life experience which makes him possible to have contact with many religions and cultural thoughts from various ethnic groups. Born in Poland, Conrad lived his childhood in Russia. In his adolescence, he started his career as a seaman in France. When he was 21, he went to Britain and became a sailor. Since then, he went to many places with ship, namely South America, Islands in South Pacific Ocean, Australia and Africa. Europeans views Conrad European writer instead of British writer. Some other people say him a world writer. One point worth notice, in the 19th century, the thought of Arthur Schopenhauer (a German philosopher) was popular in Europe. Arthur Schopenhauer thinks that all human activities are the activities of human mind, together with boring, misery etc. brought by human desire. The best way to get rid of pessimism and misery is religion, among which Buddhism is the best. He points out that the myth in Buddhism makes people feel the hope of rebirth, a realm in which living, the process of growing old, illness and death do not exist. Both influenced by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and Asian culture, Heart of Darkness is a novel with elements of Buddhism. For instance, Conrad describes the last minutes of Kurtz as the crucial point of radical apprehension, which is a typical opinion in Buddhism. Heart of Darkness uses the method of dual-level direct narration: two narrators call themselves I in depiction. Besides Marlow, there is an anonymous narrator, and he depicts as an observer, writing down Marlow’s story. One of the advantages of such narrative method is that it can add contents which the narrator lacks in description. More important, when Marlow tells his story and his views of the environment, Kurtz and some other relevant people, there are several listeners. This makes Marlow possible to have talks with other people when telling the story and can shift topics so as to express his thought whenever he wants. Since the two narrators are all direct narrators, the whole work forms a frame structure. The narration of the anonymous teller serves as the outer frame, as a limelight used in stage play, attracting audiences’ eyes to the appropriate direction and realm. The outer frame is of great importance to the meaning of the novel. At the beginning of the novel, the writer introduces Marlow. For him, the hinder meaning of the story lies out of the story, thus making the meaning apparent. We can see that, from the beginning to the end of the story, the outer space of the story adopts a description method of metaphor. The story depicts three times Marlow’s appearance and posture. In the beginning, Marlow sat at the end of the deck, legs crossed, leaning on the mast. His face deepened, yellow, back erected, like an ascetic monk. His arms suspending down, palm facing out, like a Buddha. In the middle of the story, “He stopped for a while and said again, listening to me. He upper his arm from the elbow, palm facing out, with his crossed legs, his gesture like a Buddha in suits without a lotus seat.”3 At the end of the story, Marlow stopped telling, sat silently to the other side of the deck, like a Buddha in meditation. As is hard to describe, Conrad uses the Buddha to convey his meaning. Thus the mass readers do not have to think about the meaning, but to have a direct grasp form the gesture of Marlow. From above, readers can see Conrad depicts Marlow’s realm as the realm of Buddha and Buddha’s wisdom. Since the theme of the novel is the darkness, the heart of Buddha can win the heart of darkness and drag it out from the abyss. Although Marlow doesn’t talk about Buddhism in the novel, readers can see the similarity between them. What is more, Marlow said without intention, “I just cannot help but to save others from the depth of misery”4. The structure of the novel has something relevant to the Buddha script. The story happens on a boat which stopped at the shore of sea. On the boat, besides Marlow, there are “me”, the chief, the lawyer and the accountant. The model of the story makes people easily connect it with the classics of Buddhism. In the works of Buddhism, “me” in the script is the narrator of the story, the same as Marlow in The Darkness of Heart. Despite the number of people, those people are male, the same as monks in Buddhism scripts. In comparison, the feature in the novel has deeper social meaning, each representing different thought and occupations in society. Marlow’s description about his experience is all linked to death. He chooses death as the main theme of his story, indicating the inevitable fate of dying. Kurtz, the name of one feature in the novel, means short in German, with a deeper meaning of doomed fate. When he died, he does not live a long life. His death is the climax of the story, and an event which shocks Marlow. Kurtz