Insanity in the Congo

Reading the Heart of Darkness, Mr. Heidkamp brought up the connection between insanity and imperialism. This made me think of the Stanford Prison Experiment. In the Stanford Prison Experiment a fake prison was set up to examine the psychology of guards and prisoners. As time went on in the experiment, guards slowly became more and more acclimated to being authority figures, turning into more and more vicious people. This reminds me of imperialism in the Congo. In the Congo, Belgians like Marlow arrive, oblivious to their government's work. As they slowly become more and more acclimated to the brutality and lifestyle of the overseers, they become slowly more insane and vicious. This is similar to Freslevens, who initially was a very nice person, then murdered a native chief over something so small like two black hens. With imperialism, and a culture that encourages taking on a dehumanizing role, people become more and more like the archetypes they try so desperately not to be like, or pretend not to be.