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Introduction
Much literature is devoted to Africa as a black continent, however, none of these pieces is discussed in such a way as Joseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness does. One of the most popular critiques of this work is Chinua Achebes paper titled An Image of Africa .
As for me, Chinua Achebes An Image of Africa is an unfair personal vision which was presented as the point of view of the whole mankind. Reading Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness it is possible to see the cases of prejudiced opinion about Africa and its citizens, however, this point of view is aimed at presenting the situation which was in the world.
The authors idea is to show how European civilized people see Africa. It does not mean that Joseph Conrad is a bloody racist (Achebe 11), it means that Joseph Conrad has noticed the problems which existed in Africa and tried to show them to the whole world.
Chinua Achebes Unfair Judgment of Joseph Conrads Novel
Reading Chinua Achebes An Image of Africa, it is obvious that the author blames Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness in racism and too negative attitude to Africa and its citizens.
Calling the author of a book a bloody racist (Achebe 11), the critic wants to convince the whole world that the ideas discussed in the novel are purely authors ones and nobody is able to share those points of view.
As for me, I absolutely disagree with this statement as Joseph Conrads novel is the vision of African continent by simple European people.
That rude description of Africa and sometimes prejudiced opinion about people who lived there is the reflection of the social opinion of Europeans about the continent.
Saying that Africa is the other world , the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where mans vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality (Achebe 32), Achebe does not mention the fact that this is not a personal point of view of Joseph Conrad, but the vision that was inherent almost to each civilized European.
It is not a secret that the vision of Africa in America and Europe was too prejudiced. Considering people there as uneducated, rude and only possible for hard work, civilized people usually contrasted Africans to themselves, therefore, Achebes blame personally to Conrad is groundless.
Reading the Caryl Phillips interview with Chinua Achebe aims at proving that Joseph Conrad is not a racist, the discussion opens many aspects which are not discussed in the book.
Chinua Achebe has perceived Conrads writing as a personal offence, he writes, Conrads presentation of me is my problem and I have a responsibility to deal with it& I dont come from a half-made society as your friend Naipaul would say.
Were not half-made people, were a very old people. Weve seen lots of problems in the past. Weve dealt with these problems in Africa, and were older than the problems. Drought, famine, disease, this is not the first time that were dealing with these things in Africa (Phillips).
This statement helps see the personal offence on Conrad and his writing. That is why the critique of this person is that sharp and negative. Some words in Conrads novel offended Achebe and he expressed his offence through the dissatisfaction with the author.
However, why should not Achebe present his dissatisfaction about the society who encouraged Conrad for writing such a story, why the social opinion does not offence Achebe? These questions have remained unanswered.
Colhoun is also sure that Achebes vision of Conrads Heart of Darkness is wrong due to incorrect judgment of the same idea. Vice versa, Colhoun is sure that Conrad and Achebe are on the same side.
Colhoun is sure that Conrad did not want to offence anyone and Achebes dissatisfaction with the language used in the novel is explained by the unawareness of the time when Conrad lived.
Colhoun is sure that Conrad did nothing offensive, he just used the language which was common during the time he wrote (Colhoun).
Therefore, Chinua Achebes negative reaction to Joseph Conrads is just personal vision of the issue explained by the negative personal relation of the critic and the arguments he uses are just unsupported personal opinions.
Joseph Conrad wrote about Africa as it was seen for others and no one can blame him in prejudiced personal attitude to Africans.
Conclusion
Joseph Conrad was not a racist, this was a person who wanted to present the life of African people as it was seen by Americans and Europeans. Personal vision of Joseph Conrad as a bloody racist (Achebe 11) is just a personal statement which is not supported with any reasonable proofs.
Achebes arguments are based on the personal vision of the written text. It is Achebe who may be blamed in appropriate study of the background of writing before making such statements.
Of course, some facts and expressions in Conrads writing are rather unpleasant, however, the author wanted to show the real situation, not the one we see right now.
It is important to perceive Conrad within the frames of the time he wrote his novel, but Achebe failed to do it.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. An Image of Africa: The Trouble with Nigeria. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.
Colhoun, Jason. An analysis of Achebes An Image of Africa: Racism in Heart of Darkness. The Imperial Archive Project. 2002. Web.
Phillips, Caryl. Out of Africa. The Guardian. 2003. Web.
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