himself is a cruel killer. Nothing can stop him from killing a person he wants to. But he feels miserable and desperate thinking himself is not treated equally. Before Marlow reaches the station where he meets Kurtz, he witnesses and hears many stories of death. Each time he sees or hears such things, he feels shocked. Marlow gives a detailed description about Kurtz’s death. Kurtz is severely ill. When leaving the trade station, Kurtz’s slim arms stretches out, full of vigor, his chin moving, ghost-like eyes etched into his skull. His eyes slimming, head wretches quickly. The description shows that Kurtz struggle to survive. He has something to do, he is still speaking. Kurtz’s struggle may be more miserable than those who struggle after exhausted. To Kurtz’s death, Marlow has his own understanding. He tells readers that there remains something. But Marlow knows that the next day, those natives buried something in a muddy hole. To Marlow, Kurtz deserves his death. Marlow says the Mother Nature has known Kurtz too well and revenges on Kurtz without mercy. The reason is that Kurtz and other colonizers depict their savage and trodden as a glorious course. They are to help those natives to get rid of their horrible living habits. However, in action, Kurtz and colonizers treat the Negro labors and children as enemies, making them working until their death. They hang the skulls of those rebellions high as warning to others. This cruel behavior is intolerable. When Kurtz died, nothing left except something is buried. The predecessor of Marlow, Freslerven, slashes the head of the village because of a matter of two chickens. He is then killed by the son of the head of village. Nobody buries his corpse, leaving his body to deterioration. It is nature for son to revenge for his father, which is feasible to the thought of Buddhism. Despite those people who died, Marlow depicts many other people. But those people are none of a good one or venerable one. When doing something, those people are inevitably bearing some bad habits or defects, cruel, shrewd, greedy, or naïve. Even Marlow is someone like that sort of people. Many admirers see Kurtz as their God, Marlow also calls those admirers “pilgrims”. Even though, when Marlow first speaks of Kurtz, he clearly tells readers that he is going to talk about a devil that is weak, ostentatious, greedy and stupid. God and devil are two titles of Kurtz, showing everything has two aspects and everything is changing all the time. This view is consistent to the Buddhism script holding the view that everything has its own way. Chapter Ⅱ the Present and Future of Colonialism in Conrad’s Mind The meaning of “sea”, “captain”, “boat” and “horror” are also worth discussing. The theme of the novel can be understood only by digesting the author’s intention. A. the Misery Present Showed by the Word “Sea” The expression “the sea of sorrow” in Buddhism represents all misfortune and misery. At the end of the novel, “the cloud was stretching out over the surface of the sea afar, the canal flowing under the gloomy sky, as if flowing into a boundless heart of darkness”5. Here Conrad depicts the sea as the heart of darkness, which is the title of the novel. There is a description of the captain in the novel, the captain faced towards the sea at the front of the deck. Four others watched his back in deep affection. It seems that he is a pilot, which means safety to sailors. He doesn’t work on the sea slimming now and then, but work in the blurriness and darkness. This is quite confusing. A scrutiny into this description, it is not difficult for readers to recognize that those people behind him are Marlow and his colleagues. The pilot works to change people’s minds. The blurriness and darkness is the correspondent description of darkness in the title. Another worth to mention about, Marlow is a captain when he went to Africa as a colonizer. B. the Way to Future Showed by the Words “Boat” and “Captain” Boat is also of deep meaning in the novel. Boat in Buddhism is viewed as a tool to overcome all misery. It is indicating that all the people in the novel have overcome the sea of sorrow and if readers can board on this boat, they will also evade from the sea of sorrow. People in the novel who go away of the boat will eventually die. When Frelersven was beaten to death, his boat runs away hurriedly. Marlow has heard that Frelersven was the most urbane one of all human beings. From this point, anyone will be doomed to death if any tiny wrongdoing is done. Here is another example. Marlow’s driver died of a spur when he is closing the window. Marlow complains that his driver cannot control himself, like Kurtz, a tree irresistible to wind. From this example, people will be wise when they have a strong control of their behavior. When Marlow heard the Sweden committed a suicide on