Chinua Achebe

I quite enjoyed this article simply for the passion that Achebe puts into it. He says what he means and his dislike for both Conrad and his Heart of Darkness are quite clear. Most intellectuals hide behind words. They dance around the subject hinting, but not out right saying. It was refreshing that Achebe just came out with his opinion. I chuckled quite a few times during his article, the way Achebe uses sarcasm is quite brilliant. Achebe made some very interesting and persuasive points about, not only Conrad, but society as a whole. He spoke passionately of the unfair rap the continent of Africa gets from people and when you think about it, its quite true. Africa is sort of like the world’s scapegoat. The world looks at Africa and says look at how far we have come, look how barbaric they are. Its quite true and equally sad when you think about it, because when thought about simply what country doesn’t pity Africa? My favorite part of the entire article however is when Achebe turns the title of Conrad’s own book against him. Achebe says “Unfortunately his heart of darkness plagues us still”. Achebe is referring to the contents of Conrad’s heart. All the hate that lives within him for people who are different, and all the racism that Achebe so strongly believes flows through his veins. Achebe sees Conrad simply as a racist man who has no excuses. I love the pun subtle pun that Achebe uses to gt his point across. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is supposed to be about his own experiences on a trip along he Congo. Maybe when Conrad wrote his book he knew that the “heart of darkness” was his own. Maybe Conrad was referring to Marlow’s heart throughout the book and not the continent of Africa and it’s natives as we have all assumed. Or perhaps Achebe has it wrong and Conrad wrote the book about the “heart of darkness” in all people. Perhaps Conrad had the same views as Achebe, he just went the round about way of saying them.