MacKenzie Creech
English 105
Professor Timmons
October 11, 2010
In Chinua Achebe’s “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” Achebe converses his interpretations of this novella. He makes sure the reader leaves knowing how he truly feels about this piece of literature. Achebe discusses throughout his critical essay that he doesn’t feel as Joseph Conrad used a good selection of words and believes that his word choice was not the best. Achebe thinks that Conrad was using trickery words that did nothing but just complicate what he was saying. He also looked as Conrad as a “thoroughgoing racist” (343). This may be true when reading it now but it may not have been the case when Conrad was writing. Achebe also feels as if Conrad is trying to “set Africa up as a foil to Europe” (337). Achebe has a right to his own opinions and feelings towards Conrad and his writing but is it accurate that he says so much in such a negative way towards him? Achebe tries to bring out some of the positive things that took place in Heart of Darkness but for the most part it seems that he is more interesting in calling Conrad out and putting the novella down for all of the bad things Achebe thought Conrad did in his writing.
I think as readers analyzing these two different pieces should step back and look at the facts first. We should first off notice that Conrad and Achebe are two completely different races and that could be a major factor in the question as why these two may bump heads when it comes to Heart of Darkness. Conrad is a Caucasian man and Achebe is an African American. Even today, between those two races, there are conflicting opinions and feelings, so of course there would be about this piece of writing. Also we must look at the time difference from when both writers actually wrote. Conrad wrote this piece 1899 when everything that he was writing about actually took place. Achebe wrote his many years after. “It was certainly not his fault that that he lived his life at a time when the reputation of a black man was at a particularly low level” (344). He understand that part, but he continues to go on about how Conrad was still very revealing when it came to discussing a black man in the novella. None of the problems that Achebe talks about in his essay were occurring at the time when he actually composed his piece. So is it accurate for Achebe to call Conrad a “thoroughgoing racist” (343)? I personally don’t think it is. Achebe may have his own individual opinions that involve his race, but he didn’t take part in what all Conrad did during his time. Racism was viewed in a completely different way and I don’t think it is reasonable for Achebe to use his own interpretations to judge Conrad in such a way. Achebe said “It took different forms in the minds of different people but almost always managed to sidestep the ultimate question of equality between white people and black people” (342-343). I think he is right when saying that people are going to have different opinions about racism according to what race you actually are, but there was a difference is the equality of white and black people during Conrad’s time and I don’t think that Achebe understands or accepts that. “His obvious racism has, however, not been addressed. And it is high time is was!” (344). This proves my point that Achebe doesn’t seem to want to comprehend that himself and Conrad were different people, that were of different ethnicity, born in different time periods, where different actions and thoughts took place regarding racism. The some of the things that Achebe says directed towards Conrad seems almost as if he has some sort of hate towards him and he seems very passionate about it. Achebe says, “Whatever Conrad’s problems were, you might say he is now safely dead. Unfortunately his heart of darkness plagues us still” (345). That is harsh. By him referring to Heart of Darkness in that sense, by comparing it to a plague, it just shows his true feelings toward this piece. How can someone be safely dead? Achebe was slightly cruel when discussing Conrad and I think it was somewhat uncalled for.
Achebe writes a lot of different things about Heart of Darkness, and some are positive things about it but for the most part they are all negative. Even though we all know if we have read the novella that it is a very complex piece of literature but that is what it is known for and so highly thought of for. Achebe does a very good job leaving out some of the many positive things about Heart of Darkness out. It seems to me that he wants critics to read his critical essay discussing the novella and to not think twice about even reading it. Achebe, in my point of view, doesn’t appreciate the choice of words Conrad uses or how he uses them. It almost seems as if Achebe is saying that he could write it better himself. Achebe, I think, is somewhat jealous of Conrad. It seems to me that in his critical essay he tries to write like Conrad does in Heart of Darkness. He tries to make what he is saying more complex than it really is. Achebe is writing a critical essay discussing the novella so I don’t see any reason why he uses trickery throughout his writing. It seems as if he is trying to show off. In Conrad’s case, his trickery is what he is known for in the Heart of Darkness. “When a writer while pretending to record scenes, incidents, and their impact is in reality engaged in inducing stupor in his readers through a bombardment of emotive words and other forms of trickery mush more has to be at stake than stylistic felicity” (338). That quote proves my point exactly. Achebe is calling Conrad out on the choice of his words throughout the entire novella when in this one sentence he is being absolutely hypocritical. He made his sentence much more complex than it needed to be.
Achebe isn’t exactly this bad man that he is made out to be throughout my entire essay. There are some points where he gives Conrad some kind of credit where it should be handed out. He says, “Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, which is better than any other work that I know displays that Western desire and need which I have just referred to…. Conrad, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the great stylists of modern fiction and a good-story teller into the bargain” (337). Although this quote came at the very beginning of his essay before he starts to go off on a rant about how racist he believes Conrad is and how he didn’t use the right words he knows that deep down no matter how badly he wants to not say this stuff, that it must be said.
Achebe makes sure that throughout his entire critical essay, he gets most of his opinions out about how he feels towards Conrad and his novella, Heart of Darkness. He begins by stating that he thinks that Conrad is one of the best at doing what he does, telling stories. He thinks that he has a very creative imagination and does somewhat of a good job writing what he wants. He also then goes on by calling Conrad a “thoroughgoing racist” (343). He expresses his strong feelings about how he looks at racism and stands up for his own race. He makes it known that he doesn’t exactly appreciate how Conrad portrayed the way African Americans were treated in this book which might be a reason why he discussed this in particular quote which I think was Achebe’s complete purpose of the critical essay, “to set Africa up as a foil to Europe” (337). He lastly makes in known that he doesn’t think Conrad used to the right words in his writing. He in a way challenges Conrad and his vocabulary. Achebe thinks that Conrad may have been to trickery with his word choice. When reading Achebe’s critical essay it seems as if he is saying that he could almost write Heart of Darkness better himself than Conrad did. While reading Achebe’s essay I don’t feel as if it should sways someone’s opinion that had planned on reading the novella because it is a biased essay. If you had read this essay you would need to know that Conrad was a Caucasian and Achebe was an African American and that the novella and the critical essay were written during two completely time periods. Achebe wrote his piece during a time when things that were taken place at that particular time may have influenced his final opinions about Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Armstrong 336- 49.
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