Achebes Misinterpretation of Conrads Heart of Darkness...

Achebes Misinterpretation of Heart of Darkness nbsp; Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness is heralded by many as a classic, but over the years has presented many problems of interpretation. One of the most notable misinterpretations is Chinua Achebes An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness. In it, Achebe points to various passages in the book that supposedly prove that Conrad and his book are racist, and that the book should be cast out of the canon of classic literature. This is a false and inaccurate interpretation, and Achebes objectivity is hindered by his anti-western bias. nbsp; From the beginning, Achebe brazenly assumes that Conrads narrator, Marlow, is simply a mouthpiece for Conrads ideas. No more†¦show more content†¦It is important to distinguish between Conrad and Marlow, and at the very least Achebe could have offered some justification for his assumption that Conrad and Marlow are, in fact, one in the same. The passage,he neglects to hint, clearly and adequately, at an alternative frame of reference by which may we may wish to judge the actions and opinions of his characters. This defense for assuming Marlow reflects Conrads ideas is flimsy at best. Conrad is an artist; by writing a novel, he is creating art, and he is under no responsibility to cater to anyones criteria. While Heart of Darkness may indeed have moral implications, it is not Conrads duty to present solutions to problems he points to in his novel. Simply put, the novelist can do anything he wants. nbsp; Achebe goes uses many passages of Conrads text to contrive racist meanings out of them: nbsp; And the intimate profundity of that look he gave me when he received his hurt remains to this day in my memory--like a claim of distant kinship affirmed in a supreme moment. He uses this kinship passage and ties to another, totally unrelated one:the thought of their humanity--like yours...ugly. He uses this to affirm that an African laying claim to a kinship with the white man is intolerable because the thought of these barbaric creatures sharing humanity with Europeans is ugly. This is preposterous; Achebe is manipulating Conrads words and twistingShow MoreRelated Essay on Images of Africans in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness1264 Words   |  6 Pages Images of Africans in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darknessnbsp;nbsp; In my reading of Things Fall Apart, it has better informed me of a culture that I did not know of before, and by reading it helped correct some broad misconceptions that I previously held of the people and their cultures of Africa. Reading the novel also gave me another perspective on the effects of imperialism/colonialism by the Europeans on the Africans. I believe Achebe has succeeded in enabling the West an opportunity