Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is the of the most well-known pieces of literature. It's a piece of fiction, but follows Conrad's own experiences. In the novella, we follow Kurtz as he recounts his time in Africa and in his journey down the Congo to confront Marlowe.
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1390066644i/8137756._SY540_.jpg
Conrad's depiction of the Congo and the native people is problematic. They are not seen as humans and always referred to by their skin color and differences in features. He appears to make them more demonic in nature than humans. They are presented without much speech and as Achebe points out in his essay, the woman that was Marlowe's mistress is presented in a negative light opposed to Marlowe's betrothed.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uZSzPDfJKaE/maxresdefault.jpg
This depiction is problematic because it says that those from Africa are not human. The Congo River itself is presented as a snake with its winding turns. The Congo River is presented as swallowing up those who enter and turning them into savages. This means that the natives are savage in nature and are not human. Conrad was stuck on his obsession with society and could not see that even though these humans looked different they were still different.
https://ttoriyonker.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/heart-of-darkness.jpg
Achebe makes a lot of valid points about Conrad's piece being racist. I agree with him in that respect. I don't think Conrad was racist for his time period. I'm sure he was quite progressive and had a lot of ideas or beliefs that pushed boundaries. However, I believe that Heart of Darkness shows that he was racist by the lens of today. His actions and representation of the native people of Africa are negative and do not humanize them.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b2/1c/55/b21c55086402fbd7d00b7d915349e5ed--heart-of-darkness-nine-durso.jpg
Conrad may have not been seen as a racist while of Heart of Darkness was published and become mainstream but that's because racism was glossed over and most of the time it was ignored when it was presented in texts. It is unavoidable to see in this day and age and it is obvious that Conrad had racist beliefs due to his cultural upbringing. If he presented in the natives as demonic because of those reasons we will never know, but we can infer that they may have had some pivotal role in developing his conceptual view of the Congo and the native people.
What are your thoughts on Joseph Conrad being a racist? Was Achebe right? Let me know down below in the comments.
See you soon,
Sarah Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment