Racism in Heart of Darkness In his essay "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness" Chinua Achebe argues that Joseph Conrad 's novel Heart of Darkness is a racist piece of art. Achebe believes that Africa and Africans are represented in the novel through Conrad 's eyes, not the way they really are, which gives the reader the wrong impression about the continent and the people as a whole. He also assures that the racism found in the novel is because Conrad 's own racist ideas and beliefs. Conrad 's intentions, whether he is a racist or not, are not clear, as the novel is written from the perspective of a foreign white man in a strange country. Conrad does not intend to be a racist, but his novel Heart of Darkness may look like …show more content…
This notion of inferiority, for Achebe, is the main reason behind Conrad 's racism. The first example of racism in the novel is the difference between River Thames and River Congo. Conrad begins the novel on the River Thames which is calm and peaceful, Conrad says "The old river in its broad reach rested unruffled at the decline of day, after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks, spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth" (pt.1, p.4). Yet, the story takes …show more content…
Well, you know, that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity" (pt.II, p.58). Another example is when Conrad says "It was very curious to see the contrast of expressions of the white men and of the black fellows of our crew" (pt.II, p.65). One more example is when Conrad describes an African woman, he says " She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent" (pt.III, p.101). Conrad also mocks the African people 's language, he says "they shouted periodically together strings of amazing words that resembled no sounds of human language; and the deep murmurs of the crowd, interrupted suddenly, were like the responses of some satanic litany" (pt.III, p112). Conrad refers to the Africans as "savage," "black," and "inhumane," and he is referring to Africa as "unearthly," which is an unpleasant way of describing a country and its people, at least for an African reader as Achebe. Conrad also refers to the African language as "satanic litany." These
Chinua Achebe composed an essay titled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS" interpreting his attitude on the novella. In his essay, Achebe states that “Heart of Darkness projects the likeness of Africa as “the other world”, the antithesis of Europe and thus of civilization, a place where a man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality”(Achebe 783). Readers are hit by the insensitivity and savage way in which European colonists advanced the tribal heritage they searched to “civilize". Chinua Achebe cites numerous points in the text where this concept is shown. Achebe also argues that the river Thames is mismatched to the river Congo, its “very antithesis” (3), where the activity in the innovative is centralized. Achebe argues that what is concerned about Conrad is not the definiteness, but the lurking hint of kinship, of widespread ancestry. For the Thames too ‘has been one of the dark locations of the earth.’ It conquered its darkness, of course, and is now in daylight and at calm. But if it were to visit its primal relation, the Congo, it would run the awful risk of hearing grotesque echoes of its own disregarded darkness, and dropping victim to an avenging recrudescence of the mindless frenzy of the first beginnings. Achebe is most interested in the novel’s characterization, that is, its portraits of Afri...
Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, an author is tied to the basic premise of realism. The world that exists influences much of what is set in prose, even if fictional. Heart of Darkness, specifically, focuses on a setting that is very real and very true to what was happening at the time of its creation. It is this setting, Achebe claims, that explains Conrad’s racism. Achebe’s argument, though, misses the idea of realism because he is directly ignoring what Conrad is doing. Simply, it is not that Conrad tries to be racist in his work; it is that he must be racist because his subjects are creations of a very racist civilization. In On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft, best-selling author Stephen King asserts that when it comes to writing, one may write “anything [he or she] damn well [wants]. Anything at all...as long as [one tells] the truth” (158). From his terse and direct approach, King is ultimately supporting Conrad because writing requires its artists to be truthful and honest in their work. One must be able to write what is on his or her mind and show what is or what is not happening, which precludes any racism in Heart of Darkness, for Conrad is doing so. When Achebe states that Conrad “portrays Africa as ‘the other world’” through Marlow, it is because he is, just as anyone else would be doing coming from a nation bred to do so and
Conrad’s descriptions of the Africans are inherently racist. The text is full of demeaning descriptions and negative thoughts about the blacks. “The thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly" (Conrad 32) Conrad refers to the natives as niggers and compares their looks to animals. “He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs.” (Conrad 33) These passages and attitudes toward the natives promote the view of the natives during colonialism of Africa in the way that Achebe’s district commissioner sees it, “He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
Having gone back and rereading Heart of Darkness, this time reading between the lines, I discovered some racism Conrad felt toward the natives that I had not discovered the first time I read the book. Racism is portrayed in Conrad's book, but one must acknowledge that in the eighteen hundreds society conformed to it. Conrad probably would have been criticized as being soft hearted rather than a racist in his time. Conrad constantly referred to the natives, in his book, as black savages, niggers, brutes, and "them", displaying ignorance toward the African history and racism towards the African people. Conrad wrote, " Black figures strolled out listlessly... the beaten nigger groaned somewhere" (Conrad 28). "They passed me with six inches, without a glance, with the complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages" (Conrad 19). Achebe also detected Conrad's frequent use of unorthodox name calling, "Certainly Conrad had a problem with niggers. His inordinate love of that word itself should be of interest to psychoanalysts" (Achebe 258).
I find no elements of racism in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I will admit that I began reading this with a little hesitation based on the fact that I do not like to read about human cruelty. However, after reading the story, I did not feel any negative feelings toward the story or author.
