The late 19th and early 20th centuries marked a period of empire building for much of Europe. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad addresses a specific problem of European hegemony: the treatment of natives. Critics accuse Conrad of maintaining colonial biases in his writings, of stereotyping "savage" natives, and of glorifying "benevolent" Europeans. Indeed, Conrad's main character and alter ego, Marlow, initially sees natives as inferior to Europeans, but this was the commonly held anthropological view at the time. To be racist in a more useful sense, Marlow and Conrad must support the supposed natural right of Europeans to dominate an inferior race throughout the novel. As Marlow's journey along the river proceeds, however, Conrad does the opposite. It depicts the natives as abused by their colonial conquerors. Conrad proves that he is not racist by creating a progression of his protagonist in which the subtle irony and the motif of moderation differentiate the natives from the Europeans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Initially, Marlow believes that the native Africans are inferior to the European settlers. Marlow reveals his racist position in his numerous descriptions of the natives. He calls them "niggers," "savages," "creatures," and "prehistoric." Such language is certainly ethnically insensitive. Furthermore, Marlow rarely refers to the natives as human or attributes human qualities to them. In fact, Marlow believes that they have more in common with jungle animals than with humans. He describes one of these "creatures" as walking on all fours, like an animal. Marlow is particularly condescending in his description of the savage who serves as a fireman on the steamboat. Marlow describes him as an “improved specimen” (Conrad 109) compared to the other “specimens” who walk on all fours. Marlow again reduces the native by attributing animal characteristics to him by stating that watching the fireman "was as edifying as seeing a dog in a travesty of breeches and a feathered hat, walking on his hind legs" (109). Marlow reduces the role of the natives to that of trained animals. Marlow seems to believe that, much like a trained dog, the natives are incapable of higher thoughts and meaningful work. Marlow summarizes his beliefs with the statement, "He was there beneath me," (109), meaning not only that the fireman was physically inferior to him in the boat, but that he was also racially inferior to him . Through a series of discoveries, however, Marlow's beliefs slowly change. Conrad contrasts the moderation of the natives with the excess of the Europeans. As Marlow travels along the river, he encounters many European settlers and many natives. These meetings allow him to make judgments on the behavior and righteousness of each of these peoples. Marlow finds that while, at first glance, the natives lack many of the physical characteristics of European dignity, they surpass the Europeans in their moral moderation. One such group of natives encountered are the cannibals who work on Marlow's steamboat. While they are admittedly low on supplies, they don't resort to eating any crew members to satisfy their primal instincts. Marlow “[looks] at them as you would any human being, with a curiosity about their impulses, motivations, abilities, weaknesses, when put to the test of inexorable physical necessity” (116). Through his investigation, Marlow concludes that their actions are due to their fundamental moral concept of "Restraint!" (116). Such moderation is entirely absent in the colonists that Marlow.