Heart of Darkness
...rs. This reflection upon the black race shows them as being soulless and primitive thus Marlow’s portrayal of the African culture is itself an attack upon change and difference. The story is viewed as a racist account as Conrad’s African characters rarely speak and have little or no individual identities according to Marlow’s observation. He describes the natives as “others” who are nothing but a “grain of sand in a black Sahara”. This imagery being presented highlights England’s influence on Marlow’s belief and value system, that is, all other races are inferior to the English. Thus Marlow clearly shares the same racial ideologies that are evident in his society and hence it has shaped his cultural identity. As a result modern readers can identify Marlow’s damaged representation of the African culture and can challenge his views on marginalising blacks and colonising foreign places. In addition to first person point of view, Conrad makes use of environmental settings to show how the land relates to its people. The novella written during the turn of the 19th century compares the Thames river existent in England against the Congo found in Africa in a bid to expose the savagery present within the African culture. The text begins by introducing the “venerable stream” situated next to “the greatest town on earth”. As Marlow wonders in awe he describes the Thames as a “tranquil” waterway leading to the “utmost ends of the earth”. This vivid imagery being presented allows readers to interpret the Thames to be a river of class and a representation of a well mannered civilised culture. The “old river” represents all that is good about the British civilisation identifying that “the light came out of this river”. Conrad at this point makes it blatantly obvious that the Europeans are the dominant race. As the text progresses we are slowly introduced to “primeval ooze” that is Africa. Marlow describes the coast of Africa to be an “inhabited devastation” as if to still “be in the making”. It is this portrayal that identifies the marginalisation of the whole country showing it to be “rotting in mud” and whose waters “thickened into slime”. This description of the country reflects onto its inhabitants. In this case the black people are associated with their revolting land so to speak and as a result are perceived to be savage and barbaric as they “had no excuse being there”. The comparison between the Thames and the Congo evidently shows the dominance that Europeans possess due to their class, stature and overall superiority. Africa in the text is associated with the wilderness. Having no boundaries and laws to maintain a sense of structure, Conrad connects the Africans with evil/darkness and outlines the strength needed when “breathing dead hippo” and not being contaminated. This unconscious attack upon the African culture is challenged by modern readers as a result of a change in the belief and value system. Readers are able to identify the bias, racist view being presented of coloured people and their country due to their skin complexion and way of life. Thus to conclude readers associate this hatred of blacks with colonisation and denounce both processes with conviction. To add to environmental setting comparisons and the use of first person point of view, Conrad employs language and actions in an unconscious attempt to convey the primal way in which the African culture functions. Conrad considers the African people to be inferior doomed people. The African natives, victims of Belgian exploitation, are described as “shapes, shadows”, and “bundles of acute angles”. This furthers the dehumanising effect that is created by colonialist rule. Marlow never grants the black folk human status thus enhancing the idea that they have no soul. The text continues to describe the blacks in body parts having the “white of their eyeballs glisten” whilst their figures are described as being “shadows of disease and starvation”. Conrad displays a pathetic tone but modern readers can identify the racism being directed towards these “bundles of acute angles”. Conrad attempts to take it a step further by describing their overall existence ...