board, Marlow attribute his death as he was out casted by the light. People who are used to live in darkness can not bear light, thus abandoning the boat to die. The fourth instance is also relevant to boat. When all people are ill in the trade station, the manager says they are too many for him to send them out of the boat. Here is a convincing example. Kurtz had had the chance to overcome the sea of sorrow and reach the happiness. However, at this time, Marlow’s boat has something wrong that the boat can not work properly. They have to repair the boat on an island. Kurtz gets down of the boat to the island and then died. As a young captain, Marlow lacks in experience and competence to salvage Kurtz, who has grave crimes. The fundamental reason is that Kurtz committed too many crimes that nobody has the ability to salvage him. Besides, Kurtz says to Marlow on the island that he is waiting to death on the island. In contrast, Kurtz never said such words on board. Here, Kurtz also views the boat as a tool conveying them to brightness. When Kurtz says this to Marlow, he sees Marlow as his intimate friend, but too late. Horror becomes Kurtz’s last words. C. the Future of Colonialism Showed by the Word “Horror” Marlow gives an explanation according to his own understanding of Kurtz’s last words— horror. Life is ridiculous, unexpected arrangement disrupts all you want to do. In the novel it said “You are expecting to know more about yourself from the arrangement. When you have understood, it is too late, even to regret”6. Kurtz’s life is a good example. He goes to Africa for fortune. He gets the most ivory than anybody. In Marlow’s eyes, the Horror said by Kurtz is indeed the description of Kurtz himself. Kurtz must have preparation for death; he experienced all feelings in life, like desire, temptation, and surrender. Horror contains his understanding of life and death. The misery both exists when living and approaching to death. People struggle to live, and fear to die. However, Kurtz doesn’t understand why he himself looks not miserable when dying. His appearance is content and calm, as if full of all emotions. What are those emotions? As Marlow says, human brain is versatile. The past, present, and future are all in it. These emotions include happiness, horror, sadness, loyalty, braveness, anger, etc. These emotions make Kurtz feel content when alive, and make him desperate and miserable when dying. The misery is immense, unsolvable. The pursuit of material fortune is the root of misery. Kurtz tries every means to accumulate fortune in Africa, thinking everything belongs to him. What he doesn’t think about is what kind of person himself is. In his last minutes, he is nothing but flesh. His evil soul is full of primitive emotion, earnness for reputation, bad habits, and superficial success and power. It seems that Kurtz is devoid of thought, but indeed he burdens too many to reach to the ideal realm. He only realizes the horror of the world but nothing else, since his topic is his unmarried wife, his trade station, his career and his thought. As mentioned above, Marlow’s driver’s body becomes very heavy after his death, heavier than anyone in the world. Seemingly, Marlow finds the same when he helps Kurtz to stand on his own feet. Marlow says it seems that he is shouldering half ton burden coming from the other hill in a far distance. The fact is that Kurtz, no heavier than a child, hanging his arms on Marlow’s shoulder. Half ton is absolutely an exaggeration and has a deep meaning. Kurtz died, but the weight of his dark heart lingers. The Heart of Darkness is a work full of meanings which need readers to digest and excavate through reading. The philosophy and feature, the God and devil, the ravage and deception, the life and death, people and nature, modern and primitive society all give reader shock in their minds, leaving Horror to the readers for further thinking. Chapter Ⅲ The Anti-colonialism View A. Sympathy to the Native People Greediness and violence have their best and full play in Kurtz. Kurtz is a qualified and an excellent colonizer. On this point, all people in his company agree. It is easy to see that Kurtz is the ideal person who can best serve the course of colonizing of the Western world. Only by such person can the colonies be established and developed. Meanwhile, the ways Kurtz uses reveals the truth and fact of the colonizing course. As a representative from a trading company, Kurtz does his work well and with great dedication. He goes into the bushes to find ivory, and the gun he takes with him makes him able to find ivories even without goods for exchange. To conquer those native people by violence and power is what Kurtz does when he does trading with those natives. What he does is what all colonizers do. Even worse, if any native tries to fight back, they have no way to give themselves out but die. On the tip of a fence in Kurtz’s trading station, there hangs a skull of a Negro. This is one of the skulls from the rebellious natives. Kurtz realizes his goal as a colonizer. He not only gets a large amount of ivory, but also maintains natives’ adoration to him by using his power. European colonizers find excuses for their deeds to conquer Africa. They disguise themselves with glorious reasons. They acclaim that their activities are for the natives, bringing brightness, faith and trade to Africa. They are creating the most worthwhile course in the world. They say the native Africans are in desperate need of advanced technologies and productive forces. They come to Africa to spread brightness and happiness and to improve the natives’ living standard. The fact is that those seemingly nice words are false. Those words are excuses for their illegal activities in Africa. In the novel, the native Africans benefit not from the colonizers, on contrary, they are slaved and abused and even be killed. Marlow’s experience in the trade station and the postscripts Kurtz writes in his report reveals the hypocrisy of the colonizers. A thorough review of this novel will help us see Conrad’s sympathy to those native Africans. However, such sympathy is not equal. Conrad gives sympathy from the status of a civilized group. In his mind, the native Africans are still foolish, uncivilized. B. the Disappearance of Humanism From the plot structure, Conrad expresses his opinion from the perspective of defending capitalist ethics. In his work, Conrad doesn’t reveal the ethnic and caste contradict between the colonizers and native Africans, but puts moral ideals about humanism in old times and colonialism in reality together. He believes the gravest crime colonizers committed is that colonialism destroys humanism. In his novel, Heart of Darkness, he shows the destruction of humanism in the activities of colonizing. When Kurtz first entered Congo, he wrote a report to European newspapers from the dark Africa covered by colonialism. He talks about humanism in a graft to International Primitive Behavior Elimination Association. He publicated to the colonizers a blind woman driving darkness in a poster depicting every trade station should be on the road to the promising future. He wrote a man reading poem beside fire. He talked love to young people. Kurtz, in people’s mind, was a benevolent person with wisdom, sympathy and dedication who received high education in Europe. People called him a envoy of kindness and progress. To Romans, Kurtz was a light hanging high that lightened the darkness of this continent. In contrast to the humanism in delusion is the colonialism represented by the manager. Within three trade stations in his domain, people can not see any sparkle of ideal and dignity. No humanism exists. No improvement and progress in civilization. In the novel, those people who were sent to Congo to do humanitarian works were people without thought, the same sort of people like the manager. Those people had all the defects of human beings, like imprudence, greediness, cruelty and cowardness. In daily life, only exists Negro doing arduous works with chains on their shoulders and necks, corpse piled up in the darkness of jungle, the industrial products, textile products, glass and coins rushing into dark Africa. In the darkness, colonizers squeezed out ivories and unequal transaction. The whole continent was full of disgust of Negro and horrible atmosphere like in the hell. In the novel, he manager is a typical model of the colonizers in more than forty trading companies in Africa. Another clue is Marlow’s pursuit of Kurtz, which is an elegy of humanism. When Marlow first came to Congo, he is attracted by Kurtz, assuming that he will see a fertile land together with Kurtz. Thus, seeking for Kurtz becomes the sole aim of Marlow in Congo. But when Marlow see Kurtz holding a spur at the entrance of the village, killing numerous people, Marlow’s dream slashes. Kurtz, the person who people pay tribute and adoration to, is a typical concept which can be omitted. The humanism they boasted is no more than some mere sound. In the whole novel, Kurtz finally shows his real face in the end of the novel. He is a devil who devours everything. Colonialism defeated humanism eventually. Humanism in colonizers’ eyes is merely an illusion. At this time has Marlow realized that colonialism has totally destroyed the traditional value and the humanism which has long holding the European civilization together. Humanism has become even the opposite side of the virtue. This makes Marlow feel indignant to the crimes colonialism committed. At the same time, Marlow feels sad of the disappearance of humanism. Obviously, these feelings are Conrad’s feeling when he worked in Congo. When people are indulged in