Tragedy in Colonial Africa by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of...

Darkness. It pervades every corner of this world, casting literal and metaphorical shadow over everything. Creeping in the hearts of humans, drifting across the night sky, under the bed, darkness is a terrifying, yet quintessential concept in our human mentality. And, as such, it presents itself in cultures and stories around the world to explain the unknown and the terrifying. Through the presentation of the struggle with internal and external â€Å"darkness,† both Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart draw upon contrasting viewpoints and cultures, as well as an ironic play of â€Å"darkness† between the Europeans and the Africans, to construe the tragedy unfolding in Colonial Africa. To begin comparing and†¦show more content†¦Europeans could not see the light of society and order in the African peoples because they were too focused on the blinding â€Å"darkness† of uncertainty and the terrifying unknown. They could not make any comparison because they had never known anything quite like it, and therefore thought of African’s as â€Å"dark† and â€Å"mislead.† There is a certain irony to be found in Heart of Darkness, when the pilgrims, the â€Å"light-bringers,† coming to â€Å"spread the Word of the Lord† to the â€Å"backwards and savage† peoples of Africa begin shooting at what Marlow describes as a â€Å"mass of bodies.† Reading thus, a definite sense of irony settles over the observer, â€Å"I pulled the string of the whistle, and I did this because I saw the pilgrims on deck getting out their rifles with an air of anticipating a jolly lark. At the sudden screech there was a movement of abje ct terror through that wedged mass of bodies. ‘Don’t! Don’t you’ll frighten them away,’ cried someone on deck disconsolately.† (p. 62) The European pilgrims view the Africans as even less than human, lowered in darkness to the level of mere game. The irony rests in that the pilgrims give in to the â€Å"darkness† within their hearts and minds, indulging in murderous revelries with the very darkened creatures they wish to â€Å"save and bring light to.† Ironic even still, is the disconnect between European â€Å"light† and African â€Å"light.† The Europeans have a view on what constitutesShow MoreRelated Things Fall Apart Contradicts Stereotypes and Stereotyping in Heart of Darkness1750 Words   |  7 PagesChinua Achebes Things Fall Apart Contradicts Stereotypes in Conrads Heart of Darkness In An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness, Chinua Achebe criticizes Joseph Conrad for his racist stereotypes towards the continent and people of Africa. He claims that Conrad propagated the dominant image of Africa in the Western imagination rather than portraying the continent in its true form (1793). Africans were portrayed in Conrads novel as savages with no language other than gruntsRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesglobalization, both of which can be seen as hallmarks of the opening decades of the twentieth century. This intermingling of the forces and processes that were arguably essential components 2 †¢ INTRODUCTION of two epochs we routinely set apart as centuries suggests the need for flexibility in demarcating phases of world history, and for determining beginnings and endings that accord with major shifts in political and socioeconomic circumstances and dynamics rather than standard but arbitrary