Heart of Darkness

this book was written by John Conrad in 1902. it is written in a story-tellers perspective by sea pilot named Marlow. Marlow sets out on an anticlimactic journey into the "heart of darkness", the jungles of Congo. there he meets an ivory "collector" named Kurtz, who exploits slaves to gain ivory and steals it from them as well.
This book is significant in its affect on the European people of the time. This book is ambiguous in almost all of its meanings, which could not have been on accident. Conrad exposes the reality of colonization (its similarities slavery which had already been abolished), but at the same time he gives no life to any of the Africans except the cannibals. He gives the impression that Kurtz is a man of honor and prestige, but also shows that he is an ethnocentric, selfish maniac. There is also ostensible references to the psyche of Freud at the different stages of super ego, go and id along the journey into the jungle.
The purpose of Conrad's book is to demonstrate the corruption & exploitation of imperialism and its relationship to the heart of human existence. Europe had colonized essentially all of Africa by 1900 and the united states and europe colonized much of the east asian islands soon there after. concepts such as "the white man's burden", or the spreading of western values are still used as justification for the exploitation of any territory that has valuable resources for the imperializing state. Its been a technique used for centuries and it is still being used today in the Middle East. Many americans are still buying into the concept that the media feeds us that they need democracy and capitalism. Do they? Really?