His keen observations of civilization and human nature make Heart of Darkness a novella that remains with you long after you have turned the final page.Ĭhenua Achebe, ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” (1975), rpt. Naturally Conrad gives no definitive answer, yet the bleak nihilistic misery that permeates the novella certainly supports the latter option.ĭespite Heart of Darkness’ misgivings, it remains all too easy to be drawn along and join Marlow on his journey even today, a credit to Conrad’s writing. Amongst all this one question rises above all others, are humans innately good or simply driven by selfish personal goals, a distinctly Hobbesian problem. Conrad describes adventurers seeking to exploit Africa with particular contempt as “burglars breaking into a safe” while the company employees under Kurtz’s charge are routinely alluded to as conquerors preying on the technologically inferior Africans. Yet such criticisms fail to recognise the condemnation of the excesses of imperialism and human nature also found in the novella. This has all obviously led many to condemn Heart of Darkness as inherently racist.
Heart of Darkness has famously, and understandably, come under considerable academic criticism Chinua Achebe thoroughly condemned Conrad for his refusal to grant “human expression” (Achebe, 1975) to the native Africans while others have noted Conrad’s frequent use of the pronoun “it” to refer to Africans (Stampfl, 1991). Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is certainly a complex and troubling book to read, not only due to its cynicism and racist undertones, but also due to Conrad’s insistent overuse of adjectives and simile to pad out his tale of Marlow’s journey along the river to Kurtz’s station.
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