Heart Of Darkness (Ignorance And Racism) Essay, Research Paper

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 camouflaged racism remarks, saying, “But Conrad chose his subject

well – one which was guaranteed not to put him in conflict with psychological pre-

disposition…” (Achebe, 253). Having gone back and rereading Heart of Darkness, but

this time reading between the lines, I have discovered some racism Conrad felt toward the

natives that I had not discovered the first time I read the book. Racism is portrayed in

Conrad’s book, but one must acknowledge that back in the eighteen hundreds society

conformed 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 commented what

he observed. “They were dying slowly – it was very clear. They were not enemies, they

were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease

and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloom” (Conrad 20). Marlow felt pity

toward the natives, yet when he met the station’s book keeper he changed his views of the

natives. “Moreover I respected the fellow. Yes. I respected his collars, his vast cuffs, his

brushed hair. His appearance was certainly great demoralization of the land he kept up his

appearance” (Conrad 21). Marlow praised the book keeper as if he felt it’s the natives’

fault for living in such waste. the bureaucracy only cared about how he looked and felt.

The bookeeper did not care for the natives who were suffering less than fifty feet from

him. He stated the natives weren’t criminals but were being treated as if they were, but at

the same time he respected the book keeper on his looks instead of despising him for his

indifference. Conrad considered the Africans inferior and doomed people.

Frances B. Singh, author of The Colonialistic Bias of Heart of Darkness said “The

African natives, victims of Belgian exploitation, are described as ’shapes,’ ’shadows,’ and

‘bundles of acute angles,’ so as to show the dehumanizing effect of colonialist rule on the

ruled” (269-270). Another similar incident of “double speak” appeared on the death of

Marlow’s helmsman. Marlow respected the helmsman, yet when the native’s blood poured

into Marlow’s shoes, “To tell you the truth, I was morbidity anxious to change my shoes

and socks” (Conrad 47). How can someone respect yet feel disgusted towards someone?

Singh looks into this question by stating, “The reason of course, is because he (Marlow)

never completely grants them (natives) human status: at the best they are a species of

superior hyena” (Singh 273).

As I have mentioned before, Conrad was not only racist but also ignorant. He

would often mix ignorance with racism when he described the natives. “They howled and

leaped and spun and made horrid faces, but what thrilled you was just the thought of their

humanity – like yours – the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate

uproar. Ugly” (Conrad 35). “The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us,

welcoming us – who could tell?” (Conrad 37). The end result of Conrad’s ignorance of not

knowing the behavior of African people concluded his division of the social world into

two separate categories: “us,” the Europeans, and “them,” the Africans. Achebe

concludes Conrad’s ignorance towards the natives by stating, “Heart of Darkness projects

the image of Africa as ‘the other world,’… a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and

ferment are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality” (252).

“Heart of Darkness was written, consciously or unconsciously, from a colonialistic

point of view” (Singh 278). Conrad didn’t write his book to the extreme of racism.

Overall, the natives appeared better humans than the Europeans in Heart of Darkness.

Conrad’s ignorance led to his conformity to racism. His ignorance of not completely

“granting the natives human status” leads him to social categorization. C. P. Sarvan wrote

in his criticism, quoting Achebe, “Racism and the Heart of Darkness,” “Conrad sets up

Africa ‘as a foil to Europe, a place of negations… in comparison with which Europe’s own

state of spiritual grace will be manifest.’ Africa is ‘the other world,’…” (281).

Achebe, Chinua [An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness.]

Heart of Darkness. By Joseph Conrad 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New

York: Norton Critical 1988.

Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York:

Norton Critical, 1988.

Sarvan, C. P. [Racism and the Heart of Darkness.] Heart of Darkness. By

Joseph Conrad 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton Critical 1988.

Singh, Frances B. [The Colonialistic Bias of Heart of Darkness.] Heart of

Darkness. By Joseph Conrad 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. New York: Norton

Critical 1988.