Things Fall Apart Imperialism

Heart of Darkness, abiet its fame, raises a great amount of debate in regards to if it is appropriate for school. Although Conrad condemns imperialism and the brutality inflicted by the Dutch, his depictions of the native African people treats them as less than human, often comparing them to animals. However, the novel is used to understand Modernism in literature, which makes it valuable in the context of the classroom (Lewis). What is the balance that a teacher using Heart of Darkness must strike to help kids understand and identify the problematic parts of the book, while highlighting its useful literary aspects? By reading Things Fall Apart, another acclaimed novel about imperialism, in conjunction with Heart of Darkness, students can learn about types of literature while gaining a more balanced perspective. Things Fall Apart tells the story of white imperialism in Africa from the point of view of the native African people. Students can better analyze and understand the issues with Heart of Darkness with this kind of background. …show more content…
Rather than referring to them as he does to their European counterparts, he typically describes them through their emotion as, “... burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling…” as opposed to “She had a mature capacity for fidelity, for belief, for suffering.” (Conrad,chapter 2 and 3) In a criticism of Heart of Darkness, Achebe explains this treatment is inexcusable due to the fact it, “parades in the most vulgar fashion prejudices and insults from which a section of mankind has suffered untold agonies and atrocities in the past and continues to do so …