Friday, March 27, 2015
Heart of Darkness Blog 8-Meg Barber
"Heart of Darkness" is considered one of the most classic short novels of its time. Joseph Conrad, the author, however has been speculated as a racist. Personally I don't believe it affects the characterization on the novel. The novel is based on a man traveling through Africa...avoiding comments that could be taken as racist is quite difficult. Plus the novel was written at a time where a modern view of racism was seen as nothing in this time period. Chinua Achebe views differently saying, "...namely in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that it's manifestations go com-that Conrad was a bloody racist." I personally think this is extreme. It is taking things out of context. Conrad wrote a great piece of literature and other themes could be explored other than he was a racist.
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While I see how many people interpret Conrad’s work as being racist, I do agree with you – racism was unavoidable given the circumstances. How does an Englishman in the early 1900’s write a novel about an African exploration without introducing some themes of racism? Conrad simply wrote as he was accustomed to, which inevitably involved some degree of racism, whether intentionally or not. I agree with you on the point that Conrad did not set out to write a racist novel; he set out to retell of a life-changing expedition into the African jungle, encountered blacks on the way, and simply described them as he saw them – as any white, civilized male living in that time period and area of the world would have viewed them – as savages. It was just a description for Conrad, not an intention of racist beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. Many of the accusations towards Conrad as being a racist are completely unavoidable. The time period of the written novel has a huge impact on the story line and the character development. With a white man going into Africa there isn't much to expect besides the fact that there are going to be racist comments that seem extreme to more contemporary readers. But, because of the way the author seems to degrade the natives, the characterization doesn't seem to progress among them but more of the speakers. The point of views and descriptions just show the culture that they came from before going on this journey.
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