Will the Real Kurtz Please Stand Up?

After reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, I found it almost impossible not to compare the characters in the novella to the actual people that we read about in Adam Hochschild's book King Leopold's Ghost. The character, Kurtz, was particularly interesting, and not just because he seemingly lost his mind in the end.

Kurtz could have very well been modeled after the officer Leon Rom. At one point, someone explains to Marlow that Kurtz believes himself to be a god to the natives, going on brutal raids in search of ivory, and he displays severed heads along the fence posts. Rom was known to display a row of severed heads around his garden. Also, a Russian man confides in Marlow that recite poetry - his own - to him, which seems odd for such a violent fellow. However, Rom was also known to partake in "gentle" activities, such as painting and butterfly collecting.


Guillaume Van Kerckhoven was also very Kurtz-like; or rather, the character Kurtz was comparable to the Force Publique officer by the name of Guillaume Van Kerckhoven. Kerckhoven didn't necessarily display a collection of severed heads, as did Rom and kurtz, but he was most certainly rumored to have a collection, and he even bragged about paying his black soldiers for every head they brought to him.


Of course, no one, save Joseph Conrad himself, knows for sure if Kurtz was modeled after any of the people he met in the Congo. But he certainly had quite a few candidates that would make wonderful models for fictional villains, seeing as how there were so many real villains present in Africa when he visited.

Not Without Heroes

King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild, was a chilling, historical recount of the atrocities which occurred in the Congo. It was, at times, hard to read, especially knowing that it is non-fiction and that all of these things actually happened. But, even though it was non-fiction, the story did have its share of heroes.


George Washington Williams was one of these heroes. Upon meeting King Leopold, he was "dazzled by the man" (p. 106) and believed him when he said he was not acting out of his pocket but rather his "Christian duty" (p. 106). He wrote the Open Letter, in which he revealed all of King Leopold's and Stanley's atrocious behavior toward the Africans. He was the first person to do so, and, understandably, King Leopold was furious. And because of Leopold's charm and power, he was able to persuade most people that Stanley was a liar. Of course, Williams was not a pure hero, as he abandoned his family in the United States and failed to mention that to his fiance. Such is usually the case in non-fiction - even the heroes have been touched by the corruption of humanity.


Joseph Conrad was another one of the heroes of the book; so much so that Hochschild dedicated the entirety of Chapter 9, "Meeting Mr. Kurtz," to Conrad and his novella, Heart of Darkness. And, having previously read an excerpt from Heart of Darkness, it sickens me to have learned that it is quite possible that the evil Mr. Kurtz was most likely modeled after the murderous, and very real, Leon Rom.



And there were other heroes mentioned as well, such as the British journalist E.D. Morel, who, upon further investigation of cargo being shipped in and out of Africa, determined that all was not well and devoted his life to destroying the evil practices taking place in the Congo. And there were numerous Africa tribal leaders who refused to sell the people of their tribe, and there were always Africans rebelling and refusing to give in, even if it meant they would be brutally murdered.

This book... definitely can move you to tears. The pictures especially got to me, because even when reading about everything that went on and knowing the book is non-fiction, I still felt disconnected somehow. Seeing the pictures of real people chained together naked, or looking at the severed limbs of their 5-year-old daughter... that's powerful. That's not something that can easily be forgotten.

The First 100... (long overdue... sorry!)

What words are there to describe the first one-hundred pages of King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild? At times I found myself amused, oftentimes brought on by one of Stanley's ridiculous tales and the following commentary explaining why these tales were most likely invented. And of course, I never knew the origins of the well-known phrase, "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" and the many variations of it. Of course, in the beginning, you are inclined to feel sympathetic for Stanley and his horrible upbringing. Although, call me a bad person, but I found the fate of his two serious relationships to be rather amusing. It was most likely all for the better though, because could you imagine what kind of a life Stanley's life would have lived? Then to contrast Stanley's life came the story of King Leopold. Of course, Leopold didn't have the easiest life growing up either. His father refused to show any sort of affection, and Leopold even had to "apply for an audience" (p. 34). And he was always seen as a bit of an oddity. But the tales of both boys was amusing.

