Achebe’s Views on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Chinua Achebe’s essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” was originally delivered as a chancellor’s lecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, on February 18, 1975. After the speech was delivered, it was soon published under the title “An Image in Africa” in the Massachusetts Review.
Achebe wrote about the western desire, and its need to set up Africa as a foil to Europe. What Achebe means by this is that everything bad about Africa was shown so Europe could be highlighted.
“Quite simply it is the desire-one might indeed say the need- In western psychology to set Africa up as a foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in comparison with which Europe’s own state of spiritual grace will be manifest.” (337)
Achebe also wrote about the dehumanization of Africa and Africans in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe suggests that the dehumanization that occurs decreases the goodness of the book.
“The real question is the dehumanization of Africa and Africans which this age-long attitude has fostered and continues to foster in the world. And the question is whether a novel which celebrates this dehumanization, which depersonalizes a portion of the human race, can be called a great work of art. My answer is” No, it cannot.” (344)
Although Achebe’s essay made strong, straight-forward points, had biographical facts of racism, and positive tone pathos; it also showed issues with fairness, focus and a biased outlook.
Achebe was able to create an essay that was not only well written, but easy and interesting to
read. He was able to do this because of several important features inserted in his essay. Each of these features range from a variety of concepts, but piece the essay together.
One of these features is the fact that Achebe used strong and straight-forward phrases to get his point across. There was not much interpretation involved when he used these phrases, and it also made the essay more interesting. An example of one of Achebe’s straight-forward phrases was when he stated what the ultimate questions were.
“The real question is the dehumanization of Africa and Africans which this age-long attitude has fostered and continues to foster in the world.” (344)
Another feature that strengthens the essay, are the uses of biographical facts of racism. Achebe suggests that it is not Conrad’s fault that he is racist because he was born in 1857, a time when Africans were not thought highly of. He suggests that he may not be at fault, but his later attitude towards Africans is unacceptable. Achebe’s use of biographical racism is both compelling and damaging to Conrad.
“It was certainly not his (Conrad’s) fault that he lived at a time when the reputation of the black man was at a particularly low level.” (344)
Another strong feature was that Achebe showed emotion throughout his essay. The tone pathos helped the reader really relate to what he was trying to say. He used certain punctuation, like explanation points. The explanation points let us know how he was feeling when he wrote the essay. It almost seems like Achebe was either angry or very frustrated while writing this essay, because of tone pathos.
“Surely the only native language possible in London is Cockney English. But our writer means something else-something appropriate to the sounds Indians and Africans make!” (349)
Although Achebe had strong points in his essay, he also had some weaknesses. One of his weaker points argues the fairness of evaluating an earlier culture and its values. Times have changed so much since Conrad wrote The Heart of Darkness. Racism has decreased to a dramatic extent, and slavery has ended with people frowning upon it. So is it fair to accuse someone of being a racist, when that’s the way they were brought up? That is one of Achebe’s ultimate questions.
“His (Conrad’s) obvious racism has, however, not been addressed. And it is high time it was” (344)
Another weakness in Achebe’s essay is his sense of focus. No counter-arguments were able to be supported because he was so focused on racism. Racism was an obvious issue in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, but it was not the only issue. His focus on racism is Achebe’s biggest weakness in the essay. Achebe’s thoughts on Conrad’s racism were so repetitive throughout the essay, that it was almost impossible to know that the Heart of Darkness is a classic piece of literature.
“The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist.” (343)
The last weakness that was noticed in Achebe’s essay was that he was bias towards the whole subject of racism. Achebe is a native to Africa, which explains why he is so infuriated with Conrad’s racism and his discrimination towards Africa. Most of Achebe’s essay contains evidence that Conrad felt that Africans were sub-human, which is a concept that was probably taken personally by him upon reading Heart of Darkness.
“Africa as a setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril.” (344)
Chinua Achebe’s essay was well-written, interesting, and showed significant strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths included the uses of strong, straight-forward points that made the essay more interesting and easier to read. It included biographical facts of racism, which helped the reader understand the main points, like why Africa was being set up as a foil to Europe. It also had a positive tone pathos, which let the reader really feel and relate to what was being said in the story.
The weaker points included the fairness in evaluating an earlier culture and its values, its focus on only racism, which made supporting counter-examples impossible, and the fact that Achebe is bias because he is African.
Achebe’s main point of how Africa was used as a foil for Europe was proven
through his thoughts in his essay. It was made clear that Africa was seen as the “other” place, and Europe as the primary. Africans were thought of as sub-human and clearly Achebe was not alright with that concept.
The essay was enjoyable and informative. It took racism in Heart of Darkness to a whole new level, and was able to let the reader relate to Achebe’s thoughts. The essay proposed the perfect arguments against Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Armstrong,
336-349.
