Prejudice and Racism - The Tone of Racism in Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness: The Tone of Racism

“An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness,” by Chinua Achebe, addresses the issue of racism as seen throughout Joseph Conrad's work. There is a certain degree of subtlety that Achebe uses to begin to confront the racism issue, but as the story goes on it is easy to tell his opinion. Achebe states his opinion not only on Heart of Darkness but also makes clear his opinion concerning Conrad by the end of the essay. The tone in “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness” changes dramatically from start to finish.

While introducing his essay, Chinua Achebe uses a pleasant tone to begin his essay and describe the setting in which he encounters some students. He begins to describe a "fine autumn morning" which encouraged friendliness and continues by describing the enthusiasm of the "brisk youngsters." After drawing a pleasant setting, Achebe then describes "two very touching letters" which he received from some students in New York who were learning about African tribesman. He seems enthusiastic about these letters, along with the fact that these students have just read Things Fall Apart. After a pleasant introduction, the author's tone merely begins to stress the importance of Africa and African history and moves away from its pleasant welcome.

It comes shortly after this calm defense of African pride that Achebe's anger begins to make its way to the surface and his tone becomes infuriated. He calls Conrad's words "assaults" on African tribesman, and insists that the story's main character, Marlow, is merely a vehicle for him to express his racism. Throughout Achebe’s barrage, Conrad's character is continually questioned. Achebe refers to him as a "thoroughgoing racist," and the notion is made that all

reviews of Heart of Darkness are mistaken in their compassion toward the author and the "European mind." He also refers to Conrad's "problem with niggers" and "his inordinate love of that word itself." After attacking the credibility and sanity of Conrad, Achebe goes on to belittle Conrad's book. He calls the book "offensive" and "deplorable," stating that the book "parades prejudices and insults" while calling the "very humanity of black people into question." By now the essay has turned to anger and you can feel the author's passion to defend Africa through his powerful words and exclamations.