WHY AFRICA IS DEPICTED IN THE NEGATIVE IN JOSEPH
CONRAD’S HEART OF DARKNESS
The depiction of Africa in Joseph
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has
aroused various perspectives within the academic community. Numerous scholars
have advanced various reasons that assume why Africa is depicted negatively in
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Some scholars
have attributed Conrad’s depiction of Africa to the context in which the text
was written. While some academics have ascribed Conrad’s pernicious portrayal
of Africa in Heart of Darkness to
have been influenced by the time he spent in Africa. It must be noted from the
onset that representation serves two main functions that is to express
attitudes and to influence perspectives.
It is imperative to note that representation
is an act that expresses a particular individual’s or society’s attitude
towards a certain subject matter, as noted by Allimandi (2002) who asserts that,
“…when media portrays people in a particular way it is to reflect the
political, racial, class, gender, ethnic, national, economic and religious bias
of the one representing…”.Thus it is important to note that Conrad also
belonged to a society that had its biases and beliefs. As a member of the
British society of his generation Conrad was to some extent influenced by the
ideas and perceptions of his society. The racist discourse in the text Heart of Darkness was a common feature
in the literature that was written during Conrad’s lifetime as noted by Watts
(2002) who posits that, “there was wide acceptance of
racist language and categories in the late Victorian period thus Conrad
employed the stereotypic language common in his day”. Thus the language
employed in the text Heart of Darkness
is an instance were Conrad was influenced by the climate of
prejudice of his time.
The era when Heart of Darkness was written was an important time for science
particularly for scientists who specialised in evolution theories such as Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Shaffer (1993)
postulates that “immensely popular, available and in inexpensive, Spencer's
works were at the height of their influence during the years in which Conrad's
early fiction was taking shape”. Even a close look at some terms used by Conrad
in Heart of Darkness show Spencerian
terms and concepts as noted in the following comparison between an extract from
Spencer’s Social Statics and that
from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Evidently,
therefore, the conquest of one people over another has been, in the main, the
conquest of the social man over the anti-social man; or, strictly speaking, of
the more adapted over the less adapted. Herbert Spencer, Social Statics
The conquest of the earth,
which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different
complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when
you look at it too much. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Upon close analysis one can note that Conrad’s
fiction represents and challenges Spencerian ideas. Thus the depiction of
Africa in Heart of Darkness can be
said to be an instance when an artist was imaginatively representing the ideas
of an influential scientist during his era. One can also assert that the
depiction of Africa in Heart of Darkness
was an instance of intertextuality whereby two texts were engaged in an
ideological dialogue in this case the two texts were Spencer’s Social Statics and Conrad’ s Heart of Darkness.
Said (1993) defines culture as “practices such as
the arts of description, communication and representation that have a relative
autonomy from the economic, social and political realms and often exist in
aesthetic form...”. A novel can be noted as a cultural component that advances
and defends the norms and beliefs of a particular society or set of people.
Representation is an imperative factor that constitutes a novel’s structure and
diction. Allimandi (2002) posits that representation of Africans as savages was
used during the period of colonial conquest and rule to justify European
colonisation of Africa. Thus Conrad’s Heart
of Darkness can in a way be said to be a text that belongs to the group of
texts that sought to promote the colonisation of Africa and the advancement of
European culture. More so Said (1993) asserts that, “the power to narrate or to
block other narratives from forming and emerging is very important to culture
and imperialism and constitutes one of the main connections between them”.
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness acts as a
form of ‘propagandistic’ literature that was meant to influence the way
ordinary Europeans viewed Africans.
Stape (2003) posits that the writing of the text
heart of darkness was also influenced by Conrad’s own experiences in Africa.
This view is supported by other renowned academics such as Firchow
(2000) who asserts that,”… Conrad's actual experience of Africa, while it might
have seemed interminable to him given all he saw there, lasted only about six
months, in the second half of 1890. Clearly, Conrad brought baggage from his
Western frame of reference to his "envisioning" of Africa, which led
to his committing a series of "misconceptions and misrepresentations of
Africa and Africans". In light of the above assertions it is of utmost
importance to note that Conrad’s experiences in Africa were not so conducive
thus his views on Africa may have been influenced by his bad experiences in Africa
as noted by Batchelor (1992) who posits that, “…the experiences in the Congo were so shattering that Conrad's
health never fully recovered. At the end of February 1891 he was hospitalized
suffering from gout, neuralgic pains, malaria, and psychological prostration”.
Conclusively
one can assert that the reasons for the negative portrayal of Africa in
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness are
varied. The time period in which the text was written can in a way be said to
have influenced the discourse of the text. Conrad’s experiences in Africa also
may have influenced his negative view of Africa.
Reference List
Allimandi, M (2002)Hearts of Darkness :How White Writers Created The Racist Image
Of Africa, New York: Black Stars
Books
Conrad, J (1902) Hearts of Darkness, London: J.M Dent & Sons Ltd
Firchow, P
(2000) Envisioning Africa In Heart of
Darkness, London: Longman
Said, E (1978) Orientalism, New York: Penguin
Said, E 1993) Culture & Imperialism, New York: Vintage Books
Shaffer, W (1993) Rebarbarizing
Civilization: Conrad's African Fiction and
Spencerian
Sociology, Sydney:
Atlantic Co
Shaffer, W
(2004) Racism and
Imperialism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness,Sydney:
Atlantic Co
Spencer, H (1893) Social Statistics, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Stape, H (2003) Text and Context in Heart of Darkness, New York: Penguin
