A Bloody Racist! Chinua Achebe on Joseph Conrad - Into the Heart of Darkness Part 5

In this fifth instalment of the Into the Heart of Darkness series, we examine the criticism made by Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 - 21 March 2013), who had labelled Joseph Conrad a "thoroughgoing racist" in a 1975 essay titled “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness”. Achebe`s view was that Heart of Darkness cannot be considered a great work of art because it is "a novel which celebrates... dehumanisation, which depersonalises a portion of the human race." Referring to Conrad as a "talented, tormented man", Achebe notes that Conrad (via the protagonist, Charles Marlow) reduces and degrades Africans to "limbs", "ankles", "glistening white eyeballs", etc., while simultaneously (and fearfully) suspecting a common kinship between himself and these natives-leading Marlow to sneer the word "ugly.”
Chinua Achebe is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel.
Part 1 - The Uncertain Early Life of Joseph Conrad • The Uncertain Early Li...
Part 2 - The Murderous Exploitation of the Congo • The Murderous Exploita...
Part 3 - The Edwardian Critical Response to Conrad’s HOD • The Edwardian Critical...
Part 4 - How Apocalypse Now was shaped by HOD • How Apocalypse Now was...
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[@user-jr6ok3ec9b]

very educative, thank you for your effort

[@heartforhistory1]

You're welcome!

[@friedscoot5366]

I read this story with a grain of salt. I tried to give Conrad the benefit of the doubt. Like this video highlights, the lack of humanity of the African natives in the story leaves little room for doubt that Conrad was a racist. My interpretation of the story was that African savagery corrupted the white man, Kurtz. Those who say that he merely highlights the problems of colonialism ignore the undertones of superiority continually enforced throughout the story. The antagonist of the story is not the colonialists, but the natives who threaten to decivilize the white man. If Conrad had intended to highlight the plights of African natives, he would have portrayed them with humanity. Rather than showing the similarities between the colonialists and the natives, he contrasts them. He clearly establishes an idea of good and evil. Unfortunately it is the imperialists who are on the side of good, rescuing Kurtz from a downward spiral into savagery portrayed by Conrad.