Prejudice and Racism in Heart of Darkness Essay - 872 Words

Heart of Darkness: Racist or not? Many critics, including Chinua Achebe in his essay An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness, have made the claim that Joseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness, despite the insights which it offers into the human condition, ought to be removed from the canon of Western literature. This claim is based on the supposition that the novel is racist, more so than other novels of its time. While it can be read in this way, it is possible to look under the surface and create an interpretation of Conrads novel that does not require the supposition of extreme racism on the part of Conrad. Furthermore, we must keep in mind that Conrad was a product of a rather racist period in history, and†¦show more content†¦About Kurtz, Marlow tells us: His was an impenetrable darkness. I looked at him as you peer down at a man who is lying at the bottom of a precipice where the sun never shines (Conrad 117). The reference is to Kurtzs altered mental state, we learn on the next page: I s aw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror - of an intense and hopeless despair (118). The reference is clearly not to Kurtzs physical darkness - Marlow describes him as ivory - but rather to a mental darkness. The departure of Marlow and Kurtz from the Congo also corresponds to the end of Kurtzs life: The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtzs life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time (115). Thus, it seems that Kurtzs life has become identified with the river - and the river is thus a psychological, not a physical, object. The description of Marlows travels upriver are also worth considering. He tells us that [g]oing up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings... There were moments when ones past came back to one... (Conrad 55-56). The last sentence quoted here seems to indicate that the voyage up the river is the voyage of oneShow MoreRelated Prejudice and Racism in The Jewel in the Crown and Heart of Darkness1361 Words   |  6 PagesRacism in The Jewel in the Crown and Heart of Darkness      Ã‚   The effects of British colonialism are reflected in literature from both early modernism and post colonialism. Racial discrimination tainted both eras portrayed in the British morale of white supremacy over non-European counties unfolded. Heart of Darkness exemplifies early modernism in the British explorers viewed African natives of the Congo as incapable of human equality due to perceived uncivilized savagery. Personal interactionRead More Prejudice and Racism - No Racism in Heart of Darkness Essay1108 Words   |  5 PagesNo Racism in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚   Chinua Achebe challenges Joseph Conrads novella depicting the looting of Africa, Heart of Darkness (1902) in his essay An Image of Africa (1975). Achebes is an indignant yet solidly rooted argument that brings the perspective of a celebrated African writer who chips away at the almost universal acceptance of the work as classic, and proclaims that Conrad had written a bloody racist book (Achebe 319). In her introduction in the Signet 1997 editionRead MoreEssay Prejudice, Racism and Power in Heart of Darkness977 Words   |  4 PagesRace and Power in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚   In Joseph Conrads novella, Heart of Darkness, the socially constructed differences of African and European cultures are effective in representing the power sites of the time. 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