lighthod The Nigger in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

The Nigger and The Heart of Darkness

“The Heart of Darkness,” by Joseph Conrad was written in 1898 and 1899 and published in 1902. So, although it wasn’t surprising that the word used to describe a black person was nigger, it was insulting just the same. Throughout the short story I had to remind myself of the time period it was written.

Joseph Conrad is nothing short of a genius. His writing technique is eloquent, and surreal and yet after having completed “The Heart of Darkness,” I couldn’t help feeling a little insulted by the oft used word nigger. My feelings lead me to do a little research on this word nigger. I checked three dictionaries: (1) the “Oxford Concise Dictionary,” (2) the “Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary,” and (3) “The American Heritage Dictionary.” They all had in common one definition, “a member of any dark-skinned race.” In addition, they all said it was “offensive.” Webster’s went one further and said “a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons.” Now this last definition was closer to what my parents had told me the meaning of the word nigger was, an ignorant person. I tend to like my parents’ definition much better than all the rest combined!

The word nigger is actually derived from the Latin word niger which means black. Okay, so we’re getting closer to understanding now. So why all the controversy surrounding this word? I even have to wonder if “The Heart of Darkness” was written by a black author would I have been equally or less offended? This word nigger was recently the cause of a controversy between two very prominent directors, Spike Lee (black) and Quentin Tarantino (white), in regards to Tarantino’s new movie “Jackie Brown.” Lee felt Tarantino used the word nigger too many times in his movie and considered it a racist act. I’m not sure, but I believe Lee too has overused the word in his movies and yet he publicly cries foul when Tarantino does the same thing. What makes blacks so offended by whites using the word nigger when they use if themselves?

The main reason touted is because some blacks use it (and I mean use it often) as a term of endearment. Then there are some blacks (usually the upper crust) who use the word as an insult, as in Webster, as a description of a low class black person.