Heart Of Darkness - Ignorance And Racism
Joseph Conrad develops themes of personal power, individual responsibility, and social justice in his book Heart of Darkness. His book has all the trappings of the conventional adventure tale - mystery, exotic setting, escape, suspense, unexpected attack. Chinua Achebe concluded, "Conrad, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the great stylists of modern fiction and a good story-teller into the bargain" (Achebe 252). Yet, despite Conrad's great story telling, he has also been viewed as a racist by some of his critics. Achebe, Singh, and Sarvan, although their criticisim differ, are a few to name.
Normal readers usually are good at detecting racism in a book. Achebe acknowledges Conrad ...
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to it. Conrad probably would have been criticized as being soft hearted rather than a racist back in his time.
Conrad constantly referred to the natives, in his book, as black savages, niggers, brutes, and "them", displaying ignorance toward the African history and racism towards the African people. Conrad wrote, "Black figures strolled out listlessly... the beaten nigger groaned somewhere" (Conrad 28). "They passed me with six inches, without a glance, with the complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages" (Conrad 19). Achebe, also, detected Conrad's frequent use of unorthodox name calling, "Certainly Conrad had a problem with niggers. His in ordinate love of that word itself should be of interest to psychoanalysts" (Achebe 258).
Conrad uses Marlow, the main character in the book, as a narrator so he himself can enter the story and tell it through his own philosophical mind. Conrad used "double speak" throughout his book. Upon arriving at the first station, Marlow ...
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Heart Of Darkness - Ignorance And Racism. (2007, August 18). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness-Ignorance-And-Racism/69765
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"Heart Of Darkness - Ignorance And Racism." Essayworld.com. August 18, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness-Ignorance-And-Racism/69765.
"Heart Of Darkness - Ignorance And Racism." Essayworld.com. August 18, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Heart-Of-Darkness-Ignorance-And-Racism/69765.
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