Introduction
The British Empire at a glance, appears to warrant a seemingly clear definition. Expansive areas were under the rule of the British military and economic control, territories and seas were united by the British Crown and governed in the main city of London, this is the Empire on which the Sun never set.
The Empire at its height, constituted a large section of land area on a global scale. Porter highlights that citizens of the empire as well as its subjects constituted a significant transection of mankind, including peoples from a variation of colors, ethnicities and religions. Taking into account the previously mentioned, images of ‘dedicated (or arrogant) proconsuls in plumed helmets, and brave (or bullying) redcoats forming in squares, supported by enterprising (or greedy) and self-sacrificing (or fanatical) missionaries exerting a dominion over palm and pine’ encapsulate the milieu of nations under the British rule. Given the aforementioned, an additional image is formed of a Victorian society in support of the British Empire and what it represented, Edward Said in Always on Top asserts that the Empire even prior to its pinnacle during the 1850’s would have had adverse effects in sustaining and expanding control over territories sans the oftentimes tacit approval of the British senso commune. The ‘senso commune’ represents judgement with the absence of reflection by individuals on every level of the social hierarchy and is used by Said to illustrate unanimous support of the English with respect to British territories.
Homi K. Bhabha delineates in Nation and Narration that ‘Nations, like narratives, lose their origins in the myths of time and only fully realize their horizons in the mind\’s eye.’ The previously mentioned, forms a connection between culture and imperialism where the metanarrative of liberation and enlightenment impelled the people under colonial rule to fight against imperial subjugation. This forms the basis for postcolonial theory which seeks to ascertain the effects of European colonialism throughout its many territories, identifying facets of the lives led by the colonized people as well as the role of colonialism in the development of Western literature and philosophy in the ex-colonies during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in conjunction with the advent of literature pertaining to dissidence and resistance. Leading figures in the field of postcolonial theory include the likes of Edward Said, Homi K. Bhaha and Gayatri C. Spivak.
In The Heart of Darkness, Conrad illustrates the atrocities that occurred in the Belgian colony, Congo Free State. Said author provides calculated estimations of the human costs and revenues gained by King Leopold II, the King of Belgium; the preceding is contrasted and reinforced through metaphorical prose on the ambiguity, enigma and clandestinity that encompasses Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Conrad presents the reader with a critique of the nature of colonies, depicting the inhumane acts committed by colonial officers. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells portrays anxieties shared by the British during the Victorian era about the future, the novella begins ‘as a parody of British Imperialism but ends as a celebration,’ of Wells’ scientific fascination with the theory of evolution. This essay seeks to explore the theme of empire and race in the novel War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and novella The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad using postcolonial theory to advance the analysis of the aforesaid themes.
Empire and Race as depicted in The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Heart of Darkness with its conjuration of gradual deterioration towards delirium illustrates a quasi-fictional adventure through the Belgian Congo. Watts highlights the key subject matters in the novella, ‘Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a rich, vivid, layered, paradoxical and problematic novella or long tale; a mixture of oblique autobiography, traveler’s yarn, adventure story, psychological odyssey, political satire, symbolic prose-poem, black comedy, spiritual melodrama and skeptical meditation.’ The Heart of Darkness is a complex novella that offers the reader a compelling tale of the Belgian Congo while also presenting a critique of the social climate in the colonies.
F.R. Leavis in The Great Tradition argued for the inclusion of The Heart of Darkness in the canon citing that the novella is an ‘art of vivid essential record’ which articulates greed and moral decay to be behavior better suited in a sanatorium and is situated against the expansive and oppressive mysteries of the setting. The aforementioned, sets the tone for the rest of the novella. The character Kurtz is an agent of the company, his mental imbalance is a result of being enveloped by the nature of his surroundings in the Congo is made clear by the author; the excerpt (refer to Appendix 1) is representative of a reversal in the system of colonial hierarchy, where the surroundings are labeled oppressive in contrast to the infiltrators who desecrate the resources of the Congo and oppress the people. The lines ‘it made me hold my breath in expectation of hearing the wilderness burst into a prodigious peal of laughter’ and ‘the thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own,’ exhibits Marlow’s belief in the dangers of the wilderness through personification where the wilderness bursts into laughter and metaphorical expression where it demonstrates to what extent the power of the darkness has over an individual. Kurtz explicitly forsakes the ideals attached to the civilizing process deeply embedded in European imperialism. As an agent of the company, Kurtz is expected to represent the values and act in the best interest of the company, he does the opposite when he stakes sole claim on the ivory, station, river etc. In the excerpt of The Heart of Darkness, Conrad reaffirms the disillusionment surrounding the African continent, said author situates Kurtz in the center of the metaphorical hell, he is the ‘would-be civilizer, the embodiment of Europe’s highest and noblest values, radiating darkness.’ Conrad’s attention towards fetishizing Kurtz and ‘his Africa’ depicts criticism through the examination of how the civilizing process in nations abroad transpire on various levels in the novella with emphasis placed on the manner in which European political authority and consumerism govern the employment structure of the Company in Africa as well as the part it plays in Kurtz’s eventual demise. Criticism of the empire by Joseph Conrad in the novella is made clear in the extract, taking into account the author’s portrayal of Mr. Kurtz in a state of delirium as a result of being overwhelmed by his surroundings.
