How does Conrad represent the effects of slavery?

Marlow’s men use a simple means of gaining authority, namely, firearms. This is the tragedy of imperialism in that the arrival of the white man heralds a new order, but in the creation of that order, they retain the tools and the authority. Black men in this book first appear as members of a chain gang, and they gain little power after that scene. They are slaves to an Imperial economy and greed.