Response to Achebe

“There was a lamp in there—light, don’t you know—and outside it was so beastly, beastly dark. I went no more near the remarkable man…The voice was gone. What else had been there? But I am of course aware that next day the pilgrims buried something in a muddy hole…And then they very nearly buried me”(Conrad 58).

This quote takes place directly after Kurtz’s death. Joseph Conrad writes about the “beastly, beastly dark” (58), emphasizing the savage nature of the Congo. Conrad also prescribes

that the pilgrims “buried something in a muddy hole…And then they nearly buried me” (58).Conrad uses Marlow to annotate his idea that no civilized man should be buried in such a dirty place. Marlow escapes the filth and returns home to “dream the nightmare out to the end” (Conrad 58). The nightmare for Marlow is knowing “The horror” (Conrad 58). Conrad uses Kurtz as a “Superman.” Kurtz was beyond burial. He was the voice. That voice is how people remember Kurtz. That powerful voice influenced many people in the story and our natural world. Kurtz’s voice is one of superiority. Yet, in the end, he weakly said “The horror! The horror!” (Conrad 58), for the voice was the same as the savage!

Conrad’s insistence to make Africa a foil of Europe is one of the reasons that Chitiua Achebe believes “that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” (21). The classic counter-argument against Achebe is, “The thought of their humanity—like yours…ugly.” (Conrad 30), suggests that both the white man and the black man are savages in heart. Which is

interpreted as Conrad’s against colonialism. This implies that all people have this Heart of Darkness but need the “beastly, beastly dark” (58) to release it. From Achebe’s perspective, this is inaccurate because it presupposes that Africa is savage and a place of darkness. It is ignorant and racist to believe that people are lesser because of the colour of their skin and the customs of their culture.

But Conrad signifies that people not in accord with the European conception of society are lesser. But this only means that Conrad is ignorant of their culture and needs to learn instead of judge. In Achebe’s view, Conrad is no expert in the culture of the so-called pilgrim, even if he has first-hand experience in the Congo.

Achebe’s understanding encourages people to look at the Heart of Darkness more critically. Many pieces of literature misuse and misrepresent African culture. A black-and-white view never works in society since many different lifestyles exist. You cannot accurately judge a culture as more excellent simply because you live in it, nor can you judge it as less because you trudged through it.

You need to dig deep into the culture of both sides to find the truth. But I also believe that calling Conrad, a “thoroughgoing racist” (Achebe 21), is not going to solve the problem. Especially since Conrad is dead, and we cannot directly ask him about his opinions. We can only interpret his work. Achebe’s “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” makes our interpretations more critical. It is the job of an intellectual to decipher meaning and bring understanding to texts.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” The Massachusetts Review, Accessed 28 Oct. 2023. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Project Gutenberg Ebook, Accessed 28 Oct. 2023.