Telephone is a game that has quite often been used as an example of miscommunication. At the start of a line, a child says one thing to another, and by the time the information reaches the end, the message has been changed. The children will laugh, humored at the magic that has just taken place, but while this seems to be a fun game to them, the act itself has occurred in serious arguments outside of children’s activities. In “An Image of Africa: Racism in Heart of Darkness,” Chinua Achebe takes the ideas within Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and labels them as pure acts of racism. Conrad’s gruesome novella delves into the brutal world of the Congo under Britain’s imperialistic ruling. The character that readers follow is a man named Marlow, …show more content…
Achebe’s claim that the Thames is used as a civilized world that mocks Africa and its supposed “triumphant beastiality” is strong, but the setting itself may be seen as nothing special, causing confusion (338). Stuart Oliver, writer of “Navigability and Improvement of the River Thames,” writes that “the Thames has traditionally been used to provide consumable products, water power, and transport” (166). Any citizen of Britain could have used the Thames, including Conrad. His selection of this specific river may not be an attack on Africa but a logical choice in what was available. Conrad could have used the Thames when visiting the Congo, an idea only leading some to question their own knowledge and ideas of Conrad’s work. Caryl Phillips, a member of Yale University’s English department, states in “Was Joseph Conrad Really a Racist?” that she disagrees with Achebe, for she has “never viewed Conrad—as Achebe states in his lecture—as a thorough going racist” (60). “Conrad uses colonialization,” she writes, “...to explore [the novel’s] universal questions about man’s capacity for evil...I constantly ask myself, was Conrad really a racist? If so, how did I miss this?” (62). The themes Conrad uses are true to the world that surrounds his character Marlow. For Phillips, this is not an act of racism but a …show more content…
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
Chinua Achebe, a well known writer, once gave a lecture at the University of Massachusetts about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, entitled "An image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Throughout his essay, Achebe notes how Conrad used Africa as a background only, and how he "set Africa up as a foil to Europe," (Achebe, p.251) while he also "projects the image of Africa as the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilizations" (Achebe, p.252). By his own interpretations of the text, Achebe shows that Conrad eliminates "The African as a human factor," thereby "reducing Africa to the role of props" (Achebe, p.257).
Three Works Cited The story is about a man named Marlow, who is hired by The Company, which is a shipping company located in England. Although Marlow had sailed before, he had never sailed to Africa. The people who operated The Company (those located in England) are so far removed from reality, that they have no concept of the devastation caused in order to ship vast loads of ivory. The Company is a perfect example of how these profit driven industries obtain their wealth – through the blatant disregard of the environment and their fellow man.
As far as china Achebe's article of Heart of Darkness is considered, I disagree with his narrow approach towards Joseph Conrad's novel. Achebe does not take into account that Heart of Darkness is narrated from the perspective of the main characters Marlow who has never been exposed to the African culture before. As a result, Marlow does not aware of the African's way of living and also their traditions. The book contains several racist thoughts towards the Africans, but it also provides a deep sharp criticism towards the Europeans as well. Although the discrimination towards the Africana is obvious in the novel, but the readers must be aware of the historical text in which the novel was written.
Racism is a relative term. While many people argue that Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, contains the theme of racism, they tend to ignore the fact that this novel was written around the turn of the century. During this time period it was accepted practice to think of a black man as savage because that was how the popular culture viewed the African American race. If someone called a black man "savage" today, that someone would be considered a racist. Of course, this turn of the century view of blacks is inexcusable but it was the accepted norm of the time. The problem is that modern critics tend to apply modern thinking to all novels, including those written in a specific time period with beliefs different from today. These critics do not incorporate the context of the novel and simply rage forward with a directed, ignorant viewpoint, arguing from a more civilized stance. The definition of a racist has changed a great deal since the early 1900s, and we must consider this when analyzing any piece of literature. The problem arises when modern thinkers assume that we must continue to build on our ever-expanding knowledge instead of looking into the past and trying to relate to the accepted views of the time.
In the present era of decolonization, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents one of fictions strongest accounts of British imperialism. Conrad’s attitude towards imperialism and race has been the subject of much literary and historical debate. Many literary critics view Conrad as accepting blindly the arrogant attitude of the white male European and condemn Conrad to be a racist and imperialists. The other side vehemently defends Conrad, perceiving the novel to be an attack on imperialism and the colonial experience. Understanding the two viewpoints side by side provides a unique understanding that leads to a commonality that both share; the novel simply presents a criticism of colonialists in Africa. The novel merely portrays a fictional account of British imperialism in the African jungle, where fiction offers maximum entertainment it lacks in focus. The novel is not a critique of European colonialism and imperialism, but rather a presentation of colonialism and the theme of darkness throughout the novel sheds a negative light on the selfishness of humanity and the system that was taking advantage of the native peoples. In Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, Conrad presents a criticism of British imperial colonization not for the purpose of taking sides, but with aims of bettering the system that was in place during Conrad’s experience in the African Congo. Conrad uses the character of Marlow and his original justification of imperialism so long as it was efficient and unselfish that was later transformed when the reality of colonialism displayed the selfishness of man, to show that colonialism throughout history displaces the needs of the mother country over the colonized peoples and is thus always selfish.
Every aspect in Conrad?s book has a deep meaning, which can then be linked to the light and dark imagery. In the novel there are two rivers, the Thames and the Congo. The...
"I don't want to bother you much with what happened to me personally,' [Conrad] began, showing in this remark the weakness of many tellers of tales who seem so often unaware of what their audience would most like to hear" (Conrad, 9). Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's best-known work, has been examined on many bases more than I can possibly list here, but including imperialism, colonialism, and racism. I would reason that all bases of analysis are perfectly acceptable through which to critique Conrad's novella, or any piece of writing. I would reason this, were some of these bases mainly, racism not taken to an extreme level. In arguing racism, many critics seem to take Heart of Darkness as Conrad's unwavering view on Africa, Africans, life, or whatever else one may please to take it as. I, therefore, propose that Heart of Darkness be taken for what it truly is: a work of fiction set in late 19th century Europe and Africa.
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 entire dispute surrounding Heart of Darkness is reminiscent of the debate about Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As in that debate, I tend to come down closer to Denby's opinion on Heart of Darkness than that of Achebe. Although I agree that Conrad was a racist, I also think that because of the time at which the book was written and the main focus of the book, this shading is, if not commendable, at least excusable.
Literary theory gives people the opportunity to look at texts from different perspectives. It’s a tool that deepens personal understanding of texts. “Literary theory is the set of concepts and intellectual assumptions on which rests the work of interpreting literary texts.” (Brenton, Vice) It gives people the opportunity to look at texts from different perspectives. We all comprehend texts, art, etc. and literary theory helps us to understand literature a little better than we did before. You might read something and find a lot of details that you missed when you didn’t have literary theory to help you. For example, you can read something and feel like you have a complete and total understanding of everything you read and be wrong. Not to
Achebe, Chinua. An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. New York: Wylie Agency, 2006. Print.
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.”
Racism in Joseph Conrad’s Literary Work. In the article "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," Chinua Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad for his racist stereotypes towards the people of Africa. He claims that Conrad broadcasted the "dominant image of Africa in the Western imagination" rather than portraying the continent in its true form (Achebe 13). Africans were portrayed in Conrad's novel as inhuman savages with no language other than sound and with no "other occupations besides merging into the evil forest or materializing out of it simply to plague Marlow" (Achebe 7).
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.
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.