Conrad/Marlow is obviously a conflicted character in this novel. One moment he is praising the natives for their restraint and the next he finds ugliness and fear in their potential humanity. Achebe and Firchow each take up a side in this argument, and as our class demonstrated today (by split decision), each make legitimate points. Similar to Conrad, I find myself also conflicted in this debate.
The fact that Conrad finds disgust in the apparent kinship between himself and the Africans is racist, and is a moral judgment. On the other hand, when he describes them as wearing grotesque masks and as shadows, he is describing their appearance; a physical judgment that is not racist. When he characterizes the savages as animals he is making a moral judgment on their behavior; a racist action. I believe these foil judgments are fairly clear in the novel, and exist throughout, potentially demonstrating Conrad struggling with his youth in the Russian controlled Poland and his current imperialistic career.
Overall I believe Conrad envisions Africa as human nature at its most base level. For him this is a life of survival and rituals with little time for the leisurely (pointless) affairs of the Europeans. Kurtz is an example of a European who has reverted back to human nature's instincts because he spent so much time in the African civilization that values these aspects of life over what typical European civilization values. In the end I don't find Conrad's view of African society to be racist, but I find the fact that he judges this behavior as ugly to be racist; but once again I am conflicted and have to openly wonder whether this is his personal judgment or his societies reflected through him.
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