Heart of Darkness 3

                Whether or not Joseph Conrad was racist has long been disputed. Analysts have gone back and forth on whether or not he is being intentionally degrading to the African people or if readers are just putting too much meaning behind his words. As far as this passage goes, all signs point towards racist. Conrad is blatantly being discriminatory. He speaks with an insufferably condescending nature that is practically painful to read. He writes, “What thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity- like yours…Ugly” (105). Chinua Achebe actually brings up this point multiple times in his paper “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” because it is so ridiculous that it is almost laughable. Simply, the thought of their humanity is ugly to Conrad. He has no interest in simply acknowledging the simple scientific fact that they are indeed human. They are just as human as he is or any other white male.  Conrad’s inability to even say a nice word about these people is even more deplorable. In talking about one of the African men working diligently on the boat, he describes the event to be “as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat” (106). He goes on to say that “[the man] was useful because he had been instructed” (106-7). That little subordinating conjunction solidifies the meaning of this statement. The African man could not be simply useful; he was only useful because of the white man who had taught him. All the African people can be are subordinates. They do not have the ability to stand alone and actually accomplish anything because they are completely barbaric as far as Conrad is concerned. Of course, there is the argument that Conrad is just a repercussion of the time period. These are not his opinions but the opinions of the world. However, the world did not write this book. Conrad did, and the language he used and the descriptions he made go far beyond elementary racism.