The Meaning of Heart of Darkness in the Post-Colonial Climate
Since its publication in 1899, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has rarely been disputed on the basis of its literary merits; in fact, it was long seen as one of the great novels of the burgeoning modern era, a sort of bridge between the values and storytelling styles of the waning Victorian period and those of the modern era (Gatten), and regarded a high-ranking space amidst the great literature of the century, if not the millennia (Mitchell 20). Conrad’s literary masterpiece manages references to other great literature, universal themes which cut to the heart of philosophical questions of the innate goodness or evil of man, and historical references such as the Belgium and Roman empires (Kuchta 160), among other accomplishments, and so has garnered a lexicon all its own in the annals of literary criticism, debate, and analysis.
Much consideration given Heart centers around a pivotal concern of the era in which it was written: that of what, in hindsight, were the early death rattles of the heyday of European colonialism, specifically in Africa. There is some debate amongst critics as to whether the novel, ultimately, is a morality tale about human greed, power, and evil (one could toss in deceit, cowardice, and a host of psychological considerations as well), or more a sociological commentary upon the morality of colonialism and imperialism from the point of view of a highly disillusioned expatriate turned agent for the empire, turned anti-imperialist (the character of Marlow in the novel: Conrad himself, in spite of his best efforts to disguise his input behind characterization) (Films for Humanities and Sciences). The truth is almost certainly, ...
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...erald. Teaching the Politics of Heart of Darkness. An Introduction to Literature. Terry, Joseph. New York, NY: Longman, 2001. 1691-1692
Kuchta, Todd. “Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness.” Victorian Studies 44 (1 October, 2001): 159.
Mitchell, Angus. “New Light on the ‘Heart of Darkness.’” History Today December 1999: p20-28.
Mwikisa , Peter. “Conrad's image of Africa: Recovering African voices in Heart of Darkness.” Mots Pluriels: April 2000.
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Zeger, Barry. “Sometimes a Cigar is a Large Black Phallus.” Spy Magazine; July/August 1996: 13.
Watts, Cedric. 'Heart of Darkness.' The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Stape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 45-62.
Watts, Cedric. Conrad's Heart of Darkness: A Critical and Contextual Discussion. Milan: Mursia International, 1977.
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness shows the disparity between the European ideal of civilization and the reality of it, displayed by the domination, torture, exploitation and dehumanization of the African people. Conrad often emphasizes the idea of what is civilized versus what is primitive or savage. While reading the novel, the reader can picture how savage the Europeans seem. They are cruel and devious towards the very people they are supposed to be helping.
Hines, R. D. (1991). The FASB’s conceptual framework, financial accounting and the maintenance of the social world. Accounting organizations and society, 16(4), 313-331.
Gerard Manley Hopkins was an innovator whose poetry was not published until decades after his death. Hopkins was born in Stratford, Essex, which is near London. He attended Balliol College, University of Oxford. While attending the university, Hopkins was sporadically occupied with verse writing. His passion for religion becomes clearly evident during this time through his poems. His poems revealed a very Catholic character, most of them being abortive, the beginnings of things, ruins and wrecks, as he called them. (Gardner 6) In 1866, he converted to Roman Catholicism, during the Oxford movement. John Henry Newman received him into the Roman Catholic Church. He left Oxford to become a priest, and entered the Jesuit Order in 1868. This is the time when Gerard Manley Hopkins presented a conflict of a man torn between two vocations, religion and the aesthetic world. He also presented a heroic struggle of a man who was so dedicated to one profession that he deliberately sacrificed another profession based on the belief that God willed it to be so.
After exploring the backgrounds of Joseph Conrad and Alan Paton, we realize the differences in their upbringings and how that may have had an effect on their outlooks of Africa. These authors grew up in completely different settings in completely different time periods; Joseph Conrad in a predominantly white area amongst those who would be the colonists of Africa in the future, and Alan Paton in the Africa itself amongst those who the colonization affected most greatly. These factors contribute to the different viewpoints that are apparent in their respective works. From analyzing the content of their writings, it is apparent that, although, both authors have the same overall opinion of colonialism, these opinions are due to two very different reasons.
Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: Norton, 2001. 1783-1794.
the so-called marginalized third-world writers provide another perspective, another glimpse of reality as they see and experience it. Hopefully, this journal will juxtapose colonial and post-colonial perspectives. I'm also interested in the struggle between the 'old' and the 'new' (tradition vs. modernity) and how this represents itself in African culture and African literature. One of the most well-known post-colonial writers is Chinua Achebe. He was born in Ogidi in eastern Nigeria on November 16, 1930, to Isaiah Okafor Achebe and Janet Achebe.
Jackson,, Marques. "Diabetes Effects on Society | EHow.com." EHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. .
Achebe, Chinua. An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. New York: Wylie Agency, 2006. Print.
An Image of Africa Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as “among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.” Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” [pg.5]. 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.
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
In “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," Achebe takes note of the ways that Conrad degrades Africans by reducing their religious practices to misconceptions, belittling their complex geography to just a single mass of jungle, telling them to remain in their place, and taking away their capability of speaking. Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad for his racist stereotypes towards the people of Africa. Achebe also sensibly labels these stereotypes and shows that Africa is, in fact, a rich land full of intelligent people who are, in fact, very human. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. JSTOR.com - "The New York Times" Indiana University Press, 1978.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is very clearly critical of imperialism. This is abundantly evident from the first pages, to the last, and everywhere in between. Marlow’s begins the journey as naive as the rest of Europe in his time, but is shocked by the horrors of colonialism. Conrad gives the reader a very negative view of imperialism through the setting, and actions of his characters. However, he is not entirely sympathetic of the African people, as he tends to dehumanize them throughout the novella.
Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Essays in Criticism. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: W.W. Norton, 1988. 251-262.