Exploitation as Presented in 'Blood River' Anonymous College

Throughout Blood River, the Congo is presented as a place of immense wild natural beauty, but to a point that it is intimidating, and dangerous. Butcher describes it as a place that corrupts men, and a place in which there is always a battle between mankind, and nature. This is evident in one especially potent extract, on pages 110-111, as it describes to the reader a ''a boy'' (which highlights the cruelty of the Congo as he is working from a young age in order to survive) battling through muddy conditions, just to find some worms. The fact that so much effort is used, in order to benefit his life, in such a minor way, shows exploitation as it is clear that the imperialistic invaders have taken many luxuries away from the natives, and kept them for their own benefit, which demonstrates the greedy nature of them, and how they do not care for the suffering they cause to the natives. The struggle due to nature is made more obvious in this extract when it states ''ten kilometres an hour'' which is very slow movement due to the treacherous conditions, and devastation which may of been caused by the foreign powers who are known to have blown parts of the Congo up for fun, highlighting exploitation clearly.

This extract highlights...