Darkness drops again...
[context matters]
"Exterminate all the brutes": Was Conrad Really a Racist?
Essential Questions we will be exploring:
In his essay "Heart of Darkness and Racism," Hunt Hawkins writes " Conrad became a staunch, if complicated, opponent of European expansion. Heart of Darkness offers a powerful indictment of imperialism, both explicitly for the case of King Leopold and implicitly for all other European powers." 1
Let's say that this novel does condemn European imperialism. Recounting the tale of his expedition down the Congo River, Marlow says
All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz.
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away
from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses
than ourselves, is not a pretty thing.
Essential Questions we will be exploring:
- What is the author's point of view?
- How do I know that I've interpreted a piece of literature accurately?
- How do I use primary and secondary sources to develop and support interpretations of literature?
In his essay "Heart of Darkness and Racism," Hunt Hawkins writes " Conrad became a staunch, if complicated, opponent of European expansion. Heart of Darkness offers a powerful indictment of imperialism, both explicitly for the case of King Leopold and implicitly for all other European powers." 1
Let's say that this novel does condemn European imperialism. Recounting the tale of his expedition down the Congo River, Marlow says
All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz.
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away
from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses
than ourselves, is not a pretty thing.
In a speech titled "An Image of Africa," Chinua Achebe notably proclaimed Conrad a "bloody racist" and Heart of Darkness "a story in which the very humanity of black people is called in question--a book which parades in the most vulgar fashion prejudices and insults from which a section of mankind has suffered untold agonies and atrocities." 2 Yet this does not mean he advocates banning the novel. Rather, Achebe teaches it.
In The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, James Clifford presents a contrasting perspective of Conrad's novella:
An epistemological model, [Heart of Darkness] "truthfully juxtaposes different truths and does not permit a feeling of centeredness, coherent dialogue, or authentic communion." 3
Thus according to Clifford, the text avoids giving "the misleading impression that understanding another culture can be accomplished once and for all." 4
Which is it? Is it a text that forces us to see the Africans as devoid of humanity? Or is it one that illustrates the effect of imperialist and racist policies, when we pretend but utterly fail in our attempts to define the Other?
What are we, then, to make of it?
"Savages," "rudimentary souls," "grotesque," "horrid," "ugly," "fiendish," "satanic": words Marlow uses to describe the Africans he sees.
Does the novel dehumanize Africans? Unquestionably yes, it does. Should we read it? Is it worth reading?
Perhaps the only way to answer the question is to read it and decide for ourselves.
1 Hawkins, Hunt, "Heart of Darkness and Racism," A Norton Critical Edition, Fourth Edition (2006).
2 Achebe, Chinua, " An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," A Norton Critical Edition, Fourth Edition (2006).
3 Clifford, James, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988.
4 Armstrong, Paul B. "Reading, Race, and Representing Others," A Norton Critical Edition, Fourth Edition (2006).
In The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, James Clifford presents a contrasting perspective of Conrad's novella:
An epistemological model, [Heart of Darkness] "truthfully juxtaposes different truths and does not permit a feeling of centeredness, coherent dialogue, or authentic communion." 3
Thus according to Clifford, the text avoids giving "the misleading impression that understanding another culture can be accomplished once and for all." 4
Which is it? Is it a text that forces us to see the Africans as devoid of humanity? Or is it one that illustrates the effect of imperialist and racist policies, when we pretend but utterly fail in our attempts to define the Other?
What are we, then, to make of it?
"Savages," "rudimentary souls," "grotesque," "horrid," "ugly," "fiendish," "satanic": words Marlow uses to describe the Africans he sees.
Does the novel dehumanize Africans? Unquestionably yes, it does. Should we read it? Is it worth reading?
Perhaps the only way to answer the question is to read it and decide for ourselves.
1 Hawkins, Hunt, "Heart of Darkness and Racism," A Norton Critical Edition, Fourth Edition (2006).
2 Achebe, Chinua, " An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," A Norton Critical Edition, Fourth Edition (2006).
3 Clifford, James, The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988.
4 Armstrong, Paul B. "Reading, Race, and Representing Others," A Norton Critical Edition, Fourth Edition (2006).
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