Achebe says that these comments come from the misguided notions that Europeans still have about Africa. He then talks about a school child who says that he was able to learn about the customs and superstitions of Africa from Things Fall Apart. Let us take a closer look at the essay.Īchebe begins by talking about an old man who wonders whether the Africans have a history and literature. Some of the violence also finds place in the Heart of Darkness. African Congo witnessed the most brutal form of colonisation under King Leopold of Belgium. Unlike Albert Schweitzer who described the Africans as his brothers (although only junior brothers), Conrad is ready only to acknowledge them as distant kinsmen. Although Conrad sympathises with the people of Africa colonised and enslaved by the Europeans he is disturbed by the fact that he has to acknowledge the humanity of the Africans. However the novel is actually based on the travel that Conrad took to Congo.Īchebe says that Conrad’s racism can be found in other writings where he mentions the first impressions he had of a person of colour and a European. The first narrator listens to the story of Marlow on the ship anchored on Thames. The author tries to remove himself from the ideology of the narrative by setting up two narrators between himself and the story. Marlow finds the presence of the river Congo and the people of Congo a reminder of the past of the British empire.
The Romans who came to England might have had the same feeling the Europeans have in Congo. When the Romans first came to England it was a heathen land forested and marshy. But Marlow is reminded of the past of Thames when he remembers Congo. Achebe says that the river Congo however has done no such service. The novel begins on the river Thames which is taking rest after centuries of service to humanity.
#WHAT ARE THE NOTES IN AN OLDER S NOTE VERSION FULL#
The novel is full of racist remarks and observations which Achebe points out in his essay. The novella is the description of a journey undertaken by a man named Marlow who wishes to recover a talented man named Kurtz who has adopted the lifestyle of the heathens in Africa. The Belgians entered the heart of Africa by sailing up the river Congo. According to Conrad the Heart of Darkness is Africa, the center of Africa – the Belgian Congo. Chinua Achebe discusses the Racism in Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness in this essay.
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