Conrad's Heart of Darkness has been considered as one of his most famous and
valuable works with reference to the specific phenomenon of “othering”. Conrad is considered the one who has created binary oppositions between
West and East in this novel. The Nigerian writer Achebe describes the “Heart of
Darkness” as a “resentful and
lamentable book” that “set[s] Africa up as a
foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in
comparison with which Europe’s own state of spiritual grace will be manifest.”
Achebe says that Conrad has not written it as a book of imperialism.
lamentable book” that “set[s] Africa up as a
foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in
comparison with which Europe’s own state of spiritual grace will be manifest.”
Achebe says that Conrad has not written it as a book of imperialism.
Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” is a counter discourse against Joseph
Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”. In the novel “Heart of Darkness” the Europeans
traded with the African natives for their own gains. It is a story of Marlow
through African Jungle and Kurtz who exploits African natives. Marlow is in
search of Kurtz. The book is thought to be dealing with issues such as race,
gender, colonialism and capitalism. The book deals with the cruelty that was
imposed upon the Africans by Europeans in 19th century. Heart of Darkness has still an important place in the
curriculum of the western world. Conrad’s representation of African culture and
his emotions and aesthetic aims have presented the Africans as “Others”. In
this novel Conrad has depicted Africans as savages, barbarians, uncivilized and
prehistoric limbo who destroy the white travelers.
