Heart Of Darkness Racism Essay

The Heart of Darkness has a constant theme of racism in it. The main character, Marlow, is shown to be racist, but many believe that the author, Joseph Conrad, puts his racist views into Marlow’s character. To each person, racism is defined differently, when reading Peter Firchow’s essay, Frank Reeve’s view on racism is that there are three types; weak, medium, and strong. The Firchow essay explainsMedium racism is said to be the same as weak racism but adding in the belief that some races are superior compared to others. Lastly, strong racism highly exceeds medium by . With respect to Frank Reeve’s views on racism, Conrad would only be that of weak racism, while Marlow and his acquaintances on the ship would be considered medium racism because they believe they are more intelligent and skilled than the Africans. Others such as Darwin, Wallace, and Galton had separate views towards racism. Conrad believed that one species, humans, were split into different races, ones that were higher and lower. Darwin states,. In short Darwin states that races are different but come from one species. Returning to the three types …show more content…
It is easy to be said that because Conrad is the author of Heart of Darkness, he is depicting his views into Marlow’s character. Conrad’s views have already been said to appear as racist towards the Africans, but Conrad inaccurately portrayed Africa as dehumanized. Marlow described the found blank space as a place of darkness rather. When Marlow is embarking on his journey, he is struck with horror by the sights he sees; diseased, thin, and death awaiting Africans. Marlow’s views seem to change slightly throughout the novel, . In this part, Marlow seems to have changed his perception on the African natives, he previously viewed them as decivilized and inhuman, but the quote shows that even though his thoughts have changed, he is not ecstatic in his new