the promising future of colonialism, Conrad sees the collapse of European ethics in the crazy ravaging. In conclusion, Conrad criticized colonialism. When Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, imperial countries were in their prime time in conquering and dominating colonies. Most Britains believed their colonizing course was worth eulogizing. Most people believed that they were spreading culture to those primitives. Conrad was not influenced by the current trend of the society, sharply criticized colonialism and colonizers. Chapter Ⅳ the Approval of Colonialism A. the Superiority of Colonizers Conrad’s different opinions of Westerners and non-Westerners have aroused the concern of critics. The famous post-colonialism critics Chinua Achebe wrote in 1977 in the article On Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness that Conrad’s description boosted racism by depicting Africa and Negros in Africa. Further more, he condemned Conrad as a complete racist. Although some critics think that Chinua Achebe’s view is a little bit extreme, it does prove the bemusing stand in colonial narration. The establisher of orientalism Edward Said also holds the opinion that to some extent, Heart of Darkness advocated the ravage of the colonizers. Conrad lived in an era when the European-centralism prevails. On culture, the European-centralism makes its full play as culture hegemony. This culture hegemony believed that the history of human beings is based on Western culture and is Western culture centered. In comparison, non-Western cultures are seen as backward culture, peripheral culture and otherness. People who believed in West centralism acclaimed that only in Western world can science, the system of democracy, capitalism, modernism and rationalism fully develop. On contrary, dictatorship, irrationalism, foolishness and superstition generally exist in non-Western countries. Heart of Darkness came into being in the Victorian Age. The publication of the novel witnessed the beginning of battle between Britain and Boer. A portion of people believing in imperialism spread the Western centralism. They propagated for the colonial expansion by creating the theory of the superiority of Anglo-Saxons. British politician and merchant Cecil Rhodes (1853- 1902) boasted expansion is everything. If possible, I would like to conquer all stellar bodies. Your profession is the world, your life is the world, not only the United Kingdom. Ruled by the thought of exploiting the foreign countries and save them, European colonizers started their course of colonizing. When Conrad experienced non-Western world where all are underdeveloped comparing with the Western world, it was inevitable to have a sense of superiority. Although Conrad didn’t think it is appropriate to settle down in colonies forever, he approved the so-called necessary management and control. Conrad thought those primitive people didn’t know how to make use of the land resources and couldn’t become advanced, civilized people like Westerners by themselves. Only through exercises and training by Kurtz, the natives could become a better man like the stover. Judging from the above, Conrad was anyway living in the late Victorian Age, which made him influenced by the colonizing culture. Thus Conrad could only observe colonies in a colonizer’s perspective. This made him a sense of superiority in writing this novel. B. the Use of Language Conrad’s mother tongue is Polski, and second language is French. The pain of losing family members and his individual misfortune could influence for a period in his lifetime. Political persecution and discrimination in his early days didn’t kill his talent in using his third language, English. When Conrad first set foot on England, he was twenty years old. From that time he started to learn English. Seventeen years later, he began to write novel in English. He said in a modest way that it was English chose him instead he chose English. First, he worked on an English steamer for long years and hence most of his friends are English. Second, he had sympathy on those Englishmen scattered all around the world because of exploration. English itself is one of the important tools used by colonizers in their illegal activities concerning colonizing. The reason why colonizers teach natives to speak English is that it is conducive to colonizers’ management and dictatorship. In Robin Crusoe, Robinson taught Friday to speak English. In Heart of Darkness, the Negro servant spoke to the manager in distracted English that Mr. Kurtz died. In Conrad’s eye, English is the most elegant and the most civilized language. Those who do not speak English are primitive and uncivilized. It is Conrad’s intention to use English to defend for the colonizing of the Europeans. C. the Eagerness for Fortune Speaking of the eagerness for fortune