Throughout the novel, we see Conrad gives us idea about how deceiving one could be. For example when Marlow talks about the map unfamiliar Africa and where unknown part are drawn which turns out white on the map of Africa. Africa appears to be dark through exploitation, colonization and exploration of the rest of the continents. Conrad even uses the idea of light and dark to gives us more idea of the inner status of some of the specific character. In the novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ Mr. Kurtz who is an Caucasian man, who has white skin, but who has the darkest and most corrupt soul in the novel.
Is the novel “Heart of darkness” a criticism against colonizers or natives? There were several criticisms regarding the novel “Heart of darkness”. It is often claimed that Conrad is being racist towards African due to the picture of natives portrayed in the novel. (Achebe, 1977. As cited in sevensson, 2010, P.8).
The prejudices made by the Europeans are evident throughout Conrad’s novel, however, two books have counteracted that idea and tried to prove the well developed society that exists all over Africa. Cry, the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton and Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, both focus on debunking the stereotypes of Africa. Paton and Achebe both explore the concept that Africa does have culture but are slowly losing it due to the settlement of whites. However, Paton implements the idea of white savior complex which is the idea that only whites can help the blacks regain establishment. As Conrad creates the atmosphere that Africa is seen as limited, in contrast, Paton and Achebe criticize it by... Joseph Conrad primarily perceives the westerners’ attitudes towards Africans similarly like most Europeans who believe they are higher and more developed.
Achebe’s talk sparked an uncontrolled response which altered the entire field of Conrad’s criticism. Andrea White represents that Conrad’s “very backgrounding of native peoples and landscapes is objectionable”, ( The introduction and first chapter of: Harrison, Nicholas. Postcolonial criticism: History theory and the Work of Fiction. Polity, 2003.) an analysis that refers to Achebe’s argument that Heart of Darkness “uses a setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor”.
In this essay he notoriously says, “ … Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked.” (Achebe 343). Achebe’s prominent essay that blatantly describes Conrad’s depictions of the African people in the novella as racist. From this essay forward it seems that the academic discussion has continued and academics still argue to this day whether Conrad’s descriptions are overtly racist or is that these descriptions are merely representative of the time that it was written. In another important essay response to Heart of Darkness Edward Said not only discusses the novella but responds to Achebe’s essay challenging whether or not Conrad’s words represent overt racism as Achebe states.
Abstract: This paper will discuss the post-colonial aspects in the poem “The Little Black Boy” by William Blake. More it will deals with the worse situations of being slave and psychological sufferings of colonized people and how the colonization became the cause of destruction for the black people. Thesis Statement: Black people during colonization were treated like non-human beings, killing them was not a crime and they were given no rights to live a normal life like white or English people. Introduction: Post-colonialism has its root in imperialism. Imperialism means power, authority, dominion, command and empire.
In Wizard of the Crow, Ngugi blends satire and polemic in his depiction of an African nation at crossroads in the aftermath of the white rule. Essentially a realist work, the author uses his peculiar style and language to sniff out the foul stenches of complacency towards despotism, repression of women and ethnic minorities, widespread corruption and – under girding of all these – a neocolonial system in which today’s lending banks and multinationals have supplanted yesterday’s European overlords. References are made to Ngugi’s skilful use of literary and linguistic approaches to x-ray the ideational, interpersonal and textual functions which the text fulfils as a realist literature. At the end, this paper’s main contribution is to firmly
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, published in 1899, focuses on the effects that imperialism has on the human mind. However, it has been widely criticized for its racist language and depiction of Africa. Regardless, this novel serves as a literary work of art and should not be seen solely as a racist novel. Heart of Darkness shows Marlow’s shift in perspective in respect to imperialism. Marlow has an imperialistic point of view, but he is more judgmental of it than in favor of it.
To consolidate that stance, the essay will be based on the analysis of Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s A Private Experience and Njabulo S. Ndebele’s The Prophetess. As aforementioned, Western literature sought to dehumanise the African people. It even went to the extent of reducing Africa to an abstraction which meant that Africa was not real and the inhabitants thereof. Eliminating the ‘realness” of a human entailed depriving that person of the recognition of the psychological effects and conflict that occur because of colonisation. In Nervous Conditions the
ABSTRACT The present paper explores and examines the notion of injustice or discrimination and its treatment by the perception of social justice and humanism by adopting a cross cultural perspective with reference to analysis of racial discrimination in Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness and Mulk Raj Anand’s portrayal of caste discrimination in his novel, Untouchable. Prejudice or discrimination on the base of caste or colour has been a universal practice by human race. The discrimination on each basis generates similar repercussions. It entwines the tale of wretchedness, sufferings, pain and agony in the life of an individual. It can be anecdotal that racism and casteism are sheer naught as they are simply social hypothesis.