Although the content within Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is universally commended for its deep thematic concepts and skillful literary techniques, there has been a spirited argument over whether the novel is itself a discriminatory work. Due to the many contradicting aspects of racism during the 17th century and the limited information known about the personality of Conrad, the question of racism versus realism is too complex to give a definitive answer. One of the passages that appears to be intuitively racist is included in Part I: “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 …show more content…
His infamous last words succinctly summarize the effects of expansionism in Africa: “The horror, the horror” (Conrad 69). Additionally, Marlow meets several associates of Kurtz, many of whom admire the deceased adventurer’s character and what he might have aspired to had he lived. Kurtz had strong Christian morals, but has succumbed a heart of darkness though his initial intention was to transform a savage civilization. The transformation of Kurtz from a cultured individual to a corrupted imperialist of Africans shows that the concept of imperialism not only affects the black natives, but also even the most well-regarded, well-intentioned white colonials. Heart of Darkness attacks colonialism as a deeply flawed enterprise run by corrupt and hollow white men who commit mass devastation on the native population of Africa. In Part II, Kurtz appears to have reached a level of self-discipline, everything “belongs to him”: “You should have heard him say, 'My ivory.' Oh, yes, I heard him. 'My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—' everything belonged to him” (Conrad 48). Kurtz neglects to recognize that his pursuit of heroism is in vain and this drives him into madness. The concept that Heart of Darkness is …show more content…
These people have merely misjudged the works of Conrad, and have taken the novel too literally. Among these critics, is Chinua Achebe, who wrote “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”, and took a stand against Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. He claims that Conrad was a racist and that the novella, which apparently depersonalizes a portion of the human race, should not be considered a great work of art. Achebe adds, “That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work and 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 is mistaken, telling more about his own attitudes than about Conrad’s. He approaches the novel with the aim to learn more about himself and his culture. He should have approached the novel with the aim of learning about others -- about Europeans, not Africans but about racist, uninformed, and overwhelmed European colonists. If he kept this as his goal, he might have learned something about others. By setting such unreasonable expectations from the novel, particularly from a novel that does not even promote itself as meeting those expectations, he interprets the novel with the intent of criticizing it. It seems that Achebe feels strongly against Conrad because of