Heart Of Darkness 'And By Any Other Name'

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During the process of colonization, the manipulator will force his followers into changing their values or beliefs in order to fit into the new establishment. Sometimes, the way the manipulator executes this movement can come off as violent and aggressive. This type of behavior illustrates a form of post-colonialism. Joseph Conrad’s novella The Heart of Darkness, Santha Rama Rau’s short story By Any Other Name, and Nadine Gordimer’s short story Once Upon A Time all show examples of a value shift between either a group of people or an individual. When a colonizer succeeds in changing the natives' cultural beliefs, it then establishes a colony. In The Heart of Darkness, Mr. Kurtz is an example of a colonizer. When Kurtz arrives in the Central …show more content…
Before Marlow arrives in Africa, all he hears is that Kurtz is a wonderful, inspiring man. Marlow, however, does not have an opinion on him, but he expects him to be as important as he has been talked about. When Marlow is introduced to the world that Kurtz has been living, he suddenly becomes aware of the evil that Kurtz has brought upon the natives. Instead of being appalled by the mass chaos, Marlow realizes how influential Kurtz has been on the natives. “This is the reason why I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to say. He said it” (Conrad, 145). From the time that Marlow arrives on the continent, his beliefs of Kurtz shift, and suddenly he becomes very interested in Kurtz’s life and his future plans. This comes to show how compelling and persuasive Kurtz is to everyone, including the people who have no desire to follow his commands in the first …show more content…
While on a walk, the husband and son notice that all of their neighbors had invested in new safety features.
“There was the low-cost option of pieces of broken glass embedded in cement along the top of walls, there were iron grilles ending in lance points, there were attempts at reconciling the aesthetics of prison architecture with the Spanish Villa style (spikes painted pink) and with the plastic urns of neoclassical façades (twelve-inch pikes finned like zigzags of lightning and painted pure white). Some walls had a small board affixed, giving the name and telephone number of the firm responsible for the installation of the devices” (Gordimer 3).
At the beginning of the short story, the neighborhood is described as an outstanding place to live, with safety watch groups and wonderful living conditions. When the riots and violence progress, all of the members of the ideal community begin worrying, which leads them to start changing what they value about their own community and put up ugly fences and security features in order to stay safe. In this case, the violence that continues to occur inside the neighborhood is what convinces the community members to reevaluate the area that they are living, which then leads them to adjust their homes for the appropriate safety
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