Politics at the Heart of Darkness Anyone can read Heart Of Darkness and easily feel Conrad's attitude towards English politics. On several occasions in Heart Of Darkness, Conrad emphasizes the uselessness and savagery of English colonization. Conrad also comments a bit on society as a whole. With these two ideas added to the book, it is no wonder that Heart of Darkness is such a touching novel. Through several examples, Conrad often shows the uselessness and savagery of English colonization in Africa. Probably the first example of this is when Marlow approaches the Frenchman who is "bombarding the bush". In this scene, the French see something moving and that's why they start bombing it. The bombings really do no good; in fact, it probably doesn't even kill what's there. This sort of represents what the English do: they try to conquer a land by bombing it to death and trying to kill everyone who lives there. The next example Conrad gives is where he sees the black guard, who leads the black slaves in a chain gang, stand up when he sees a white man. This shows how everyone tries to appear better than they are when they are in front of a supposedly superior person. It also shows that if a person can suck up enough - and sometimes betray their own people - they can progress in the world. Probably the greatest example of the pointlessness of colonization is when Marlow is walking around and sees big holes just around, a train and tools rusting to pieces, and when he hears explosions that seem to do nothing. What this shows is that the English presence in Africa serves no purpose but creates an empty hole (the big hole), that the English are only wasting their time and money on a useless project (the rusty objects) , and that the English seem to do nothing in Africa (useless explosions). One of the last examples he gives is that of the manager. This manager is all dressed up in “proper” clothes, must have everything in perfect order, and is complaining about the sick person in the corner of the room. This symbolizes how indifferent the English were in their quest for ivory..