A Literary Genius or Racist Novelist?

641 Words3 Pages
In the novel Heart of Darkness, author Joseph Conrad examines the "darkest places of the human soul”. This novel has shown that research has been accurately been put in the novel. It shows the way "savages" (as they were called) were treated. It also examines the mental, physical and emotional abuse of the Africans. It also shows that they were sentenced to at birth because of the color of their skin. It even examines the stability, and instability of the human mind, for people from all different ethnicities such as white and black. There is also pain that this novel expresses that proves to be unbearable to such crimes are not socially accepted in today's society, but are they? The Heart of Darkness was written during the time of British imperialism and extreme exploitation of Africans in the Congo. It also shows Conrad's feelings toward the treatment of Africans which aren’t easily understood. An anonymous writer writes, “Conrad’s excellence in style is very controversial; some believe that he is a literary genius", while others “criticize him for being limited, pretentious, and vague." In my opinion he is a great man who seeks social change and improvement. He is often considered racist by other readers but he is simply writing down his observations such as people’s actual actions and thoughts. That in turn scares people because of the fact that someone might reveal that Caucasians believed that they were the superior race and the belief in "White Supremacy, African inferiority." In history Africans have been mistreated all through history, so I still think that white are dominating now but the minorities are taking over slowly but surely. This novel attacks reality from different points of view and in the process shows that Africans put up with the treatment because they think they lost the battle. It could have been used as a form of prevent discrimination
Open Document