Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sorry Conrad, But You're a Racist
I agree with Achebe and believe that Conrad was racially prejudiced. Throughout the story, Conrad fails to distinguish his opinions from the opinions of his characters, so why would I be compelled to believe that the opinions of his characters aren't his own? Little comments such as "The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother" suggest that Conrad had a prejudice against the African people. Also, in Firchow's analysis of the Heart of Darkness, he tries to justify racism by saying the word wasn't in existence during that period of time. To me, that is the same as saying murder was okay to perform before there was a law that condemned such an action. In short, I feel like Firchow is full of bologna and I agree with Achebe that Conrad is indeed a racist.
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It was not Conrad who called Africans his "junior brother"; Achebe was quoting Albert Schweitzer. I stumbled upon this blog trying to find some corroboration of Achebe's quote (so far, the only place online I've found it is in Achebe's lecture). Sounds like your class has quite the debate going.
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