As I was reading Heart of Darkness a question was raised as to weather or not Conrad´s novel had some sort of truth behind it. After reading Genocide With Spin Control: Kurtz Wasn´t Fiction an article written by Michiko Kakutani, I realized Conrad´s novel is actually based on true events. This article is about King Leopold the Second´s oppressing rule over the Congo river. To my surprise Kurtz has characteristically very similar as to those of Leopold.
In Heart of Darkness Kurtz is looked up to by a sort of God by the Natives. Kurtz somehow manipulated the natives into helping him. Was it Kurtz control, looks, power, weapons, who knows...The point is that he took advantage of humans for personal profit. The article states “Some were beaten or whipped to death for failing to meet the rigid production quotas for ivory and rubber harvests imposed by Leopold's agents. Some were worked to death, forced to labor in slave-like conditions as porters, rubber gatherers or miners for little or no pay.” This is King Leopold's way of treating the Natives. Now compare it with this quote from Heart of Darkness: “They were dying slowly-it was clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals,
they were nothing earthly now,-nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying
confusedly in the greenish gloom.”. Very similar, right? According to the article Leopold made 1.1 Billion dollars (present day).
Both Leopold and Kurtz made profit from the exhaustion of natives. They both were from Belgium and they were both in the Congo are during the same time. Coincidence..I think not. Conrad used Kurtz to personify the character of King Leopold II of Brussels. This way Conrad makes it clear to the authors of the horrors going on in the Congo River during this time period.
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