Empire is an integral thematic scheme present throughout the novella, in addition to the previous excerpt mentioned, the ivory trade is a central need that contributes to the economics of the European invaders (refer to Appendix 2). Ivory was a fundamental economic resource in the animal-based industry of the Congo Free State, the author brings emphasis to the importance of the ivory trade through the calculated usage of ‘animation to the signifier’ contemporaneously with religious sanctity as well as a decaying corpse to illustrate mortal putrefaction. Ivory in the narrative is representative of economic advancement and assumes a form of immortality juxtaposed with ‘a whiff from some corpse.’ The corpse may indicate figurative undertones in which both the elephants and Congolese suffer due to the pursuit of ivory by the European invaders.
Fanon in Black Skin, White Masks asserts that the inherent nature of colonialism leads to profound disjuncture between different races within society resulting in distinct binary opposition between black(s) and white(s); pronounced dichotomy between blackness and whiteness is instated through the ‘colonial vision.’ Fanon affirms the intransigency of binary oppositions, ‘The white man is sealed in his whiteness. The black man in his blackness.’ Binary opposition is present in the novella between colonizer and the colonized (refer to Appendix 3). Within the context of colonialism, binarism is understood as the predisposition of the Western world to identify binary opposition in order to form a relation of dominance where a simple relationship between colonizer/colonized and metropolis/empire are able to demonstrate the power structure in which colonialism perpetuates and is established. Kurtz arrives at what appears to be a calculated decision pertaining to the inherent superiority that ‘whites’ have over the ‘savages’. Edward Said argues that the ability of a particular culture to tyrannize or have control to validate another by means of a superior locus is principal in the process of power differentiation within and beyond said culture’s jurisdiction. Further affirming the elevated position Europeans perceived themselves to be in, in comparison to the Congolese. Said notion is portrayed and instated with the author’s use of parallelism to convey the social status of the agent Kurtz by placing him and all other ‘whites’ in the same line of comparison as ‘supernatural beings’. The excerpt also describes expected social conduct of the Europeans with the phrases ‘approach them with the might of a deity’ and ‘exert a power for good’. Brantlinger highlights the contrast between the natives’ idolatry worship of Kurtz in their moment of darkness and the worshipping of ivory, power, money and reputation by European invaders; he propounds the similarities between Kurtz and the natives, where the former worships his uncontrollable desire for power and the latter partake in ‘unspeakable rites’. The previously mentioned portrays the false sense of superiority resonated by the European imperialists that permeated African society and establishes the position of the Congolese from the perspective of a white man.
Africa is depicted as ‘a place of negations […] in comparison with which Europe’s own state of spiritual grace will be manifest,’ delineated by Chinua Achebe. Watts affirms the dehumanizing and degrading representation of Africans in The Heart of Darkness with the revocation of speech, dialogue is only granted during the act of denouncing themselves [the natives]. The natives are robbed of speech by the Europeans and are only permitted to speak when condemning their own culture. Thus, establishing the issues surrounding the portrayal of Africa by Conrad. Achebe’s stance on the racist nature of the novella is not unprecedented, Africa and its people were depicted through the eyes of a European man who was unable to see past his own [however inherent] prejudices against the Congolese. In an excerpt from the novella (refer to Appendix 4), Marlow describes his foreign surroundings. Said in Culture and Imperialism highlights that Conrad adopts and projects Western perspectives of Africa in the narrative, preventing the author from producing prose sans preconceived notions. The character Marlow is afraid of the ‘kinship’ he has formed with the ‘wild and passionate uproar’, the people who made ‘horrid faces’ and the extent to which they were human, which segues to Said’s proposal on the stance Conrad has taken in his prose (refer to Appendix 5). Conrad’s failure to view natives from an equal standpoint is resonated most notably, by both Achebe and Said. The quote extracted from The Heart of Darkness illustrates Marlow’s anxiety of forming a kinship with the Congolese, reinstating the arguments made against Conrad by Achebe and Said.
Empire and Race as depicted in The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Herbert George Wells portrays ‘the perfect nineteenth century myth of the imaginary war’ in his novel, The War of the Worlds. Said author incorporated several pre-existing components present in the Victorian psyche based on discoveries made in the scientific and technological spheres of society including new developments in the field of warfare, Darwin’s theory of Evolution and recent theories suggesting life outside of Earth. Thereby, instating Wells’ belief between the role of Darwinism in presenting the notion of natural selection and its subsequent function in providing justification for brutal acts committed by the British in the fight for territories which, may have led to the author’s realization of the possibility that future warfare would be based on technology and that the opponent with the more advanced weapons will be front-runners of the war. The War of the Worlds includes the presentation of scientific and technological advancements made and simultaneously illustrates social milieu of the nineteenth century.
