In 1890, Polish-born English novelist Joseph Conrad embarked on a voyage up the Congo River, satisfying a childhood thirst for adventure. He was in the employ of a Belgian trading company, and had been instructed to return a severely ill company agent to the safety of Europe. But just six months after departing, the harsh conditions of Conrad’s travel began to take a toll on his health, and he was forced to return to England. There, he embarked on a greater, more trying journey. Having recorded the adventures and atrocities of his experience in Africa, Conrad began to craft his novella, Heart of Darkness. It is a story-within-a-story, in which Marlow, an Englishman aboard a ship, recounts the events of his venture into the very heart of Africa – on the Congo River – with a European trading company. His tale is reminiscent of those brought back to Europe by the first of the European colonizers. The brave men, who having been thrown into the unknown with a noble cause would return speaking of the perplexing things they had witnessed, blending reality with surreal myths. Marlow’s story is filled with stereotypes of the native African people, complete with cannibals, appalling rituals, and insistent drumbeats. Living among this is a trader named Kurtz. He once held high status, a respectable European man, but he fell victim to Africa’s incomprehensible frenzy and became the epitome of evil. Conrad did not write this novella with intent to dehumanize Africans and promote racist stereotypes, but rather to demonstrate this man’s fall from greatness. As a whole, the novella is a brilliant, thoughtful exploration into man’s capability of evil when society’s restraints are removed. Conrad simply sets this exploration in a place that was considered the embodiment of darkness, evil, and a barbaric lack of society – Africa.
The Essay on History in Africa Before Europeans
There are many examples of great societies in Africa that have documented history and have had very advanced societies for their time. There are three societies in particular whose progressive communities have shattered these Aryan model claims of Roper. Great Zimbabwe, Ancient Ghana, and the nations of the Nile Valley have all shown that they have a proper history that is well documented before ...
Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian-born post-colonial novelist and critic, is one of many to comment on the racism that litters Heart of Darkness. Although written with a bias and peppered with sarcasm, Achebe’s essay An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness provides a valid direct criticism of the Conrad’s racist tendencies. This criticism is further developed through Achebe’s Things Fall Apart – in which he proves that Africans did in fact have their own existing culture – acting as an in-depth, enlightening response to Heart of Darkness. Through his works, Achebe makes an important contribution to the reader’s perception of Africa, by rejecting common stereotypes and encouraging an open mind when exposed to different cultures.
In his essay, Achebe rightfully criticizes Conrad’s racist and condescending portrayal of Africa and its people. He pays special attention to the way in which Conrad sets up Africa as a foil to Europe, as well as to how Conrad depicts the African people. Achebe’s criticism on both accounts is valid because the racism that he accuses Conrad of is truly prevalent throughout the novella. With regard to Africa as a whole, Achebe expresses concern that, “Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as ‘the other world’ the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality.” (An Image of Africa 252).
Conrad does indeed repeatedly compare Africa to Europe as one would compare darkness and light or wilderness and civilization. One of the most direct of these comparisons is made when Conrad contrasts Kurtz’s mistress with his Intended. Conrad describes the African mistress: “She walked with measured steps […] with a slight jingle and flash of barbarous ornaments. […] She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent;” (Conrad 142).
He proceeds to describe the woman as the very embodiment of Africa’s immense and wild soul. The use of adjectives like barbarous, savage, and wild-eyed, produces an image of something ominous and inhuman. Conrad’s description of the European Intended is entirely different.
The Term Paper on Achebe’s “An Image of Africa : Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”
... how the Westerners exploited the Africans. Achebe’s description of Conrad as a “thoroughgoing racist” in “An Image of Africa : Racism in Conrad’s Heart of ... of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality.” Here Achebe ...
This fair hair, this pure brow, seemed surrounded by an ashy halo from which the dark eyes looked out at me. Their glance was guileless, profound, confident, and trustful. […] only her forehead, smooth and white, remained illumined by the unextinguishable light of belief and love. (Conrad 160-161)
Conrad paints this image with words like fair, pure, profound, and light, giving the reader an almost saintly idea of the woman. Achebe’s criticism is shown to be valid by this comparison. Conrad does indeed compare the mistress to the Intended as wild to civilized. In fact, the African mistress serves as little more than “a savage counterpart to the refined, European woman” (An Image of Africa 255)
This is not the first time in the novella that Conrad has directly compared Africa and Europe in this way. By this stage of the novella, he has already introduced and developed the idea of Africa as an antithesis to Europe, as through his comparison between the River Congo and the River Thames. Thus, the reader quickly sees the comparison of the two women, and associates each as a representation of their respective society. The use of Africa as just a foil to Europe is recurring throughout the novella. Achebe rightfully condemns this as it diminishes Africa, keeping it from being seen as a self-sufficient continent, or having its own societies.
