In Chapter 1 and 2 of “Creating Black Americans,” author Nell Irvin Painter addresses an imperative issue in which African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed (2) and continue to be perceived in a negative light (1). This book gives the author the chance to revive the history of Africa, being this a sacred place to provide readers with a “history of their own.” (Painter 4) The issue that Africans were depicted in a negative light impacted various artworks and educational settings in the 19th and early 20th century. For instance, in educational settings, many students were exposed to the Eurocentric Western learning which its depiction of Africa were not only biased, but racist as well.
While Captain Delano observes the slaves in their various tasks, his opinion of what an African slave’s traits are become glaringly clear, he explains while looking at the six Ashantees that there is a “peculiar love in negroes of uniting industry with pastime” and that they “had the raw aspect of unsophisticated Africans” (2902). Captain Delano truly believes that Africans merely enjoy working hard for their masters and that they are not intelligent enough to conceptualize wanting something more than this. Nothing more accurately articulates Captain Delano’s perspective on the benevolence of slavery then the ‘benevolent’ relationship he views between Benito and Babo—master and slave. Captain Delano finds a “humane satisfaction” when he “witnessed the steady good conduct of Babo” (2903) the seemingly loving nature of Babo reassures Delano of his own interpretations of slaves and how that relationship is supposed to be perceived. Analogously, Benito Cereno explains to Captain Delano that “it is Babo here to whom, under God, I owe not only my own preservation, but likewise to him, chiefly, the merit is due, of pacifying his more ignorant brethren, when at intervals tempted to murmurings” (2907), in which the purported benevolence of Babo has empowered Cereno to keep control of his ship.
He uses Pathos along with metaphorical analogies to accomplish this. He mentions his surreptitious affiliation with white boys; with whom he exchanges bread with for that “more valuable bread of knowledge”, who helped him succeed in learning to read and how grateful he is for their aid. He also defines their enslavement to be an act of robbery by the enslavers who are "a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes”. This implies the hardships the slaves experience and how this affects them emotionally and mentally. It also proves that slavery, throughout history, had been one of the most painful and influential aspect in society (Reddie,
As a result, his statement acts as a predetermination put into motion by, of course, the color of his skin: “No black man had ever set foot in this tiny Swiss village.” Under these circumstances, one can notice the hint towards a premise all too mundane for Black Americans— a loathsome self-awareness. To clarify; from the moment of birth, a Negro citizen is made absurdly alert of the fact that, they are indeed, black. The pigment of their skin is to the world this oddity, carrying on a speculation that will seemingly never cease. It is so constant, that the mere idea of the absence of blackness prompts a state of awe: “It did not occur to me— possibly because I’m American— that there could be people anywhere who had never seen a Negro.”
What is the significance of animal imagery used by Gabriel Marquez within A Chronicle of a Death Foretold? Within the novel, a Chronicle of a death Foretold the author uses animal imagery to effectively bring across varying themes and concepts within the novella. Marquez uses the symbolism of roosters to comment upon the disloyalty that the bishop and the town have to their own religion. The use of other animals such as pigs, dogs, birds and rabbits are used to characterize Santiago and the townspeople as well as show the brutality of Santiago’s murder and the animalistic nature of the human race.
The color black does show the people in another aspect. Hunt Hawkins discuses Chinua Achebe’s article describing all of the awful things said about persons of color. Hawkins discusses a difficult topic of racism. He explains Conrad does not refer too many of the black character’s by name, and uses derogatory names like, “savages”, “negro”, and “rudimentary souls” which shows his lack of empathy for the lower race causing the roots of visualization of racism. Hawkins agrees with Achebe’s and quotes him saying, “teems with Africans whose humanity is admitted in theory but totally undermined by the mindlessness of its context and pretty explicit animal imagery surrounding it.”
