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Racism in heart of darkness by joseph conrad
Racism in heart of darkness by joseph conrad
Racism in heart of darkness by joseph conrad
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Throughout history, Africa has not only been whitewashed and demonized, but also has been belittled, diminished, and dismissed entirely because of human ignorance. Monsters and human beasts were rumored to roam Africa due to false information and misunderstandings of early {European} explorers. Oxford historian Hugh Trevor-Roper even went as far as to say that Africa has nothing to offer but darkness before European conquest and exploitation, making Africa not respected enough to study. This statement is racist, unenlightened, and undeviatingly inaccurate and steamed solely off of personal bias and takes away all credibility of Trevor-Roper, rightfully so. English historian and author John Reader combated this idea with his African bibliography,
They say that with knowledge comes power; so it’s safe to assume the inverse is also true: “with no knowledge comes vulnerability”. In the passage from the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses austere syntax, concrete details and strong diction to express his view that there is no real justification for the march of civilization, when in reality it is a matter of selfishness and brutality. Power, one of the most dangerous drives of human nature is what caused the Romans to destroy everything in their path. Corads use of varied syntax to illustrate the instability of imperialism. His use of long sentences, dashes; descriptions of nature are disorganized “ like a needle in a bundle of hay- cold, fog, tempests, diseases exile, and death-death
Major Works Data Sheet – Do not copy from a website – that is plagiarism! Use citations as appropriate. Title of Book: Heart of Darkness Author: Joseph Conrad
POWER is something most people desire in businesses, politics and companies as one wishes to expand or go up the chain of command in order to acquire greater authority, even in social life where individuals interact with each other. The novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ By Joseph Conrad is an adventure in the interior of Africa. The adventure in the novel can be recognized on page 45 lines 7-10 “There was an old hippo that had the bad habit of getting out on the bank and roaming at night over the station grounds. The pilgrims used to turn out in a body and empty every rifle they could lay hands on at him.” The hippopotamus harmful disturbance on the ship resulted to individuals continuously trying to shoot it down almost every night.
It is difficult to truly represent Africa because most of the representations known by mankind have risen from Western and European continents. The movie, Blood Diamond, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Danny Archer—a smuggler of conflict diamonds and Jennifer Connelly, who plays the American journalist, Maddy Bowen. Blood Diamond illustrates the political chaos that conflict diamonds caused in west Africa; a civil war broke out in Sierra Leone between the government and a group of rebels, known as the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), which resulted in the burning of villages, and in the deaths of many men, women, and children. Just as Chinua Achebe argues that Heart of Darkness is a racist representation of Africans in “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness,’” I argue that Blood Diamond offers a racist representation of Sierra Leone and Africans as well; although the Sierra Leone civil war was a real event, my argument aims to reveal how the movie depiction of the real event deems Africans as a place of warfare and corruption with the inability to rise above the problems
In Basil Davidson’s video, “Different but Equal”, Davidson examines ancient Africa, and how Africans were perceived in ancient and modern times. Davidson discusses pre-colonized Africa and its history, and how racism prevailed in the past and in modern day. By discussing early civilizations, as well as modern day perspectives, Davidson allows the viewer to have expansive information on how individuals view Africans and their culture. In Davidson’s video, he discusses how people in the past have viewed Africa and African culture, and how that relates to our perception of Africa in modern times.
In Achebe’s article "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness", he states that racism can be so easily glossed over due to the normality of racism directed towards Africa, “due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking”. Africa becomes “devoid of all recognizable humanity” and becomes a perilous journey and property of the Western civilization. This is evident in Heart of Darkness and Poisonwood Bible. Both stories depict Africa as distant and inferior to the beliefs and governments of Europe or America. To Rachel, the natives are initially strange and presented as dangerous.
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.”
From an early age Jospeh Conrad had an uneasy childhood but managed to surpass that and become one of the most profound writters of our time. Serving in the navy and having experienced living at sea, inspired him to base many of his novels on exploration and sea life. Two of his famous works that pertain to his travels are Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Due to his stylistic and impressionable work, Conrad is still appreciated and studied today. The purpose of his writting was to expand young minds and help them embrace their grasp on life.
Nineteenth century readers did not notice the abnormal fashion in which they treated their peers, so they did not filter the disparaging comments in Heart of Darkness. The blatant racism shining through every passage of Conrad’s novel is appalling to today’s readers, but did not even impact the audience Conrad first reached. If science during that era was so skewed, there is reason to say that current science has also been altered to fit modern
All their meager breasts panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered, the eyes stared stonily up-hill. They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (Conrad chapter 1). People who were unable to physically visit Africa, could only get a glimpse of the country from texts like these. So, all anyone ever knew about Africans was that they were “violent”, “wild”, “savages”. These inhuman characteristics created the African stereotype in the eyes of the world.
During the passage down the Congo , Marlow contemplates the presence of natives on the shore compared to the native in the boiler room. The natives on shore are dancing, with wild abandoned, and Marlow imagines that perhaps both him and the boiler man would like to join them. He thinks on the man's presence and what led him to work for the ship. The boiler man's story, though short, is very effective.
Psychotic Darkness A gun gives you the opportunity, but a thought pulls the trigger. In this world, there are many life changing situations that can test one's sanity. Such situations can capture one's mind leading the mind to be on the verge of psychotic. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, grants the characters with a series of insane scenes that can generate question of psychotic characters.
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.
Achebe’s article professes that almost everything within Conrad’s novel is an act of pure racism. This, however, is not the case, as Conrad was just telling the truth of what occurred within Africa during the time of European colonization. Hugh Curtler refutes Achebe’s statements in his literary criticism “Political Correctness and the Attack on Great Literature”. This article takes a practical viewpoint about the book and stresses the point that Conrad was trying to explain the events that occurred during his time in Africa in a style of writing for the people at the time. Literary critics like Achebe label Conrad as complete racist, however, he is, in fact, the complete opposite as he utilizes this story as a way to paint a picture of the cruel actions that occurred at the time.
