Read the excerpt from "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.”
In my original conception of this essay I had thought to conclude it nicely on an appropriately positive note in which I would suggest from my privileged position in African and Western cultures some advantages the West might derive from Africa once it rid its mind of old prejudices and began to look at Africa not through a haze of distortions and cheap mystifications but quite simply as a continent of people—not angels, but not rudimentary souls either—just people, often highly gifted people and often strikingly successful in their enterprise with life and society.
Read the excerpt from Heart of Darkness.
And between whiles I had to look after the savage who was fireman. He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler. He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs. A few months of training had done for that really fine chap.
How are the writers’ views different in these excerpts?
Conrad presents all Africans as mechanically gifted, while Achebe does not.
Achebe presents Africans as prejudiced, while Conrad presents them as unbiased.
Conrad values those who excel, while Achebe values only everyday people.
Achebe understands Africans as complex people, while Conrad presents them as caricatures.