Of course, not all of the first hundred was so cheery and light-hearted. Almost as soon as Leopold comes into power, we get to see what a cunning and slimy character he is. He convinces the leaders of several other European countries that they needed to explore Africa for scientific reasons, assuring them that he would acquire no personal gain, the European explorers would be unarmed and would teach the natives useful skills, etc. He was brilliant, indeed, but his brilliance was put to shame in the evil way in which he used it. It was also disturbing to read about the way he treated his daughters. Of course it was custom to marry off the daughters to gain political fervor. But to have them married off so young, to much older men who didn't treat them well, and then to have no feelings of sorrow or sympathy, just seems so beyond the realm of humanity. Of course, if he could treat his own felsh and blood as property, then it makes sense that he had no problem doing the same to the Africans.

So the first one-hundred pages? They were exciting, amusing, disturbing, and eloquently written. They definitely leave you longing to hear the rest of the history of King Leopold's and Stanley's African expedition.

The Fashoda Incident

European countries began claiming African territory in the mid-to-late 1600's; more specifically, Great Britain and France laid claim to quite a few territories scattered throughout Africa. With two powerful countries hoping to expand their territory within the confines of the same country, it came as no surprise when the two butted heads over certain areas.

Great Britain controlled the territories depicted in yellow and France controlled the territories depicted in pink. Both countries wished to connect their scattered territories by means of railroad systems. The problem was that both countries wanted control of Fashoda, which is right on the Nile. Both countries sent forces to the area, Britain's being led by Sir herbert Kitchener, and France's being led by Jean-Baptiste Marchand. Marchand arrived and held fort at Fashoda for two months before Kitchener eventually arrived. With both forces on the brink of military entanglement, the two generals agreed to fly the flags of both countries. However, this did nothing to ease the tension. The new foreign minister of France, Theophile Delcasse, was eager to gain Britain's aid in their crusade against Germany, and so he went against the public and decided to concede at the fort, allowing Britain complete control. However, with the reopening of the Dreyfus Affair, the French public was not too upset with Delcasse's decision.

(Major Marchand at Fashoda)

Sharp-Dressed Men

While looking through the village of Umuofia, I was interested in the many types of clothing in which the villagers adorned. Of course, the majority of the villagers were in typical African tribal wear, such as the men viewed in this picture:

Seeing as how Africa had such a hot climate, wearing the least amount of clothing possible, while still adhering to some sort of modesty, seemed like the best idea. However, not everyone was so lucjy as to walk around nearly naked. Take this man, for example:

He had a very specific role to play, and that required him to wear quite a bit of clothing; that which would have been commonly seen among the white Christians. There were also these men:

These men, dressed as court messengers, stood to warn people against traveling through the Evil Forest. I know I certainly wouldn't have crossed the paths of these men. Of course, I didn't visit every single place, but I only came across one picture of a woman. There was nothing significant about her garments; just a drab dress which I'm sure was rather common. It seems as though the men got to have all the fun playing dress-up, even if it served a purpose, like the armed man in scary face paint and savage-like clothing. In our culture, it is the women who like to dress-up, and typically men try to stay away from things like wearing make-up... unless it is for a specific purpose!

The Loss of the Medicine Man

Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, does a magnificent job of showing the transition between per-colonized and colonized Africa from a historic viewpoint while also managing to capture the feelings of the Africans. And while there were many changes between the two cultures, one of the most prominent consequences of Africa's colonization was the loss of most of their original cultural practices. The white Christians told the Africans that their customs were "bad," and as more and more Africans were promised power and land in exchange for their religious conversion, they, too, began to retort to the other Africans about their "bad" customs.

The passage about the Medicine Man, Okagbue Uyanwa, was very important. The pre-colonized African culture called in a Medicine Man when they needed to be lifted of some sort of evil spirit. Okonkwo called in Okagbue after his third son by Ekwefi, Onwumbiko, passed away, as he had not been given a proper burial. Upon discovering that the child died on the same market day which he had been born, the tribe took this as a significant circumstance. Okagbue then mutilated the child's corpse and dragged him by the ankle to bury in the "Evil Forest." This was supposed to discourage the evil spirit from reentering any more of their children. Of course, the mutilation of a child's corpse would have been highly discouraged by the white Christians, simply because they failed to understand the purpose. Customs that made complete sense to the African tribes were deemed un-Godly by the white colonizers. They often gave labd to Africans who paid them money, even though the Africans had very specific customs about land.

