Chinua Achebe and Heart of Darkness

Chinua Achebe’s essay on racism in Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is highly critical of the author and describes him as a “thoroughgoing racist.” Achebe’s argument for this lies in Conrad’s lack of description for the natives, his use of the word nigger, and the emphasis on darkness. At the time this essay was composed, the world was going through turbulent times concerning racism. It could be that Achebe, like Conrad, was just a man of the times, at that time. Conrad wrote his novel during a time of imperialization, where newly colonized peoples weren’t considered as human as the colonizers. In some cases Conrad may have even been mocking the prejudice of the time. Achebe on the other hand, wrote his essay at a time when emotions were high and racism was a part of everyday life. In his essay, which is full of contradictions and misinterpretations, he damns the novel and suggests that it should be banned, while later on says that it’s a masterful work of fiction. Chinua Achebe, when asked later about his essay, says that “its not in his nature to talk about banning books.” No, Achebe missed the meaning behind Conrad’s words, Heart of Darkness shows the hypocrisy of the European monarchs who plundered Africa for resources under the pretenses of civilization, more specifically King Leopold II.
Achebe starts his argument by criticizing the relationship between the River Thames and the River Congo. He asserts that Conrad describes the Congo as the antithesis of Europe. His proof is that Conrad writes about the tranquility and civility of the Thames and how the Congo is a dark and barbaric world, more like the earth’s ancestral past. This theory about the Congo being a glimpse into the untouched, Edenic, world was common of the day. Many people also believed in the measuring of skulls to determine intelligence. Conrad’s depiction of the dark and mysterious Congo have more to do with the metaphor of darkness in itself, then him calling the natives barbarian heathens.
Achebe then gets to the heart of the matter, mind the pun, with blatantly stating that Conrad is a racist. He quickly skims over the part that every other critic of the novel has come to the conclusion that Conrad is indeed telling the truth about the atrocities that were occurring in the Congo under King Leopold. Achebe has a problem with Conrad’s use of the word nigger. To modern day people this is understandable, but one must understand that back then no one was politically correct, there was no NAACP and people called Africans what they had been called for many years.
Joseph Conrad was not a racist. The terms he used to describe the Africans, and the lack of development of any black character, only show that he was a man of his times and he was using them as a backdrop for the philosophical and existential struggles Marlow goes through. The purpose of this novel was to bring to light the hypocrisy of the European Imperialism. King Leopold II started his colony in the Congo under the pretense of philanthropy and civility. All the characters Marlow meets serve to reiterate this.
Kurtz is the most obvious of foils. He has gone to the jungle as a humanitarian but these ideals turn out to be just as decrepit as the man himself. Kurtz is the darkness that resides in the guiding light of civilization which King Leopold thrust upon the Congo. Marlow’s ascent upriver cuts through the fog and darkness until it reaches the Inner Station. Here he meets the Russian who babbles on until finally Kurtz himself appears. Marlow’s preconceived vision of Kurtz turns out to be wrong. Kurtz is described as being tall, even though his name means short in German, as he puts it, “the name was as true as everything else in life-and death.” Kurtz was sick and feeble, his body was failing him because it did not belong in the jungle but back in Europe as Marlow put it. The striking thing about Kurtz’s condition is that his voice was “profound and vibrating”, this could represent the European monarchy again.
Heart of Darkness is a tale that brings the reader along, up the snaking river to the heart of the jungle and the personification of human nature. Kurtz is a man that all of Europe helped in creating, he is their ideals about morality and civility. Marlow discovers that these are mere films over man’s true barbarity. Chinua Achebe misinterpreted the language used by Conrad, who was, in many cases, showing that the Africans were more civilized then their European counterparts. This can be seen during the attack on the boat when the “cannibals” were perfectly calm while the pilgrims were shooting about blindly, and it is only when this man picks up the rifle and shoots wildly that he gets killed by a “barbaric weapon. Joseph Conrad was not a racist, he was a masterful writer who integrated many layers of symbols in his story to bring to light the true evil or darkness that resided in the hearts of supposedly civilized men.