Ignorance of another's personal values or situation results in an impassable schism between the two parties. People fail to understand each other, and as such, they regard each other in lower lights. In “Heart of Darkness”, Joseph Conrad, through Marlow, writes his novella through a lense of ignorance and the perspective of the typical white person of the time in order to relate his story to the reader. Marlow and the accountant are contrasted with Kurtz to display the effects of evil on an individual.
And the novel repeatedly tells us that these crimes--not the casual brutalization of black men and women, not the denial of political and economic rights to the overwhelming majority of the population-are the big problems in South Africa” (AUTHOR NAME AND PAGE NUMBER?). This shows that Europeans are titling blacks as thieves, prostitutes, and murders. They are pretty much titling them as their downfall to society. They are blaming all of the bad stuff that happens in there everyday life on the Blacks of South Africa. They are not seeing the big picture which is that the white forced themselves into their land and caused them to become poor and are forcing them to scramble for money.
Hunt Hawkins presents the controversy that Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, encounters, as its contents portray Africans as dehumanizing, savage, and uncivilized beings. In order to provide a sufficient amount of information with regards to the controversy, Hawkins introduces the analysis of distinct scholars to describe racism, imperialism, and human nature. As a result, an analysis of the characters are provided to the audience and allow an individual to understand why Conrad decided to write Heart of Darkness the way he did. Thus, during this process, Hawkins describes the manifestation of the darkness that eventually consumes Kurtz.
Everyone has their own opinions of which cultures are civilized and which are savage. A culture which is civilized is one where morals are set in place and and there is intellectual advancement. Civilized cultures follow a set a moral given to them usually by a government. A savage culture is where there are no morals in place. The people part of this culture do not follow any morals only hoping to survive, with no government intact.
Into the Darkness: How and why is a social group presented in a particular way? Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes a multi-faceted approach to the issues that surrounded 19th century colonization and imperialism in Africa. Marlow’s journey into the heart of Africa serves to highlight the hypocrisy of this endeavor, and how this deceit followed the rhetoric utilized by the colonizers in order to justify their colonization of Africa and the treatment of the natives. As the novel progresses, Africa becomes more of a backdrop for Conrad to truly expose the depravity of European intervention in Africa. Through Marlow’s narrative, varying connotations of words and his own main character’s reactions,as well as copious amounts of descriptive imagery, Conrad casts Europeans in a negative light in order to criticize imperialism and colonists.
Africa in this novella is portrayed as “the Heart of Darkness” the place where the men’s inner evil is exposed, this is done through their thoughts and actions. The contrast between the Thames River and the Congo River is also made evident in the novella. The Thames River is described as calm and peaceful. It is viewed as a city of light that is not mysterious.
BRIEF ANALYSIS The use of various literary devices in Joseph Conrad’s novel helps to bring his story to life, which ultimately is to his advantage. Conrad brings the reader into the darkness, displayed the corruptibility of humankind and left them pondering the absurdity of evil and imperialism. One of the strongest literary devices that Conrad uses to engage the reader in his novella is the use of imagery. However other important literary devices that are used throughout the novel as well as in the extract above is: similes, metaphors, personification, foreshadowing, and symbolism and narrative techniques.
‘Heart of Darkness’ was written in 1899 by a Polish novelist Joseph Conrad, about the expedition up the Congo River in the Heart of Africa. This essay will mainly deal with the reference of the ‘darkness’ in the novel and it even deals with the theme which will further support the statement. The idea of ‘darkness’ in ‘Heart of Darkness’ represents evil or dark side of Humanity. It is also related to the idea of colonization, especially when it comes to the idea of mistreatments of people and misuse of natural resources.
To be bluntly honest, after having gotten to page 8 without having understood a word of the text, I was very frustrated. Not only did Heart of Darkness have an old-fashioned English style of writing but the first few pages were completely filled with references, symbols, metaphors and vivid imagery. I found myself either looking up each metaphor to understand it better or rereading each imagery because of its vividness. Thankfully, as the book progressed and Marlow’s story began, the plot became clearer and the story started to carry on more smoothly. I have come to realize that Heart of Darkness can be regarded as a story within a story.
