In this article, Chinua Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad’s acclaimed novel Heart of Darkness. What I found particularly interesting about this article is how Achebe presents his argument, and how he supports it. In particular, he says that Conrad likes things being in their place. To Achebe, this means that Conrad prefers to acknowledge the stereotypical viewpoint of the culture, rather than something less traditional. For example, at one point Achebe says that the reason why the African woman is characterized as being “…savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent…” is because in this description she is “in her place”. However, can Conrad really be condemned for this? No, calling someone savage is not something that can be justified, but I think it is also important to consider that when Heart of Darkness was written, and even Things Fall Apart, for that matter, people held much more traditional views over certain issues than they do today. This is supported by the content of both novels. It is also displayed in the ever-changing demographic of our nation. Taking this just a step further, as the years progress and as times change, what was once considered deviant and “taboo”, in a sense, is no longer so. This being said, my thoughts after reading this are that Achebe cannot necessarily criticize Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as racist, because when Conrad wrote it, times were much different. However, in contrast, I think we must also consider the audience for which the novel was written. In this aspect, I myself do criticize Conrad. When Conrad wrote the novel, I understand that he was probably trying to appeal to a certain crowd; most likely, the white population. Perhaps Conrad simply believed that “white” culture was superior to the Africans’ way of living, or perhaps he wholeheartedly believed that things would never change and that other cultures much different than his would never become a part of civilized society. Whatever the case, I don’t think he considered how things might change in the future, and I think if he had his novel would’ve been drastically different. Whatever the case, whether Conrad’s novel is or is not racist is completely subjective. I, personally, do not believe either work to be racist, because each novel provides a glimpse into a different culture, and I really think that the fact that they are successfully able to do this is enough. And, if we are still talking about these novels years and years later, their authors must have done something right. After all, isn’t one important aim of literature to spark discussion amongst all peoples, regardless of their culture or beliefs?