of the Westerners, especially of the colonizers, it is inevitable to say something about the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is a long train of changes starting about 1760. It may seem strange to put into the same packet an industrial revolution and two political revolutions. But the fact is that they were all social revolutions. The Industrial Revolution is simply the English way of making those social changes. The commencement of the Industrial Revolution is closely linked to a small number of innovations, beginning in the second half of the 18th century. By the 1830s the following gains had been made in important technologies: textiles, steam power, iron making, metallurgy, mining, gas lighting, glass making, paper machine, and progress in agricultural technologies. All these need labor and raw materials. Thus this lays the fundamental motivation for the Europeans to start their colonizing activities. At that time, people especially in Europe are eager for fortune. They need fortune to fulfill their demand for a better or even luxurious life. By exploiting in colonies, the colonizers had raised their living standards, enriched their food and nutrition, had spacious house, better clothing and consumer goods. All those could be found in Arica and other colonies. D. the Spreading of Elite Culture of Colonizers This novel reveals the European culture hegemony from another aspect. The Europeans at that time believed that the European culture was superior to the African culture, and their race was the best one in the world. Therefore, they spread their thoughts and way of manner in colonies. In Heart of Darkness, there is a white accountant who had lived in the Inner Station in Africa for three years. But he still dressed when he left Europe three years ago. His manners were so elegant that when Marlow first met him, Marlow even believed he was a legend in colonies. The accountant dressed with “a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clear necktie, and pair of vanished boot”7. No hat. Hair parted, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand, which made Marlow exclaim in his heart that this man was really a legend. When he was asked how could he achieve this effect? The accountant proudly acknowledged that he forced a native woman who had distaste for the work to learn how to iron and starch in order to serve him. On the steamboat, there was a savage fireman, who was described by Marlow as “an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler...A few months of training had done for that really fine chap”8, “He was useful because he had been instructed”9. The reason for asserting this fireman improved or useful was because he had been inspired by Europeans, the elegant people. This kind of culture hegemony of the European colonists made many colonials believe that they belonged to the inferior race. They adored the white colonizers just like the adoration of a god. Sometimes this kind of adoration even made the natives lost themselves. This kind of spiritual colonial sense was even worse than that of the body’s. The cultural indoctrinization not only affected the colonial, but the white colonizers as well. Many colonizers gradually forgot their inner ethical standards and moral standards when they faced with the seduction of the aboriginal culture and the adoration of the colonial people. Driving by the ideology of superior Western culture, the colonizers unconsciously chose to take suicidal roads. Mr. Kurtz was one of the typical representatives. At the beginning of his arrival in Africa, Kurtz thought he was the envoy of the European civilization to fulfill his mission; he represented the superior white and the advanced science and technology. However, on the impulse of pursuing power and wealth, he degenerated into the abysm of crazy colonial spoliation. He befooled, deceived, enslaved and killed the natives arbitrarily. Therefore, Kurtz was both the executor of the colonial spoliation and the victim of the colonialism. Chapter Ⅴ Conrad’s Ambivalence towards Colonialism A．A Review of the General Theme of Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness is the most famous work written by Joseph Conrad. The novel came into being during the transitional period from capitalism to imperialism. At that time, literary works advocating a sense of colonizing and superiority of race maintained the social under trend. Heart of Darkness written by Conrad pointed out the suppression by Western countries with his sharp pen. Meanwhile, because of it naïve illusion about imperialist countries, the book became a focus of post-colonialism critics. The fact is that, being one of the classical work opposing imperialism and colonialism, Heart of Darkness is full of paradoxical langue. The typical manifestation is Conrad’s ambivalent attitude