After reading Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" there was that one lingering question that I asked, our class asked, and many scholars have asked and that is, was Joseph Conrad/The Heart of Darkness Racist?
Well, nobody really knows. Conrad himself isn't around to answer our questions, but many have their opinions. Was he really racist or was he just pointing out social issues of his time? Maybe these issues of his time are what make Conrad have racist views. . . Who knows?
In my opinion, Conrad is racist- not because he is an awful person- but because of the time period that he was around, The description of African people in Heart of Darkness is horrible. They are seen and referred to as savages. The narrator says this about the natives in Africa, "It [Africa] was unearthly and the men [Africans] were-- no, they were not inhuman. Well, you know that was the worst of it-- this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They [Africans] howled and leaped and spun and made horrid faces but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity-- like yours-- the thought of your remote kinship with the wild and passionate uproar." From this description, you can see how questions could be brought up about racism and this is only one of the many many things that point toward that belief.
The title itself can also be seen as racist. "Heart of Darkness" is set in the "Heart of Africa". Why must Conrad describe the heart of Africa as "dark". This is somethiing that some point out to be racist from the get-go. Others argue that it is simply describing the setting of the story because it literally was dark. . . the natives just happen to be dark as well.
These are only two simple examples of possible racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". There are many more arguments on the matter out there and they are extremely interesting. As I said before, you can interpret the story however you'd like-- there can't be a wrong answer without Conrad around to tell us otherwise!
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