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Denise Grover

Mrs. Alampi-Cortez

Critical Analysis

4 January 2013

Was Joseph Conrad a Raciest?

It can be said that Joseph Conrad has included racism within his literature, however there

are arguments both for and against this. Heart of Darkness is a novella telling a story of a man's

journey through Africa. Whilst traveling the protagonist comes in contact with many different

individuals some native to Africa, while others are from varying European countries. Marlow

and his fellow Europeans are civilizing the natives, or that is what they believe their goal was.

While reading this novella its important to remember it was written within the late 19 th/early 20th

century, and that attitudes and language towards the native peoples were different to what they

are now.

There are some scenes in the novella which can clearly be interpreted as being overtly

racist. For example at the first station the building goes up in flames and the incident is blamed

on the native when it is apparent it is not his fault (Conrad 20). The black man is beaten horribly

as a result. I believe rather than this showing Conrad as being racist it exemplifies how people

were treated at the time; with the intention for the audience to feel sympathy with the native

character.

The way the natives talk is also very important as it changes from savage to

civilized as the novel progresses; showing the growth of the protagonist and the acceptance of

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the natives culture. In the beginning none of the natives are doing anything more than screaming

and grunting, but the Cannibals use words, even if they may be saying they want to eat other

Africans (Achebe 3). This is used to show the authors viewpoint that the two races can be

reconciled, and his intention through character development and the progression of the storyline

to bring the audience in line with his view

Although there is verbal racism this does not necessarily mean there is a physical racism

due to the fact that some characters use these terms but treat the native characters fairly. Conrad

wrote himself into his novel as Marlow. Marlow never shows any ill will towards the natives and

there are other characters in the story that actually want to help the Africans(Achebe 4). For

example the Manager and the Nephew, both of which truly believe they are there to help the

natives (Conrad 27). Conrad may be using any racism in the novel for dramatic effect to

emphasize the ill will Europeans have toward the natives of Africa. It is likely it could be a sign

of the times, and though people are labeled in such ways it doesn't mean they are thought of or

treated differently. Conrad values work above race because he repeats the ideas and the

positivity of work more than he mentions skin color (Conrad 24).

Conrad uses other characters to point out the positive qualities in Marlow. Kurtz is an

example of this, in the beginning you are given the impression that Kurtz and Marlow are similar

(Conrad 16). Though as the novel progresses the truth about Kurtz comes out, he is a Crazy frail

man who is close to death and sees the wrongs he as done at this point (Conrad 62). In the end

Marlow and Kurtz are very different as Marlow makes it out sane enough to tell the tale of horror

he lived through. This is a microcosm illustrated between the traditional thinkers who believe

that black people were inferior, to the people like Marlow , and Conrad , who came from the

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same roots but treated Africans more fairly. This scenario shows that Conrad believes that the

time of the black oppressors is ending and that in the future natives will be treated more fairly.

Some critics such as Achebe suggest that Conrad uses an abundance of racist words and

believes that this shows he is racist. When Conrad is describing the natives he can be very

detailed. He points out the skin color often; almost to a point where its awkward (Achebe 5).

Repetition of some racist terms throughout the work can be seen as an ironic way to emphasize

the fact that they are incorrect. The language he is using may also be characteristic of the society

he is in rather than being directly racist.

In conclusion we have found out that Conrad did not have racist intentions when writing

this novella.The racism we see in the novel is largely down to two reasons. Firstly, the terms

used which may be seen as racist now but at the time were socially acceptable. Secondly, the

racism was used for dramatic effect to place emphasis on what was being done was morally

wrong. Overall critics such as Achebe was wrong and misinterpreted Conrads style, which i

believe was an effective way of putting his point across that he believed the native people are not

inferior.