Discuss your views on the racism inherent (or not) in Conrad's novella. What implications does this have for reading, teaching, and its place in the canon?
The Heart of Darkness was written during a very racist time period in our history. Therefore, whether Conrad was trying to be racist or not I believe that his prospective in this in particular novel is not racist. While some may argue that the novel constantly makes racist remarks and attacks the African American race they have to keep in mind the time period in which the book was written.
However, as I said in my comment I do believe that Conrad's views of African Americans may have had something to do with what he was writing. But then again almost everyone had the same opinion as he did back when the novel was written. So, as many people may think The Heart of Darkness is racist today they people who read the novel back when it was first written more than likely did not.
For this novel to be racist Conrad's main purpose of this novel would have to have been to put down the African Americans or to hurt them, make them feel lesser of themselves. But, the purpose I believe of The Heart of Darkness is to just show how people of that time period felt.
I disagree wholeheartedly with the point made. It doesn't matter what time period it was written, Heart of Darkness is still a racist piece of literature. Before the Civil Rights Movement (and during and even after), attitudes in the south toward African Americans were extremely degrading. Is this permissible simply because it was the norm at the time? The idea of imperialism, I believe, is inherently racist. It stems from an ethnocentric point of view that we, having the best culture, must reform the uncivilized natives of other countries. Imperialism almost requires a lesser view of other cultures. Conrad dehumanizes the African Americans, simply viewing them as "savages." There is no doubt in my mind that this is a racist view, regardless of the period in which it was written.
ReplyDeleteI’d have to agree with Elizabeth in this. Though I understand the point that you are making about the culture of the time accepting this kind of perspective as a whole, I don’t think I can go into this issue thinking that the concept of racism depends solely on whether or not people in the culture were willing to argue the point or feel offended about it. I see racism as having the element of ethnocentrism and a feeling of superiority to accompany it. This book definitely portrays the African people as being uncivilized and primal. Though he usually portrays the pilgrims in a more negative tone than he does the Africans he still displays the Africans as uncivilized and lesser in a way.
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