"Heart of
Darkness'' seen through the post-colonial lens examines the idea of imperialism
and exploration. Marlow as a child recalls looking at the map of the
world and seeing all the white space, the unexplored and unknown. With his
imperialistic spirit he promises to conquer it and sets his sights on Africa,
with the feeling of adventure, not satisfied with not knowing, not conquering.
"...a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously of. It had become a place
of darkness." This quote is foreshadowing the results of the imperialism
and power struggle between the cultures of Europe and Africa. The land was once
the great unknown, hidden from the rest of the world, but now that it has been
discovered and charted it was the great conquest, the greatest adventure. But
it became something much more dark, the men brought with them imperialistic
ideas and set out to take from the land what they could, bringing their hearts
of darkness with them. The
"glorious" dream had now turned into reality, with this dream came
darkness, the quote above alludes to the nightmare the conquest turned out to
be, the coveted Africa was no longer white space for a dream, but colored
blocks of conquered territory that show the dominance of the European culture
and the enslaved Africans. This is the
darkness, the imperialistic mindset that one culture had, that they used to
make profit and adventure of, that would later show their hearts of darkness.
You did a good job connecting the dots for the readers. Starting with Map of the world and moving on to the darkness of Africa. You talk about the imperialism after your quote. Maybe add in there the men brought it to the new land that was discovered, but even now we look at it and we don't know if so much Power is a good idea or a bad idea. It could be a good making them and bringing the land to be known, or it could be bad making the land to be known but making people so powerful there that nobody else wants to go discover the new land now. I like your quote choice. I would also add maybe go more in depth to your quote. Analysis the specific wording that the author choice. Why did he say it had become a place of darkness? From imperialism? How did imperialism make it the place of darkness. Overall I liked your thoughts! (:
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