Conrad & Achebe

After reading Achebe’s “An Image of Africa” I would have to agree with him in saying that Conard is racist. Although Conard is not writing in first person and writing it from the points of view of two people (Marlow and the person reading Marlow’s accounts), it still just not justify the way he described and spoke about the Africans encountered in the Congo. I have read “Heart of Darkness” before and what stuck out to me before also stuck out to me this time when reading the excerpt. Conard refers to the Africans and describes them in ways in which any other person would generally describe an animal. There are very few descriptions in which the Africans’ appearance or demeanor is described in ways that you would describe any other person. It is very clear that he separates them from him and anything that may be associated with him. When he was first arriving he describes “…a shady spot, where dark things seemed to stir feebly”. These “dark things” are referring to the Africans. Another instance where he dehumanizes the Africans is when he sees them walking together, “They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain…” Again this description of the men walking in a line sounds more like a description of chained animals. He describes them as walking “erect” as if that is something that must be pointed out and the black rags swinging like tails.

Throughout the story he described them in this way, referring to the men as ‘it’ or ‘the’ not as ‘he’ as if there were mere objects or animals; “…black shapes crouched…”, “…the eyes…a face near my hand…the black bones…” all of these instances show how Conrad essentially did not see the Africans as apart of him in any way possible. Even when he describes what seems to be a sign of care, when he gives the young boy a biscuit, can still be seen as viewing the young boy as animalistic because he used the word biscuit instead of cookie or cracker. Conrad also seems to have ‘counterparts’ as Achebe described for many characters in the novel. As soon as he described the African man getting a drink of water as a creature rising up to his hands and knees and, on all fours, going to the river to drink water by lapping it into his hands, he right away introduces the reader to a white man that he calls a “miracle”. The white male is referred to as almost superhuman while the African men are basically inhuman.

I believe that some people might not find Conrad to be racist because it is a fictional story told from a “a narrator behind a narrator”. Also they might argue that Conrad was just speaking as the Europeans spoke about the Africans in those times. However, I disagree because writing a fictional story in this way is not necessary, nor is it mandatory. If he can describe people in this way while making his main character, Marlow, so similar to himself then I agree with Achebe in saying that these are his true feelings and he is indeed a racist.