towards imperialism, both showing a deep hatred as well as a illusion about it. On one side, Conrad deeply revealed crimes committed by the colonizers in colonials, showing him on the anti-colonialism side. On the other side, Conrad, limited by subjective and objective conditions, he could not see the essence of the crimes committed by imperialist colonizers. Conrad adopted an attitude of ameliorating and persuading to become good, which directly resulted in its paradoxical language in this novel. This is why some post-colonial critics criticize this novel. B. Conrad— an Offender of Colonialism Since Conrad had wish for imperialists to become good through Heart of Darkness, it made many critics say Conrad had a sense of superiority as a member of Western imperialist countries. Among those views, the most typical is Chinua Achebe’s view. In an address in 1975, he said “Conrad not only saw deprivation of the imperialist colonizers, but also condemned this behavior. However, it was absurd that Conrad did not see racism.”10 Chinua Achebe also viewed this novel which had see Negros not as human beings, thus regarded Conrad as a damned racist. But starting from theories of post-colonialism, readers can not see any language hegemony or racial superiority in Heart of Darkness. Readers as well cannot see Westerners trying to change or suppress native culture so as to instill the ideology. On contrary, the novel sharply criticized the crimes committed by imperialists. Conrad, in this novel, showed sympathy to native people. What is more, Conrad expressed his admiration to native Negro’s simple characteristic and life vitality. For example, the writer wrote in the novel with deep affection “They exclaimed, sang, full of sweat. Those guys seemed wearing ridiculous masks. But they had bones, muscles, a wild vitality and energy, as natural and real as the waters in the sea.” From this perspective, regarding Conrad as a racist can be wrong as wrong can be. Saying Conrad as a writer with a sense of post-colonialism, it is better to say he is an anti-colonial writer. Although he is a member in imperialist countries, he reveals and satirizes colonial behavior even though he can not radically raise the banner to prohibit colonialism and colonizing. His satire is enough to make him the vanguard of anti-colonialism. Post-colonial theories deal with the time after colonialism. It deals with cultural intrusion, language power between colonizing countries and colonized countries, globalization and cultural identity. The focus of post-colonial theories is new forms of invasion of Western countries in backward countries. In Conrad’s novel, he bitterly condemned and satirized imperialist countries. Apparently, this was not an attitude of post-colonialism, but an attitude of anti-colonialism. C. Conrad— a Defender of Colonialism Besides, from the life experience of Conrad, he could not become the spokesman for imperialist countries. Conrad was born in Poland governed by Russia in 1857. His father opposed the sovereign of Russian Emperor all his life. Conrad got his English nationality and spent most of his time on board. He went to many places in the world, seeing numerous people. And during this period he tried to use his pen to depict the world in his eyes. As a foreigner living in other countries, Conrad had an instinct hatred to the United Kingdom, especially when he recalled his miserable childhood. Although he became an English man, making him a hope for the British colonizers to really spread science, culture and advanced technologies to other places in the world in darkness. But he still kept a distance with colonial governance. He did not eulogize for the course of imperialists, but he kept a cool mind and objectively recorded crimes committed by the colonizers disguised by spreading culture. Even though he did not apparently raise slogan of anti-colonialism, the reveal of hell behavior represented his strong condemnation to imperial colonizing. Meanwhile, Conrad had his own limits when sharply criticizing imperialism. As a person on the periphery of imperial world, Conrad received Western education and thus naturally had illusion for imperial countries to spread Western culture and civilization to other parts of the world where darkness dominates. However, the cruel reality made him depressed. The cruel reality could only led him to dilemma. Conrad could not find a way out. What he saw was darkness but nothing. He could see the darkness over the African continent and the darkness overshadowed the Thames River. Conrad, limited by his living environment, could not see the doomed fate of imperialism, which was predetermined by its nature. It was no more than a ridiculous daydream hoping one or two elite from imperial countries could change the overall situation. Even people, like Kurtz, finally became the