A Brief Summary of An Outpost of Progress by Joseph Conrad

An Outpost of Progress is a short story, it is about two English white men and, names are Kayerts and Carlier; Kayerts is the chief, Carlier is an assistant of Kayerts, they take over a trading station in Congo in Africa, this area is colonized by Europe’s trading companies, their job is simple, they have to supervise the collection of ivory in the outpost. They are in charge of everything in the outpost, they are an arm of colonial Europe in Congo. As soon as the steamer dropped them off, Carlier and Kayerts begin to feel uneasy in Africa. They sense that they are out of their world because Africa is living in prehistorical times for Europeans. The first thing that they see is a cross that their predecessor buried under it. Then, they meet with Makola. Makola oversees ten additional natives; they arise and report for work each morning when the European men ring a bell. And also, he can speak English and French very fluently. The chief and the assistant just stay in their house and do nothing but read old books and old newspapers. One day, Kayerts and Carlier meet with Gobila, who is the chief of a village that is nearby the outpost. He helps them a lot, and he even offers them palm wine. Meanwhile, other armed natives come to the station, and they begin making demands. Kayerts and Carlier are feeling danger for the first time since they have come, and the two men load their guns for any threat. They have not been scared so much before this event. On that night, the forest is alive with the sound of drums, and natives are yelling all night long. In the morning, these armed natives claim that they have accumulated more ivory than they can carry. Kayerts and Carlier are fascinated by this situation because they haven’t been able to make any significant trade lately. Makola offers to help them get some ivory from the armed natives, and the two men agree because the only thing that gives them excitement is ivory trading. The next morning after the trade, they see that the natives who are working for them have disappeared. Kayerts and Carlier learn that Makola has exchanged ivory with native workers then they get angry. But after a while, they realize that The Director will be happy with the ivory they have collected. This happiness has not lasted long. They feel an uneasy vibe and emptiness, and their hearts are getting darker as they stand there. They are aware of changes in them, and these changes will not please them. After that trading day, they started a discussion because Carlier says ‘slave-dealer to Kayerts.  This disagreement turns into a physical fight, and Kayerts shoots Carlier. In the end, Kayerts kills himself, too, after being a murderer. On this road, which they have started happily, they have lost their light of life while bringing light to Africa. Some cruel truths hurt and kill them both.

As it can be understood, An Outpost of Progress is a short story that tells whole European imperialism through two people and shows how the imperialism looks like in its' inner world.