Achebe also criticizes the way in which Conrad depicts the African people. Throughout the essay, he lists quotation after quotation, showing to the reader how Conrad mercilessly strips human characteristics from the Africans. Conrad proves himself to be guilty of this charge through several passages in the novella. He repeatedly shows Africans as members of a primordial, almost-human species with just a remote kinship to human kind. As Marlow travels up the Congo River, on the edge of this dark continent, Conrad describes the glimpses of African people that he passes.
We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. […] there would be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, […] the prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us – who could tell? […] We could not understand because we were too far […] They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity […] the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. (Conrad 108-109)
The Essay on Heart Of Darkness Conrad Black Achebe
When asked to create an image of Africa in one's mind many people describe a stunningly similar vision, one which includes primative landscapes as well as a primative way of life. In the past, and even somewhat today, Africa is considered to be a location that resembles a most natural form of earth. The novels Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart are both novels that take place in Africa and ...
This passage clearly indicates the idea of the African people that Conrad wishes to convey. Through the use of words such as prehistoric, howled, and wild, Conrad successfully de-evolves the people into a sub-human species. He points out that Marlow and the entirety of European society cannot understand because they are ‘too far’- too far developed and evolved to understand these primitive ways. Furthermore, Conrad specifically chooses to describe the relation of the Africans to the Europeans as a “remote kinship”. While recognizing the Africans as having some appearance of humanity about them, he stresses that it is a very distant relation to humankind. He thus develops the African people as a dinosaur of humanity, to be re-discovered by the Europeans. Therefore, Achebe’s accusation is fair, as Conrad reduces the Africans’ complex society filled with traditions, laws, and values- as explored by Achebe’s Things Fall Apart- to nothing more than ‘a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs’. Although his essay may be harsh in deeming Conrad’s novella unworthy of study, Achebe does indeed give valid criticism of its racist tendencies in dealing with Africa and its people.
However, Achebe does not stop here, but goes on to prove the stereotypes to be incorrect in his own novella. Whereas his essay is a direct critique of Heart of Darkness, Achebe’s novella, Things Fall Apart is a much more thorough response to Conrad’s work. The story gives an accurate description of an Ibo tribe’s society. It seems to reclaim the stories and culture that are stripped away by Conrad’s novella and so many other colonial works. It also shows colonialism as an intrusion on a complex, well-established African culture, rather than a noble venture into the unknown. Things Fall Apart appears to respond to some of the most prevalent ideas conveyed by Conrad’s representation of Africa.
In Heart of Darkness, Conrad portrays Africa as a place lacking all aspects of society – something wild and lawless. Achebe responds to this assumption through Things Fall Apart – by exploring in detail the very aspects of African societies that Conrad claims to not exist. For example, when describing the difference between European and African society, Conrad explains:
The Essay on Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”
... Things Fall Apart is a story based on the traditional beliefs and customs of the Ibo tribe. Achebe portrays a realistic view of Africans, ... kings or police to discipline its people, like many other societies, but instead they use spirits. Their highest spiritual and judicial ... other works, such as Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Although Achebe describes the fact that the tribe does not primarily ...
You can’t understand. How could you? – Solid pavement under your feet, […] stepping delicately between the butcher and the policeman, […] how can you imagine what particular region of the first ages a man’s untrammelled feet may take him into by the way of solitude – utter solitude without a policeman (Conrad 126)
This passage stresses the idea that African societies do not have their own laws and enforcement, giving an impression of danger and disorder that is meant to instil a frightened awe. Conrad, like most Europeans of his time, believed that Africans were much too primitive to maintain an intricate society filled with laws, values, titles, and other characteristics reintroduced by Achebe’s story. Achebe responds to this ignorance throughout his novella. In chapter ten, he details the procedure of a court session in the Ibo society. After the case in question had been presented, an egwugwu (ancestral spirit) states: “‘We have heard both sides of the case,’ said Evil Forest. ‘Our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that, but to settle the dispute.’” (Things Fall Apart 82).
The dispute mentioned is not to be solved with violence, but rather settled through a hearing. Achebe makes it clear that not only does a court system exist in the Ibo society; it is fair and well thought out, with established purposes and methods involved. Achebe continues to show the incredible complexity of the Ibo society throughout the story, through descriptions of the marriage customs, farming techniques, religious beliefs and practices, and the opportunities for every man to succeed through his own efforts.
Things Fall Apart also gives a response to the way in which Conrad seems to portray individual African characters. In direct encounters with Africans, Conrad often makes them so admirable or even awe-inspiring, that they become inhuman. This method is used after Marlow’s encounter with a group of cannibalistic Africans aboard his ship. For more than two pages, Marlow unexpectedly justifies their appalling request to eat the natives on land that threatened to attack.
The Term Paper on Position Paper Things Fall Apart
... or he can change it himself. In the story Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe showed how the reality of change influence ... African life: the humiliations visited on Africans by colonialism, and the utter moral worthlessness of what replaced colonial rule.Bibliography:Achebe, Chinua.(2000). Things Fall ... Position Paper Things Fall Apart Once Joseph Conrad, a British novelist, posed the question, Does ...