That always seems to be the case, doesn't it? If you can't understand something, then it must be bad. To make matters worse, the intentions of the Christians were not always pure and often were intwined in political matters as well as greed. They were solely responsible for the fall of an ancient culture, and it's no wonder that Okonkwo was driven mad.

The Forgotten Societies

Prior to Africa's colonization, there were several large empires that were ruled by overpowered, totalitarian-esque governments; or kings, rather. Such was the commonplace of most empires of the time. All the power rested within the king's hands, along with his council, thus classifying these empires as centralized, or centralized states. In addition, there were several smaller kingdoms, or city states. But statistics say that around one-third of pre-colonial Africans lived devoid of any such kingdoms. So why were historians so slow to study these stateless-civilizations, when they so clearly made up a large portion of the country? And just what were these forgotten societies all about?

As you can see in the picture, a rather large portion of the country was not actually part of a kingdom. And certainly most of those areas were populated. Why is so little information available about these societies? First, it's important to understand what set them apart from the kingdoms of Africa. Even the smaller kingdoms had some sort of ruling government or hierarchy system in place. These smaller civilizations didn't. They lacked kings, chiefs, or any complex form of government. Many chose to let the elders of their communities make all of the economical and social decisions. So without any real form of governmental rule, there was no need for written, or even oral, documentation of what went on, as well as expectations for living, in these small civilizations. What we do know is that they placed less emphasis on family connectivity and more on age when choosing their "leaders."

Perhaps it didn't occur to historians to study these societies. Of course their first priorities would be to study the governmental entities the reigned supreme over pre-colonial Africa. But with such a large portion of the country residing outside of kingdoms, is it really so wise, or even fair, to overlook the rest? In all fairness, the lack of written documentation from these societies makes it a little more challenging to extract the very essence of their existence. And the collapse of these seemingly better-off communities was as undeniable as it was for the rest of Africa as soon as Western countries began to colonize.

Now here's a question: Out of the large empires, the smaller kingdoms, and the stateless societies, which was quintessentially what comes to mind when thinking of pre-colonial Africa? Because I would have never guessed that they had such complex forms of government prior to colonization. Would anyone else agree? Or perhaps you know more about Africa than I do?


More info on the different forms of governmental societies.

More info on the more prominent African Empires.

Introduction

Hello class. My name is Reanne Asbury. I'm 20 years old, and I was born and raised in Jackson, MI. This is my third year in college; first year at Western. Right out of high school, I attended a tiny, private school in Greencastle, IN called DePauw University. It was too far from home, and much too expensive. I did, however, receive an amazing education during my time spent there, although the classes didn't seem to transfer to here! I also spent a year at Jackson Community College, which was most likely a waste of time, but they actually gave me money both semesters, so I can't complain too much. I'm an English major, and I hope to one day teach at a high school level. I think I would enjoy having intellectual conversations with my students, rather than what you would be certain to hear at a lower level. I have taken several upper-level English courses. However, my college writing class from DePauw didn't transfer as an actual class, so I have to take the most basic English course offered here. >:[

So, shall I get a little more personal? I have been a vegetarian for almost four and a half years. Prior to moving to Kalamazoo, I lived with my mom, my older twin sisters, and my dog and two cats. I love wolves, singing, and I am a self-proclaimed Diet Coke addict. My mom owns a bookstore, so I have grown up reading and it is one of my favorite past times. I play video games and WoW because I'm a closet nerd. But apparently not anymore... I just made that little tidbit public. Before transferring here, I worked as a Sales Associate at American Eagle and modeled for a photographer by the name of Dave Melges. He's stationed in Battle Creek, so some of you may have heard of him? This was one of my shoots.

I guess that's all for now?