The God of Small Things is full of references to Western literature. One recurring reference is to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899), a short novel about European colonialism in the Congo which called into question the differences between "barbarism" and civilized society. The "Heart of Darkness" represents the absolute worst of human nature--Conrad used his Mr. Kurtz's barbarism to argue that there is no essential difference between races. Roy takes this criticism a step further, presenting the "Heart of Darkness" image as an ugliness not just inherent in European colonialism, but caused by it. Both novels, however, use the Heart of Darkness...
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