Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is considered part of the literary canon. Its status as a part of the canon has been subject to much debate. On one hand, the novel is considered a social critique of European imperialism. On the other, it is deemed a product of racism and dehumanization of the African people. While both of these arguments are perfectly valid, a contemporary view that acknowledges Conrad’s limited view of Africa would recognize that the unsatisfactory depiction of the African people is a mere side effect of the novel’s true purpose. Heart of Darkness effectively functions not only as a critique of Western imperialism but also of capitalism. Given that the African characters in the novel are not really given much of a voice
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The natives are deprived of any form of cultured dialogue beyond the occasional exchange of grunts and cannibalistic urges (1788). As an African knowing what it’s like to be at the short end of racism, Achebe did not appreciate the novel’s misrepresentation of his people calling Conrad a “thoroughgoing racist” (1789). While there is no denying that Achebe was right in pointing out the novel’s use of inaccurate stereotypes and reduction of natives to mere bestial caricatures, his condemnation of Conrad and his novel is deeply rooted in a personal grudge. Edward Said presents a much more objective argument treating Conrad’s underlying racism towards Africans as a “tragic limitation” on his part due to his being born and raised as a European (424). According to Said, it was simply impossible for Conrad to imagine a world without imperialism (424). He could not see the natives ruling themselves. When Achebe called Conrad a thoroughgoing racist, he meant it derogatorily. However, he was actually quite spot on in with that terminology in the sense that Conrad was very clever in the way that he distanced himself from the tropes of racism in his novel. He used an unknown framed narrator to narrate the narration of another main narrator Marlow. Within the …show more content…
Of his childhood, he tells the sailors of his passion for maps as a kid. He fantasized about traveling across the world to explore and fill in the blank the spaces on the map. Marlow’s childhood dream is very akin to a childlike innocent view of imperialism and conquest. Marlow’s aunt shares a similar, albeit not as watered down, view of imperialism as an innocent and noble cause. She referred to it as “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (14). His aunt’s beliefs are like a generalization of typical European thought. They take the idea of imperialism with a grain of willful ignorance. In spite of sharing the prejudices that are typical of other Europeans, Marlow seems to have a lingering skepticism about imperialism all throughout the book. He speaks of an uneasiness about his aunt’s ramblings on imperialism. He also questions the inefficiency of making the black slaves dig a hole in the ground for no other discernible reason than the “philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do” (19). Although he does not simply accept imperialism without question as ordinary Europeans would have done, his reactions to the injustices he notices are notably passive. One of the most significant changes in Marlow throughout the novel is in his perceptions of the ivory trader, Mr. Kurtz. When Marlow first hears of Kurtz, he does not care for him at all. After hearing a story about the Kurtz turning away
The natives are deprived of any form of cultured dialogue beyond the occasional exchange of grunts and cannibalistic urges (1788). As an African knowing what it’s like to be at the short end of racism, Achebe did not appreciate the novel’s misrepresentation of his people calling Conrad a “thoroughgoing racist” (1789). While there is no denying that Achebe was right in pointing out the novel’s use of inaccurate stereotypes and reduction of natives to mere bestial caricatures, his condemnation of Conrad and his novel is deeply rooted in a personal grudge. Edward Said presents a much more objective argument treating Conrad’s underlying racism towards Africans as a “tragic limitation” on his part due to his being born and raised as a European (424). According to Said, it was simply impossible for Conrad to imagine a world without imperialism (424). He could not see the natives ruling themselves. When Achebe called Conrad a thoroughgoing racist, he meant it derogatorily. However, he was actually quite spot on in with that terminology in the sense that Conrad was very clever in the way that he distanced himself from the tropes of racism in his novel. He used an unknown framed narrator to narrate the narration of another main narrator Marlow. Within the …show more content…
Of his childhood, he tells the sailors of his passion for maps as a kid. He fantasized about traveling across the world to explore and fill in the blank the spaces on the map. Marlow’s childhood dream is very akin to a childlike innocent view of imperialism and conquest. Marlow’s aunt shares a similar, albeit not as watered down, view of imperialism as an innocent and noble cause. She referred to it as “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (14). His aunt’s beliefs are like a generalization of typical European thought. They take the idea of imperialism with a grain of willful ignorance. In spite of sharing the prejudices that are typical of other Europeans, Marlow seems to have a lingering skepticism about imperialism all throughout the book. He speaks of an uneasiness about his aunt’s ramblings on imperialism. He also questions the inefficiency of making the black slaves dig a hole in the ground for no other discernible reason than the “philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do” (19). Although he does not simply accept imperialism without question as ordinary Europeans would have done, his reactions to the injustices he notices are notably passive. One of the most significant changes in Marlow throughout the novel is in his perceptions of the ivory trader, Mr. Kurtz. When Marlow first hears of Kurtz, he does not care for him at all. After hearing a story about the Kurtz turning away