While I believe that Achebe made many solid points showing racism in Heart of Darkness, I'm not sure if all parties involved (the book, Conrad, and society) intended on spreading it. It is also not fair to ignore some of the positive intentions Conrad might have had when writing the book. I came to these conclusions after discussing the motifs and reading Marion Brady's Whited Sepulcher article.
Starting from the basics, my first reason to believe Conrad did not consciously intend on spreading racism with his book is that Marlow is clearly disgusted with what he sees going on in Africa. In addition, the characters that practice racism or ignorance are not exactly looked at with admiration by Marlow. I find it hard to believe that Conrad supported what was going on in the Ivory Coast because of this.
Futhermore, the possible themes our class discussed completely go against the idea that Conrad is racist. Why else would he make symbols representing the hypocrisy of Europe and compare his home city to a whited sepulcher? Is it just me or is this article just making the book even more confusing than it has to be?!
I agree with Jimmy's point of view. I think when someone is reading a piece of literature, he/she must look at the text as a whole. The text will loose it's intended meaning if one seperates it into parts and analyze it that way. What is more important is what the author trying to demonstrate through his work instead of how the text might be interpreted if we look it from an angle that's not originally included in the text.
Posted by: Hao G. | October 24, 2008 at 10:30 PM