Many criticize Heart
of Darkness as being a racist work and, in the words of Chinua Achebe in An Image of Africa, “the question is
whether a novel which celebrates this dehumanization, which depersonalizes a
portion of the human race, can be called a great work of art. My answer is. No,
it cannot”. Achebe is just one of many who believe Heart of Darkness needs to be taken out of the high school
literature construct. Those people, however, have blinders on. Yes, the book
has racism. But during this time period, it is mild. Many people’s minds
immediately go straight to the fact that the book has racism against the
natives in Africa, but do not see the subtle degradations thrown toward the
Europeans as well. For example, Kurtz’ intended is a ditzy European who is
trapped in a deluded world of her own and loves Kurtz in a superficial way.
Kurtz’ mistress is shown to be a passionate lover who cares deeply for Kurtz. The
flaws in Kurtz’ character, such as the stealing and the craziness, are not
shown in any Native. He did not lose his mind because of the Natives or even
because of being in Africa. He had so much power he could not control it. The
book is not about racism against Africans, or even against Europeans. It is
about how power affects the mind. Therefore, it is a great tool to teach, not
only about how far we have come from that dark part of human history, but also
to warn about what happens to the minds of those who have great power.
I agree with you on about the book not being racist, but I also have sympathy towards Achebe's argument because his strong ties to Nigeria, which obviously influenced his interpretation of the reading. If Conrad had outright spoke against racism and denounced those who had those beliefs, the book would have been disregarded.
ReplyDeleteI agree the book is not a racist book. In all actuality it is a reflection of imperialism and it showcases its flaws. To make a work better, it should be doused in realism with aspects of actual culture and human life. Racism existed then and it exists now. By including it the book becomes stronger as a whole. It should not be discarded because racism is bad. Books have murders, rapes, thefts, lies, and affairs which are all thought to be bad but are we supposed to disregard those books too? No, that would be ridiculous and we would not be able to read anything based off those standards.
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