In Heart of Darkness, one major theme is evil deeds being hidden away so that no one can speak up about them. The Belgians and those they employ such as Marlow believe that they are the “civilized” people and that the native Congolese are untamed “savages” barely better than wild animals. They base much of this on the fact that they are white and the Africans are black. It is for this reason that they believe that the horrors that they inflict are justified. There are multiple attempts to keep Marlow from getting to the main station many people who would rather he simply turned around and left. This novella shows us the inhumanity that exists when there is no one around to see it. This is a reflection of what actually happened in the Belgian Congo. King Leopold, the Belgian king who ruled the Congo conducted was we would now refer to as a “propaganda war”. He tried to keep as many people out of the Congo to avoid them seeing the atrocities that his officers were committing. He did everything he could to control any and all news that came out of the Congo. Any writers who attempted to speak out about the atrocities would be attacked by the Belgian government and silenced. Many of them were American abolitionists who were fighting to expose slavery in other places where it was practiced following the American Civil War. At first many tried writing about what was happening, however, Leopold simply slandered them in the press saying that they were lying. It was easily believed by people because it was thought that since the Beligans were white they were civilized and that they would be helping the “savage” black people of the Congo. It is said that “ a picture is worth a thousand words” Leopold might have been able to deny the words but he could hardly say that the pictures of dead workers and mutilated children were lies. Because of these photos the white people of Europe were forced to see what was happening and could not ignore it forcing them to do something about it. Had this been happening in Europe to other Europeans the response would have been much swifter, but since much of the world still viewed Africans as less-then whites it was allowed to continue. https://mbtimetraveler.com/tag/e-v-sjoblom/- This is article about the photographs that were taken proving the horrors of the Congo Young boys who have had their hands cut off by Beligan officers. These are some of the original photographs that helped force the world's attention.
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