Congrats to you all for getting through this semester. It's been a lot of work, and I think all of you are on the cusp of greatness in English. Next semester should prove to be fruitful.
Now, I have a question for you: Is Conrad a racist? What contributing evidence is there in HOD to support or deny this accusation? Think carefully and take into account how Conrad depicts other races, and also the driving message/discourse of his narrative. This is not a simple answer....
Please post by January 7th.
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I think that by today's standards Conrad was a racist, but that he cannot be too heavily criticized for it because he was simply a product of his time.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Heart of Darkness we see extreme racism. The book is a frame narrative so although it is through the memories of Marlow, it still reflects the ideas of Conrad himself. Marlow talks about his first sightings of natives as he travels upriver and everything he says is quite racist. To Marlow they look savage, ignorant, and vile. Although the natives look ragged and impoverished, Marlow thinks these things only because, like Conrad, he is a product of his time. Marlow and Conrad have both been brought up on stories of the dark skinned savages in the jungle, trusting societies judgment instead of creating their own. To me Conrad is simply the ignorant one, deemed a racist for simply following what he had always been told.
I agree with Emily that he is racist by todays standard but I believe for his time he was remarkably racially tolerant. It is true that Conrad says through Marlow many racist things but I think that most of them are ether sarcastic, or were notions that the natives were ignorant being perpetuated by the lack of education available to them. Marlow is also being sarcastic when describing the faults, of the wight men. Like the folly of the accountant of the company. So by today’s standards he was very racist but he was in his own time rather excepting of the natives.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a time where the "n" word is completely racist where as in that time period that word was considered normal. In the 1800's many many people were racist when compared to our time period. I would say that Conrad is certainly a sexist and a racist. Although almost all of the Caucasian race were racist to the African American race the way he makes Marlow describe the Natives of Africa are in a racist way. He uses the "n" word and deems them as uneducated, savages.
ReplyDeleteWhether Conrad is a racist depends on perspective. From the perspective that I have developed throughout my life, I believe Conrad to be a racist. His use of the n-word is one example of this, as it his description of the Helmsman's death. The Helmsman's body is penetrated by a crudely forged spear, causing him to collapse on the feet of Marlow. Marlow and two other whites stare down at the suffering and fading African and offer no help or sympathy. This, however, was a normal outlook on human-rights at the time. Blacks,as were women, were thought to be inferior to white males. These ideas change over time. Years from now, my grandchildren will be appalled that we kept dogs as pets, because since this time, discoveries will be made and proven and ideals generated by this era will be replaced.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what other have said. Today the descriptions used by Conrad would be considered racist in tone. However, in the 1800's when Heart of Darkness was written Conrad would not be considered a racist. He did not appear to have tremendous respect for blacks but his attitude represented the popular beliefs of his time. Conrad did not go out of his way in the novel to demean the native population.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Conrad most definitely has a racist/sexist tone throughout the novel, I do not believe he as a person was necessarily racist. It appears more as if he was making a social statement on the attitude of the time. Even though his writing has a certain degree of racism, HOD was not racist in the point it was trying to make. Conrad was saying something more along the lines of "The people of Europe are just as brutal and savage as these natives", rather than "these natives are savage and brutal.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Conrad is a racist. That is not to say that Marlow's opinion of the African natives is of course very racist. He considers them savage and of lesser character than Europeans. However, Conrad shows the way Marlow acts towards the natives to highlight Marlow's ignorance and failure to understand his environment. More importantly, Conrad uses this racism to point out the brutish cruelty of the European Colonists. If Marlow wouldn't have been racist, HOD would not be nearly as effective as a criticism of Imperialism. Yes, it is true that the protagonist of HOD is racist, but this does not mean Conrad is the same as his characters.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Conrad is a racist. The characters in Heart Of Darkness are definitely racist, particularly Marlow. The difference between Marlow and Conrad's racial point of view is that Marlow is distinctly racist, and sees the Africans as lesser than himself, almost as inhuman, or animal. Conrad's view is not clear, but I believe that his writing and content are simply a product of the time. In a sense, Conrad is not meaning to sound racist, but because of the popular view of the time, his writing naturally flows in that direction. Of course Conrad could have possibly been racist, with racism at that extent at the time, but I do not believe that that can be concluded through analysis of his characters.
ReplyDeletesorry to be uninteresting but i agree with most of the other posts. Conrad wrote heart of darkness in a time where what we consider to be racist today was simply normal. At the time, whites were considered superior and other races were considered ignorant and savage, especially african tribesman. If one were to pick up the novel in the age it was written there would hardly be any speculation on weather or not conrad is racist in writing this book, because at that time that is what everyone believed. To conclude i would say that from our perspective today conrad is being racist, however those were not his intentions at the time nor were they considered to be by his peers
ReplyDelete