Chapter one of the novel includes the unnamed narrator’s expression of the brutal nature of humankind exhibited as follows ‘And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races.’ The excerpt illuminates the author’s concern in relation to British imperialism with implicature that the English deserve to suffer as a result of their arrogance; undertones of Wells’ irritation by the complacent demeanor of the Victorians is identified in the quote conceivably stemming from wrongful nationalistic assumptions that the reversal of roles between colonizer and colonized was unlikely to happen in Victorian England and ‘with infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.’ The aforesaid is supported by the subsequent line derived from the novel, ‘Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?’ Wells’ views of the British empire is resonated in The War of the Worlds where he critiques Victorian society’s complacency towards the brutalities that occurred on territories governed by the British Crown.
Description of the Other within the context of the novel is perhaps a projection of Victorians and how the psyche is moulded ‘by the suppositions of contemporary science and technology.’ Wells’ utilizes the science fiction genre to formulate the Other in order to invoke self-reflection, said author’s description of the Other (refer to Appendix 6) begins with painting an image of a horrendous creature, ‘Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance,’ and ends with ‘Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread.’ Wolfe in The Known and the Unknown asserts that technological advancements within society presents humankind with new surroundings and as a result, creates the framework in forming new images within humanity; the human self is then identifiable with respect to science fiction’s formation of the Other. The Other within the context of the novel contains stark differences to the human species, as is seen in the following example where the Other is described to have a ‘peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges [and] chin’ among other peculiarities. The author places emphasis on the foreignness of the Other, ‘—were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous.’ Affirming the point Kerslake makes on the tendency for science fiction narratives to juxtapose the human from the non-human utilizing Waldenfels’ principle of differentiation where the Other is outlined to have attributes distinctly ‘less than human’, in the case of Wells’ narrative there is a connoted meaning of disease and decay intended to incite a repulsive feeling by the reader instead of threat. Wells’ may be utilizing the concept of foreignness and the other to invoke repulsiveness intended towards the violence associated with British imperialism. While there is no explicit mention of the British colonies within the novel this perhaps is a result of the presentation of the British empire in ‘counterfactual form’ where the Martians are the ‘invading force’ in England, leading Victorian readers to contemplate England’s own ‘imperial future’.
Imperial characteristics depicted in the novel with the invasion of the Martians, binarism is evident with the usage of two vastly opposing races in order to provide contrast and establish superiority of one race compared to other, the Martians versus the humans. The humans can be viewed as a foil to the ruthless Martians. Said in Orientalism affirms that ‘Theses of Oriental backwardness degeneracy, and inequality with the West’ formed associations during the early nineteenth century with concepts pertaining to ‘biological bases of racial inequality’ thus developing an ‘added second-order Darwinism’ that accentuated ‘scientific validity of the division of races into advanced or backward.’ Reaffirming the role of binarism in the novel is seen in chapter seven where the artilleryman states, ‘This isn’t a war,’ said the artilleryman. ‘It never was a war, any more than there’s war between man and ants.’ The comparison made between men and ants at war reinstates the idea of opposing forces, in this case superior and inferior. War of the Worlds contrasts Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in which Conrad portrays a critique of colonialism using different races of humans to convey the concept, white men versus black ‘savages’ while the former is less direct in its attempt to present the reader with criticism of imperialism what with the author’s usage of Martians versus humans. The reversal of roles between the imperial superpower and invasion by the Martians proposes an undignified position for the British, where superior creatures that share characteristics in close similarity to ‘Earth’s lower species’; taking this into account, Wells extends the narrative beyond ‘threats posed by the militarization of European rivals.’ The author poses a narrative of counter-invasion reaffirming his stance on England as an imperialist power.
Conclusion
The narratives in Heart of Darkness and War of the Worlds greatly differ but maintain the same themes of empire and race. In terms of postcolonial theory, the novel and novella both explore the concept of superior and inferior races used in providing justification of the British conquests, the idea of ambivalence among colonialized subjects, the role of cartography in invoking Conrad’s interest in embarking on a voyage of discovery practiced in colonial cultures, social Darwinism used during the time to condone the violence present on imperial territories. Watts highlights the paradoxes present in Heart of Darkness such as [but not limited to] ‘society saves us from corruption, yet society is corrupt’, ‘imperialism may be redeemed by ‘an idea at the back of it’ but imperialism, irredeemably, is ‘robbery with violence’ and ‘civilization can be barbaric. It is both a hypocritical veneer and a valuable achievement to be vigilantly guarded.’ Wells’ fin-de-siècle novel highlights the interaction between new media and its part in providing authors during the time period ‘crucial frames for conceiving modern imperialism,’ which was essential towards the expansion and maintenance of the British Empire. Both the novel and novella through different genres convey a critique of British imperialism as supported through postcolonial theory and the themes of empire and race.
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