It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one’s soul – than this kind of prolonged hunger. […] But there was the fact facing me – the fact dazzling, to be seen, like the ripple on an unfathomable enigma, a mystery […] (Conrad 116-117)
By using words like dazzling, unfathomable, and mystery, Conrad removes this group of Africans from the reader, disallowing them to be perceived as human or relatable. He indicates that while a man would be struggling to survive this hunger, the inhuman, mysterious Africans seem to barely be affected by it. They are stripped of one of the most basic of human characteristics – vulnerability to hunger. They become an object to be marveled at. Conrad does this while describing most of the other Africans in the novella as well, such as Kurtz’s magnificent mistress and the intensely vivacious group of paddlers.
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe refutes this idea of Africans by giving human portrayals of his characters. He endows his protagonist Okonkwo with character flaws, making him entirely human. This allows the reader to be drawn into Okonkwo’s society and story, identifying with him on several levels. His greatest, driving flaw is introduced early in the novella. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. […] It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” (Things Fall Apart 10).
Despite Okonkwo’s strange and frightening inclination towards violence, the reader can identify with him because of the constant insight into his thoughts and emotions. The reader is made aware that Okonkwo is a victim of his own fear – an overwhelming flaw, which to some extent exists in every human being. By crafting Okonkwo with this flaw, Achebe creates a realistic and multi-dimensional character that the reader can relate to, rather than an ideal but inhuman character. This acts as a response to the separation that Conrad creates between his African characters and the reader.
Another aspect of Heart of Darkness that Achebe disproves in his novella is the lack of language and communication among the African people. Conrad represents them as being almost incapable of communication beyond animalistic yells and grunts. In fact, African characters speak only on two occasions throughout the story, and only in English, which Conrad assumed to be the better way to speak. Any possibility of an existing African language is disregarded. As Achebe points out in his essay:
The Essay on Okonkwo Reader Understand Connection
Strong, dominant, proud, competitive, successful, well respected, quick to pounce on anyone, impatient with unsuccessful men, afraid of being like his father: these words describe Okonkwo. Okonkwo is presented as straight forward as possible. In Fact, his name is the first word you see in the book. It is quickly made very clear to the reader that he is the protagonist of the story, and is ...
It is clearly not part of Conrad’s purpose to confer language on the ‘rudimentary souls’ of Africa. In place of speech they made ‘a violent babble of uncouth sounds.’ They ‘exchanged short grunting phrases’ even among themselves. But most of the time they were too busy with their frenzy. (An Image of Africa 255)
Once again, this dehumanizes the Africans as a people, and strips their society of a crucial aspect of any culture – language. In response to this ill-informed assumption, Achebe stresses the great value placed upon proverbs and the art of conversation and storytelling throughout Things Fall Apart. The great value of words is introduced at the beginning of the novella. “Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.” (Things Fall Apart 4).
In this beautifully crafted sentence, Achebe draws a comparison between language and food, demonstrating the great necessity of words in survival and life as a whole. The ability to communicate amongst one another is the fundamental base on which an organized culture can be created. Furthermore, conversation is referred to as an art, something that must be crafted with care. This is far from the “violent babble” and “uncouth sounds” that Conrad allows his African characters. The emphasis on language is maintained throughout the story. It is shown that the Ibo children are taught and raised with the aid of proverbs and stories. The reader is given an example of this in chapter eleven, when Okonkwo’s wife Ekwefi tells her daughter Ezinma a folk story about a greedy tortoise and birds. This folk story, like the many others that are taught to the children of the tribe, has an important and well-communicated moral. The story denounces greed, conveys the importance of being a grateful guest, and encourages acceptance of different customs, among other things. Stories like this are shown to be necessary in the Ibo society as an effective method of conveying the values that are held dearly by the tribe. In this way, Achebe shows the beauty and significance of the African people’s communication, giving a response to Conrad’s idea of Africans as inarticulate beings. In addition to his gradual refute of Conrad’s many ignorant ideas of Africans, Achebe often seems to answer directly to Conrad’s story. At one point in Okonkwo’s exile, an elder explains, “We are better than animals because we have kinsmen.” (Things Fall Apart 145).
Through Things Fall Apart, the reader learns that it is not civilization, boats, buildings, or European speech that makes one human, but rather kinship to one another.
After reading Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, several post-colonial literary critics and authors expressed distress about the ignorance and racism with which the novella was written. While it is true that Conrad was writing at the height of the colonial era – thus being forced to use the stereotypes that litter his novella – one cannot disregard the racism in his work. Achebe justly criticizes it in his essay An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and goes on to respond to Conrad in his story Things Fall Apart. Throughout the novella, he disintegrates racist colonial myths, establishing Africans as human beings who did have their own culture prior to colonization. The story opened the door for many post-colonial works to follow, and one by one, they can reclaim the stories and cultures that had been torn away from the African people. As a result of the work of writers like Chinua Achebe, the damage done during the colonial era may someday be reversed.
