The Dark Continent
The most important use of imagery in Arendt's work is when she describes the experience of the imperial colonists in Africa, often referred to as "The Dark Continent" in the 19th century. She draws upon imagery from Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, to characterize their experience with the natives. In Conrad's novel, the characters attempt to describe the experience of entering the "madhouse" of Africa:
The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us--who could tell? We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be, before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember, because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone leaving hardly a sign—and no memories. The earth seemed unearthly,... and the men... No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it--this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity--;like yours--the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar" (Heart of Darkness).
Several images—the madhouse, the phantom, the wild and passionate uproar—are woven together to create a dreamlike world through which the men of Conrad's book walk. Arendt uses this imagery to show how truly alien, and yet eerily human, the world of the dark continent appeared to the imperial colonists. This characterization allows her to describe the racism that grew out of this experience.
