Critical Response: Achebe’s Article on Heart of Darkness
Chinua Achebe, a professor of African Literature at the University of Massachusetts, wrote the critical article “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Achebe does not hold back in his article; he says exactly what he wants to say about Heart of Darkness and about Joseph Conrad as a person and as an author. Achebe points out many of the problems with Conrad’s novel, such as the fact that “Western psychology [has the need] to set Africa up as a foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in comparison with which Europe’s own state of spiritual grace will be manifest” (337). He also says that Joseph Conrad is “a thoroughgoing racist” and that “this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked” (343). Achebe feels that everyone knows that Conrad is racist, but that he is the only one who has ever commented on the fact that his entire novella is filled with racist comments. Achebe also questions whether or not Heart of Darkness can be considered a “great work of art” because it “celebrates” the “dehumanization of Africa and Africans” (344). His answer: “No, it cannot” (344). Although Achebe correctly points out the racism in Joseph Conrad’s novel, he shifts his attack from the novel to the writer and he anachronistically imposes contemporary values on a novel almost 100 years old.
The title of Achebe’s article is “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” and therefore, he should criticize the racism in the story as opposed to Joseph Conrad being a racist author. Achebe claims that Conrad is racist because of the things that he says in his novella and, because of that, we should not study the book. In “Should We Read “Heart of Darkness?” J. Hillis Miller claims “that ‘“Heart of Darkness”’ is a literary work, not history, autobiography, travel writing, journalism, or other journal” (465). Miller disagrees with Achebe on the issue of studying and reading the novella. Miller says that we can and should read the novella because it is a great literary work and not a work of personal accounts and feelings. He says that even though there are racist comments, one should look past that and read the novella for what it is-a literary work and not a personal journal. Achebe feels that because Conrad “depersonalizes a portion of the human race” and writes as if it were a personal account, we should not consider this novella a great work of art. Achebe is not basing his critique on the racism in the novel; he is solely basing it on the author.
Achebe also brings up arguments that would not have applied to the era in which Joseph Conrad wrote the novella. All of Achebe’s arguments are influenced by what he had grown up learning and therefore, Achebe should know that the comments Conrad makes are also influenced by what he grew up learning. Achebe even says that “it was certainly not [Conrad’s] fault that he lived his life at a time when the reputation of the black man was at a particularly low level” (344). Even though he said that, he goes back to say “even after due allowances have been made for all the influences of contemporary prejudice on his sensibility there remains still in Conrad’s attitude a residue of antipathy to black people” (344). Achebe agrees that Conrad’s prejudice is not entirely his fault, but he also feels that even if you take all the different factors into account, Conrad is still a racist at heart. Chinua Achebe is an African-American man who is obviously offended by the words written in Conrad’s novella. The way Achebe critiques is based on these facts and it is hard for him to write a fair, unbiased critical article when this novella clearly touches so close to home.
Chinua Achebe also reduces the novella Heart of Darkness to only two sentences. Achebe says, “his method amounts to no more than a steady, ponderous, fake-ritualistic repetition of two antithetical sentences, one about silence and the other about frenzy” (338). He even gives specific examples to back up this claim. Achebe said, “We can inspect samples of this on pages 34 and 35 of the present edition: a) It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention and b) The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy” (338). He is being completely unfair in his decision to say that Heart of Darkness is basically only two sentences and nothing more. Achebe is also contradicting himself. He said earlier in the article that Conrad “is undoubtably one of the great stylists of modern fiction and a good story-teller into the bargain” (337). Achebe is being unclear in what his opinion is about Conrad as an author. He says that Conrad is a great stylist, but then goes on to say that the novella is written in only two sentences.
I also didn’t like the fact that he wrote so harshly about the novella when he has so much power in the literature world. The review that he gives about a work carries a lot of weight and I feel that he takes advantage of that. Not only did he say that Heart of Darkness can not be considered a great work of art, but he goes on further to say that it is an “offensive and deplorable book” (345). Achebe needs to realize the power in his words and choose what he says carefully because it can influence the way other people read and judge this book. His critique might also cause people not to read it because of the judgements he has passed on the novella. This is unfair to the people who have decided not to read it based on his critique because they are missing out on the great literature of Joseph Conrad. People should read this book and make their own judgements without being influenced by Achebe’s harsh criticism.
Although I did not agree with everything written in Chinua Achebe’s article, I did like the fact that he used context from the book. Throughout the entire article, he uses quotes and excerpts from the novella to back up his main points. He quotes Conrad when he said, “Herein lies the meaning of Heart of Darkness and the fascination it holds over the Western mind: ‘What thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity-like yours...Ugly” (339). He lets the reader know what he thinks the main point of the novella is and backs up his thinking with context from the story. Achebe says that the main point is that the western people didn’t want to think that the way they lived and acted was like that of the natives, but it was. The western humanity and the native humanity were both “ugly”.
Achebe also writes with pathos and emotions. He has so much passion in his writing that you can tell that he really cares about what he is saying. He is also very blunt with what he has to say. He says, “The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” (343). He feels strongly about this and he does not sugar coat it for his readers. He also feels that he is the only one who comments on the racism that Joseph Conrad shows in his novella Heart of Darkness. Achebe said, “[the] exploration of the minds of the European characters is penetrating and full of insight. But that has been more than fully discussed in the last fifty years. His obvious racism has, however, not been addressed. And it is high time it was!” (344). He knows that Conrad is racist and it is frustrating to him that no one has even bothered to discuss this issue. His use of the exclamation point only further shows how strongly he feels about Conrad being racist and about the fact that no body cares enough to address this fact.
Although Achebe says harsh things about Joseph Conrad and of Heart of Darkness, he also does say a few good things about them. Achebe says that “Conrad...is undoubtably one of the great stylists of modern fiction...His contribution therefore falls automatically into a different class-permanent literature- read and taught and constantly evaluated by serious academics” (337). Achebe knows of the racism in the book, yet he still considers Conrad to be one of the greatest authors. He also says that because of the complex writing of Joseph Conrad that “[he] is a dream for psychoanalytic critics” (345). Achebe is acknowledging the fact that Conrad is an excellent writer and that he can and should be studied and analyzed. Achebe found not only the bad things in Heart of Darkness and in Joseph Conrad, but he also managed to find some good in both.
I think that is important for people to read critical reviews of literature. I think that it helps get a better understanding of not only the book, but the author as well. It is important to know as much as you can about the things that you read so that can form new opinions about the what you read or make your old opinions that much stronger. Reading these types of articles will also give you more things to things to think about so you can participate in a discussion of a the book. I also think that it is important to read opposing views of the same issue on the book. It might also give you another view point of the material. If you are a female, it might be good to read an article written my a man, or maybe you should read one written by someone of a different race or age. Doing so can help broaden your horizons. Reading this specific article helped me to better understand the view point of an African American reading Heart of Darkness. Chinua Achebe had picked up on the little things that were racist that I never would have picked up on.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Armstrong 336-49.
Armstrong, Paul B, ed. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
Miller, J.Hillis. “Should We Read ‘Heart of Darkness’?” Armstrong 463-74.
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