An essay arguing that Joseph Conrad is more critical of Whites than Blacks in Heart of Darkness
56). Such description may refer to the fact that Africans are seen as being so primitive that they are even unable to communicate amongst themselves. What is more interesting is that Achebe seemed to believe that in the novella Africans are just as onlookers on their own continent and that they are attributed speech only in two occurrences. He reports that the first one is when “cannibalism gets the better of them” (6) and the Nigerian writer supported his claim by quoting a passage in which the Africans are described as barbaric, eating human flesh. Indeed, Marlow recounts his discussion with the headman who explains to him that the hungry natives were preparing to attack savages in order to eat them “Catch 'im" he snapped with a bloodshot widening of his eyes and a flash of sharp teeth—"catch 'im. Give 'im to us." " To you, eh?" I asked; "what would you do with them?" "Eat 'im!" he said curtly…” (Conrad
Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, effectively exposed the racism that was common during his lifetime. Through the harsh behavior and word choice of the characters and narrator, Conrad displays the uncivilized treatment of nonwhites that occurred during the period of colonization. Edward Garnett, an English writer and critic, summarized the plot of Heart of Darkness as being “an impression. of the civilizing methods of a certain great European Trading Company face to face with the “nigger” (145 Heart of Darkness Backgrounds and Criticisms). Conrad’s use of harsh language and terrifying situations, which were based off of his own experiences, capture the audience’s attention and helps them see the cruelty of the European colonization of Africa.
Chinua Achebe challenges Joseph Conrad's novella depicting the looting of Africa, Heart of Darkness (1902) in his essay "An Image of Africa" (1975). Achebe's is an indignant yet solidly rooted argument that brings the perspective of a celebrated African writer who chips away at the almost universal acceptance of the work as "classic," and proclaims that Conrad had written "a bloody racist book" (Achebe 319). In her introduction in the Signet 1997 edition, Joyce Carol Oates writes, "[Conrad's] African natives are "dusty niggers," cannibals." Conrad [...] painfully reveals himself in such passages, and numerous others, as an unquestioning heir of centuries of Caucasian bigotry" (Oates 10). The argument seems to lie within a larger question; is the main character Charlie Marlow racist, and is Marlow an extension of Conrad's opinion?
Conrad takes a strong stance against European imperialism in Heart of Darkness. He persuasively shows not only the damage that imperialism has on Africa but also on the young men who are sent into Africa to plunder it for ivory to make money for the companies. He creates Africa as a character by allowing the setting to directly affect and interact with the other characters in the story, through the fog, the river, disease, and vegetation. By creating a metaphor of host and parasite he shows the dehumanization that occurs to the agents and the human qualities that happens to Africa.
It is commonly argued that ‘Heart of Darkness’ is nothing more than a racial tirade from a misinformed Englishman. Although Conrad is not misinformed and has no intention of fronting a racist point of view, when the treatment of Africans in the text is closely examined, the theme of racism is presented so deliberately all other themes merely fade into the background.
...tion vs. primitive” as well as in the depiction of the Congolese people. Furthermore, the political impact is shown in the narrative and the character of Mr. Kurtz, and the social significance of the time is highlighted by the theme of racism and the portrayal of two prominent European characters in the text. The incorporation of these historical circumstances in Heart of Darkness indicates how much of an effect the outside world can have on a text. It also illustrates the importance of knowing what some of those circumstances are before making assumptions or conclusions about the text and its meaning. At first glance, Conrad and his book could be seen as purely racist and degrading to the Congolese people, but in reality, within these historically influenced elements of the text, Conrad is able to criticize Colonialism, and what was truly taking place in the Congo.
Achebe argues that the racist observed in the Heart of Darkness is expressed due to the western psychology or as Achebe states “desire,” this being to show Africa as an antithesis to Europe. He first states Conrad as “one of the great stylists of modern fiction.” [pg.1] He praises Conrad’s talents in writing but believes Conrad’s obvious racism has not been addressed. He later describes in more detail that Conrad’s “methods amount to no more than a steady, ponderous, fake-ritualistic repetition of two antithetical sentences.”
Chinua Achebe states in his essay, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”, that, “Africa is to Europe as the picture is to Dorian Gray--a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical and moral deformities so that he may go forward, erect and immaculate. Consequently Africa is something to be avoided just as the picture has to be hidden away to safeguard the man’s jeopardous integrity” (Achebe, p. 259-260). Achebe is essentially arguing that Conrad’s portrayal of civilization uses Africa as a scapegoat so that it can hide the hypocrisy of European imperialism. It is not Africa that is responsible for their madness, but it is their own delusion. Additionally, this doubles as a driving force in regards to the creation of Things Fall Apart where Achebe contrasts this theme through the explanation of the Igbo tribe’s structure and order that was in place before the arrival of the
Heart of Darkness is a story in which racism presents itself so deliberately that, for many, the dilemma of race must be tackled before anything else in the book may be dealt with. Conrad used derogatory, outdated and offensive terminology to devaluate people’s color as savages. This use of language disturbs many readers who read this book. Although Conrad uses racist language in this book, it doesn’t mean that he is really racist. When we look at the language, we are just looking at the very surface of the story.