Conrad, Progress, and Irony

"An Outpost of Progress" by Joseph Conrad is by far the most ironic story of the semester. The main characters Kayerts and Carlier are sent to Africa from a "civilized" society in order to bring progress to the countries trading business. And yet as the story goes on, they become less and less civilized in the face of fear. As they eventually end up having to ration their food, it seems like all of the mental structures that made them civilized slowly disappear into a more primitive state of mind. The irony lies in the fact that these two men were suppose to be progressing, but instead they succumb to the savagery that they looked down upon the entire story. This undoubtedly has connections to the British Imperialism of the Victorian age, but more importantly I think Conrad in suggesting that no matter how civilized we become, we are all essentially primitive and no better than anyone else.