Promt #8

The time in which Joseph Conrad's Hear of Darkness takes place is one very different from today. The setting of the novel is the uncolonized section of Africa. The mindset of the Caucasians at this point in history was that the white man was more civilized; they almost thought they were "better" as a race than the dark-skinned natives, proven through their enslavement and torture by the Europeans. At one point the colonization of Africa was even referred to as "the white man's burden." This phrase can be used to describe Marlow’s tone in his story of traveling up the charming, snake-like river of the uncharted area.  Marlow constantly refers to these people as "monsters." He sees the inhumanity of the natives with their behaviors and physical gestures which are to him animal-like. In his first stated encounter with the natives he shows compassion for a starving African man by giving him a biscuit of his own to eat, but later when moving up the river he refers to a native working on his vessel as a "dog" and a "chap" in the same sentence, showing a slight change in opinion of them as the story progress that continues on through the novel.