Thursday, January 24, 2008

Racism in Heart of Darkness

I strongly believe that Conrad was a racist and that the attitudes and descriptions presented in his book are glaring evidence of this fact. However, I do not believe that his racist attitude should necessarily be held against him. It is important to consider the social climate of the time and understand that nearly everyone shared these same views. Yes, his descriptions of the Africans as anamalistic and un-human are extremely racist, but at the time he did not know any better. So, instead of being critical of Conrad's apparent racism, perhaps we should be critical of his failure to think progressively and see past the African's differences. It seems to me that Conrad's only major flaw was his failure to be enlightened during such a dark period.

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