Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness are two different perspectives on the colonialism of Africa. Both books take a closer look at how the African people were affected. From both books, the audience can see the disrespect towards women during colonialism. There is a clear picture of women being judged by their outer beauty, rather than their inner beauty. From Chinua Achebe's perspective, in Things Fall Apart, women's value is in direct relation to their rank, and in Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad, presents women as valuable in comparison to their appearance. In both stories, the reader gets a view of women as lesser than men through words and actions, allowing the audience to see a clear disrespect and miscalculation of women's true value.
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In Things Fall Apart, a reoccurring action is men of the village beating their wives, multiple wives even. Not only giving them a little bruise, but sometimes even causing permanent damage. Such as, "When she was pregnant, he beat her till she miscarried." (Achebe, 91) And, "Last year when my sister was recovering from an illness, he beat her again...She would have been killed." (Achebe, 92) Showing not just a regular beating, which seems unacceptable, but an inconceivable beating. Achebe shows this throughout the book, allowing the reader to understand that this isn't a onetime deal, rather an issue of mistreatment towards women in general. In a similar yet, to some extent, different way, Conrad displays an unceasing act of men cheating on their wives or girlfriends. On the last page of Heart of Darkness it says, "The last word he pronounced was-your name.'...Hadn't he said he wanted only justice? But I couldn't. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark..." (Conrad, 72) This issue is one that is represented throughout the book, but evidently presented at the end so that the reader is left with the image of disrespect towards women, instead of the reader possibly overlooking the exploitation of women taking place. Although Conrad's form of disrespect is not as physically harsh towards …show more content…
However, this is where Achebe and Conrad show different views, to some degree, on how women are respected. Achebe, in Things Fall Apart, repeatedly talks about Goddess and priestess as power people. The goddess being, "...the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. And what was more, she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth." (Achebe, 36) And the priestess described as, "...full of the power of god, and she was greatly feared." (Achebe, 17) These thoughts contradict the perspective of women throughout the whole book, but Achebe has a purpose. Achebe does this to show that men respect high ranked women, but men don't care about their own, ordinary women. Whereas, Conrad, in Heart of Darkness, only talks favorably about women's appearance. Such as the mistress being a "...wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman." (Conrad, 58) Or being, "...superb, wild-eyed and magnificent..." (Conrad, 58) Showing that women are only admired for their presentation of themselves, never talking about what women say, just how they look. Therefore, both books show some respect towards women, but for all the wrong
In Things Fall Apart, a reoccurring action is men of the village beating their wives, multiple wives even. Not only giving them a little bruise, but sometimes even causing permanent damage. Such as, "When she was pregnant, he beat her till she miscarried." (Achebe, 91) And, "Last year when my sister was recovering from an illness, he beat her again...She would have been killed." (Achebe, 92) Showing not just a regular beating, which seems unacceptable, but an inconceivable beating. Achebe shows this throughout the book, allowing the reader to understand that this isn't a onetime deal, rather an issue of mistreatment towards women in general. In a similar yet, to some extent, different way, Conrad displays an unceasing act of men cheating on their wives or girlfriends. On the last page of Heart of Darkness it says, "The last word he pronounced was-your name.'...Hadn't he said he wanted only justice? But I couldn't. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark..." (Conrad, 72) This issue is one that is represented throughout the book, but evidently presented at the end so that the reader is left with the image of disrespect towards women, instead of the reader possibly overlooking the exploitation of women taking place. Although Conrad's form of disrespect is not as physically harsh towards …show more content…
However, this is where Achebe and Conrad show different views, to some degree, on how women are respected. Achebe, in Things Fall Apart, repeatedly talks about Goddess and priestess as power people. The goddess being, "...the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. And what was more, she was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan whose bodies had been committed to earth." (Achebe, 36) And the priestess described as, "...full of the power of god, and she was greatly feared." (Achebe, 17) These thoughts contradict the perspective of women throughout the whole book, but Achebe has a purpose. Achebe does this to show that men respect high ranked women, but men don't care about their own, ordinary women. Whereas, Conrad, in Heart of Darkness, only talks favorably about women's appearance. Such as the mistress being a "...wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman." (Conrad, 58) Or being, "...superb, wild-eyed and magnificent..." (Conrad, 58) Showing that women are only admired for their presentation of themselves, never talking about what women say, just how they look. Therefore, both books show some respect towards women, but for all the wrong