sacrifice for imperialism. All these were presented in his novel, Heart of Darkness, a sense of strong paradoxical or say contradiction in the language used in the novel. Conrad’s criticized imperialism and colonialism sharply, but his hope for a better change of imperial countries was a mere fallacy. Undoubtedly, the paradoxical usage of language diminished his strength of anti-colonialism. He could not shoulder the great banner of anti-colonialism, but struggling and trading in the center of darkness. Conclusion Heart of Darkness reveals that imperial countries had stretched their control to every corner of the colonial countries and their daily lives. First, the novel adequately revealed the hypocrisy of European colonizers. Colonizers from Europe tried every means to glorify their ugly behavior, exclaiming native Africans were in desperate need of the advanced technology and productive forces in Europe. The Europeans came to Africa to bring brightness and knowledge for the native Africans. The fact was that all these words were excuses for the colonizers to glorify their deeds. Second, Heart of Darkness fully revealed the greed and cruelty of the European colonizers. In a map displayed in the trade station, the Africa was divided by all European imperial countries. What is more, the novel revealed the cultural hegemony. The European colonizers thought their culture and civilization were superior to the native ones. Besides, they believed the European white were the best race in the world. The instill of thought and view made some native Africans thought that they were indeed inferior to European colonizers. They even adored colonizers as their savior. While criticizing the colonizers, Conrad, to some degree, believed that the view of Europeans had nothing wrong. His angle of narration was totally Europe-centered. His description of white men was also full of a sense of racial discrimination. When Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness, the British Empire was in its prime time. During that period, adventurous story was the typical literary material and theme. In such works, writers often expressed their proud of being a citizen of British Empire. Most of British citizens were crazy patriots. Conrad was inevitably influenced by this trend. In the last ten or twenty years of the 19th century, the trend of self-suspicion was increasing. Conrad, again, was influenced by this trend. What is more, Conrad’s choosing of language when writing this novel diminished his power in criticizing colonialism. English, as a language, was in itself a good tool of cultural colonizing. And Conrad’s life experience made him a hatred of colonialism and imperial countries. His experience made him to reveal the darkness of imperial countries and colonizers, for they had made native people all life sufferings. Although Conrad showed ambivalence towards colonialism, his criticize of colonialism made him the vanguard in his peers. His work had played immeasurable role in the global protest against Belgium’s colonizing governance in Congo. At the same time, his works, in regard of theme and skills had influenced many writers and laid foundation for anti-colonial literary compositions. Notes 1. Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. London: Collins Classics, Harperpress (2010), p12. 2. Ibid. p18. 3. Huang Yulan. Conrad’s Paradoxical Attitude Towards Colonialism. Journal of Mudanjiang University (2007), p15. 4. Xu Ping. Anti-colonialism View of Conrad. Journal of Teachers College Qingdao University (2003), p34. 5. Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. London: Collins Classics, Harperpress (2010), p1. 6. Joseph Conrad. Heart of Darkness. Wuhan: Hubei People’s Press (2006), p18. 7. Wang Songhuai. The Theme of Heart of Darkness. Beijing: Writer Magazine, 2010, p71. 8. Dai Sudong. An Analysis of Heart of Darkness. Yancheng: Journal of Yancheng Institution of Technology, Social Science Edition (2003), p27 9. Conrad. Heart of Darkness. London: Collins Classics, Harperpress (2010), p48. 10. Zhang Xuan. Conrad’s View of Colonialism in Heart of Darkness. Liuzhou: Journal of Liuzhou Teachers College (2011), p37. Bibliography Albert, J Guerad, Introduction in Heart of Darkness. New York: New American Library Edition, 1950. Cedric Watts. A Preface t o Conrad. London: Longman, 1982; rev. edition. 1993. “Chinua Achebe: The Failure interview”. Retrieved 2008-07-25. Failure Magazine. Curtler, Hugh.. “Achebe on Conrad: Racism and Greatness in Heart of Darkness”. Conradiana, 1997. Dong Xiaoxia, The Dilemma of Joseph Conrad: An Anti-colonialist Fighter or a Colonialist Advocator, M.A., China 2008 Hayes, P. (1997), “Conrad, Male Tyranny and The Idealization of Women”, ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. Huang Yulan. 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