The Importance of the Natives in Heart Of Darkness
Conrad has been accused of racism because of the way he portrays the natives in his novel, Heart of Darkness. It has been argued that the natives cannot be an essential part of Heart of Darkness due to the manner in which they are depicted. However, a careful reading reveals that the story would be incomplete without the natives. Marlow develops a relationship with one of the natives - perhaps the first time in his life that Marlow creates a bond with someone outside of his own race.
Without the natives, there could be no Kurtz. The natives are his "people" and his followers:
Suddenly round the corner of the house a group of men appeared, as though they had come up from the ground. They waded waist-deep in the grass in a compact body bearing an improvised stretcher in their midst. Instantly in the emptiness of the landscape a cry arose whose shrillness pierced the still air...And is if by enchantment streams of human beings - of naked human beings - with spears in their hands, with bows, with shields, with wild glances and savage movements, were poured into the clearing by the dark-faced and pensive forest.(Conrad 58-59)
The first time Marlow meets Kurtz is in this scene. It shows Kurtz not only depends on the natives for physical support but also for protection. Conrad's portrayal of the natives as "human beings with wild glances and savage movements" is ironic because Conrad does not think they have the right to be put on the same level as the white man even though Kurtz could not exist without them. The natives are Kurtz's followers and worship him like a god and yet they are seen as only a part of the jungle that is "dark" and "undiscov...
... middle of paper ...
...u will never come out again.
Works Cited and Consulted
Adelman, Gary. Heart of Darkness: Search for the Unconscious. Boston: Little & Brown, 1987.
Bradley, Candice. "Africa and Africans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." (24 Jan. 1996). Online Internet. 3 October 1998.
Available: http://www.lawrence.edu/~johnson/heart.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. 17th ed. New York: Norton, 1988.
Levenson, Michael. "The Value of Facts in the Heart of Darkness." Nineteenth-Century Fiction 40 (1985):351-80.
Rosmarin, Adena. "Darkening the Reader: Reader Response Criticism and Heart of Darkness." Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness:
A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.
Watt, Ian. Conrad in the Nineteenth Century. San Diego: U. of California P, 1979. 168-200, 249-53.
It shows that the rich are evil beings too, and it is not very good to
Watts, Cedric. 'Heart of Darkness.' The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad. Ed. J.H. Stape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 45-62.
Bausch, Richard, and R. V. Cassill. "Heart of Darkness." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 126-86. Print.
The idea of Black Holes was first proposed in the 1700s by scientists John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace, who argued, independant of each other, that there might be objects in the universe with such a large gravitational force, that even light could be trapped. Published in 1916 Einstein’s theory of general relativity which included how gravity does affect light’s motion, gave way to scientific discoveries involving black holes. In Einstein’s own theory, he was only able to approximate the solutions to some of his own equations, however Karl Schwarzschild was able to provide the solutions. These solutions described objects like black holes that had such massive density that nothing could escape them. Schwarzschild theorized that if an object had such a small radius, that the escape velocity will be greater than the speed of light. Because as previously mentioned, nothing is faster than the speed of light, the object would be sucked into itself by it’s own gravitational pull, which would cause the object to disappear. What r...
come up such as "What is the Slime?" or "What the point of this poem?"
"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.
Hawking, Stephen. Hawking on the Big Bang and Black Holes. Singapore: World Scientific, 1993. Print.
Einstein himself, working at Princeton with Nathan Rosen had discovered that the equations of relativity actually represent a black hole as a bridge between two regions of flat space-time, a phenomenon known as the “Einstein-Rosen Bridge”. Later on, in 1963, the New Zealand mathematician Roy Kerr found that if a black hole is rotating, a singularity still forms, but in the form of a ring, not a point. It was believed that in principle, a particle may be able to fall towards the singularity, but if at some point moved through the hole instead of the ring, the particle may not be lost forever. Therefore, with these theories in mind, a particle falling into a black hole will fall through the ring that the singularity has become, then going through the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, eventually being spewed out of the white hole into another space-time continuum.
Achebe, Chinua. An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. New York: Wylie Agency, 2006. Print.
...ation of Central Africa.” [pg.6] Achebe states that Conrad’s image of Africa is not of his own, but of the Western imagination and that Conrad is simply showing the norm.
McLynn, Frank. Hearts of Darkness: The European Exploration of Africa. New York: Carol & Gey, 1992.
* 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.
By the time Marlow and Kurtz meet, Marlow is already well aware of the similarities they share. Both are imperialists, and while Marlow detests the treatment of the natives by his employers (Belgian colonists), he also makes apparent his abhorrence toward the Africans. On the other hand, Kurtz abandons the pretense of helping the natives achieve civilization, as displayed by the Europeans. Instead, he adopts their customs and becomes their leader in the never-ending quest for ivory. "He began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, 'must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of the supernatural beings- we approach them with the might as of a deity' (Longman, 2000, p. 2226). Marlow also admired Kurtz' resourcefulness and survival skills, especially his perseverence through jungle fever. "The wilderness had patted him on the head....it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered favorite." (Longman, 2000, p. 2225).
Conrad uses the character of Marlow to make use of his own thoughts and views about the people in the Congo. He feels pity for them as he sees them falling down carrying heavy packages and Kurtz commanding them like a batallion of troups. This sight angers Marlow and when he gets to Kurtz, it’s too late. Even he has been pulled in by the darkness. Conrad makes an effective distinction between Marlow and Kurtz.