CONTROVERSY OVER HEART OF DARKNESS

By: Jacob Corson, Andrea Sanford, Ella Simcox, Reagan West

11 April 2015

HEART OF DARKNESS

• Author: Joseph Conrad

• Published: 1902

• Type of Literature: Novella

• Genre: frame story, colonial literature, quest literature

• Setting: 1. a ship in England

(1899)2. European City and

Belgian Congo in Africa (early/mid 1890’s)

(The Telegraph)

(Joseph Conrad)

CONTROVERSY•Critics started making a deeper analysis on the book

•Racism became noticed

•Many suggested the book de-humanized Africans

•The language towards the people

•Deteriorated morals of the white men

•Was racism just in the characters or was it Conrad's view?

(Joseph Conrad)

RACISMAfricans labeled as…

•Enemies•Criminals•Rebels•Savages•Uncivilized •Not humans

• Customs are seen as foolish

• African language is “satanic litany”

• Africans are viewed as unequal

•Master/slave relationship

(Shmoop Editorial Team)

CONNECTION TO NOVELLAChapter 1 Quote:

“'What a row the brute makes!' said the indefatigable man with the moustaches, appearing near us. 'Serve him right. Transgression—punishment—bang! Pitiless, pitiless. That's the only way. This will prevent all conflagrations for the future”

(Journal Entry Heart of Darkness)

(Shmoop Editorial Team)

CONNECTION TO NOVELLAChapter 2 Quote:

"He [Kurtz] began with the argument that we whites… 'must necessarily appear to them in the nature of supernatural beings - we approach them with the might of a deity,‘...From that point he soared and took me with him. The peroration was magnificent, though difficult to remember, you know. It gave me the notion of an exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence. It made me tingle with enthusiasm“

(Shmoop Editorial Team)

CONNECTION TO NOVELLAChapter 3 Quote:

"I had no idea of the conditions, he [the harlequin] said: these heads were the heads of rebels. I shocked him excessively by laughing. Rebels! What would be the next definition I was to hear? There had been enemies, criminals, workers—and these were rebels. Those rebellious headslooked very subdued to me on their sticks" (Category Archives: Heart of

Darkness)(Shmoop Editorial Team)

ACCEPTANCE INTO CONTROVERSY

First Published in 1902…•widely accepted

•Considered a masterpiece

•An adventure

•Race-thinking was considered normal

•Racism seemed natural=critics didn’t think of it

(Heart of Darkness)

ACCEPTANCE INTO CONTROVERSY(CONTINUED)

Later in 1977…

•Chinua Achebe criticized the novella for being racist (1975)

•Remarks it as offensive & inappropriate

•Gets people thinking

•People start considering racism

•Blacks have many of the same rights/freedoms by this time

(Literary Arts)

(Heart of Darkness)

REACTIONBook banned in some areas…

•Language

•Violence

•Racism

•Has been banned in Germany, Poland, USSR, and parts of America

•Many critics went against the novella

(Heart of Darkness)

CONNECTION TO TODAYIf Heart of Darkness was published today…• Racism still exists around the world & is an alive issue

• Everyone seen as equal in America

• The book would promote racism & therefore would get a lot of criticism

• Very little support

•Would still interest readers

• a debated topic

(Book Cover Redesign for Heart of Darkness)

(Shmoop Editorial Team)

WORKS CITED

"Book Cover Redesign for Heart of Darkness." Concept Feedback RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.conceptfeedback.com/concept-page/5465/book-cover-redesign-for-heart-of-darkness/>.

"Category Archives: Heart of Darkness." N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <https://whybehumansp13.wordpress.com/category/heart-of-darkness/>.

"Heart of Darkness." - Modernism Lab Essays. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/Heart_of_Darkness>.

"Joseph Conrad." Heart of Darkness. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/nature/conrad.htm>.

WORKS CITED(CONTINUED)

"Journal Entry Heart of Darkness." Lindsay Ross. N.p., 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <https://lindsaybrookeross.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/journal-entry-heart-of-

darkness/>.

"Literary Arts." Literary Arts. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.literary-arts.org/archive/chinua-achebe/>.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Heart of Darkness Race Quotes." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.shmoop.com/heart-of-darkness/race-quotes-6.html>.

" The Telegraph." Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/7922158/Poland- quotes-the-world-in-words.html?image=1>.