An Analysis of Representations of African Tribal Society in King Solomon’s Mines and Heart of Darkness

Abstract

During the late nineteenth century, Britain and her European competitors vied for supremacy over lands, resources, and people in continental Africa. In the north and south of the continent, the British were particularly active while Belgian imperial interests devoted their resources to central Africa. Henry Rider-Haggard and Joseph Conrad, writers whose lives almost overlap each other’s, travelled to what is now South Africa and the Congo respectively. Upon their return to Britain, they wrote fiction based upon their African experiences working as civil servant and merchant sailor. This essay focuses upon the way both authors represent concepts of civilized and civilization in their texts, including characterizations, narrative discourse, and contemporary influences.