Although Conrad sympathises with the people of Africa colonised and enslaved by the Europeans he is disturbed by the fact that he has to acknowledge the humanity of the Africans. However the novel is actually based on the travel that Conrad took to Congo.Īchebe says that Conrad’s racism can be found in other writings where he mentions the first impressions he had of a person of colour and a European. The first narrator listens to the story of Marlow on the ship anchored on Thames.
The author tries to remove himself from the ideology of the narrative by setting up two narrators between himself and the story. Marlow finds the presence of the river Congo and the people of Congo a reminder of the past of the British empire. The Romans who came to England might have had the same feeling the Europeans have in Congo. When the Romans first came to England it was a heathen land forested and marshy. But Marlow is reminded of the past of Thames when he remembers Congo. Achebe says that the river Congo however has done no such service. The novel begins on the river Thames which is taking rest after centuries of service to humanity. The novel is full of racist remarks and observations which Achebe points out in his essay. The novella is the description of a journey undertaken by a man named Marlow who wishes to recover a talented man named Kurtz who has adopted the lifestyle of the heathens in Africa. The Belgians entered the heart of Africa by sailing up the river Congo. According to Conrad the Heart of Darkness is Africa, the center of Africa – the Belgian Congo. Chinua Achebe discusses the Racism in Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness in this essay.
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