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Heart Of Darkness

Joseph Conrad develops themes of personal power, individual responsibility, and

social justice in his book Heart of Darkness. His book has all the trappings of the

conventional adventure tale - mystery, exotic setting, escape, suspense, and unexpected attack.

China Achebe concluded, "Conrad, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the great

stylists of modern fiction and a good story-teller into the bargain" (Achebe 252). Yet,

despite Conrad's great story telling, he has also been viewed as a racist by some of his

critics. Achebe, Singh, and Sarvan, although their criticisms differ, are a few to name.

Normal readers usually are good at detecting racism in a book. Achebe

acknowledges Conrad camouflaged racism remarks, saying, "But Conrad chose his subject

well - one which was guaranteed not to put him in conflict with psychological pre-

disposition..." (Achebe, 253). Having gone back and rereading Heart of Darkness, but

this time reading between the lines, I have discovered some racism Conrad felt toward the

natives that I had not discovered the first time I read the book. Racism is portrayed in

Conrad's book, but one must acknowledge that back in the eighteen hundreds socie

. . .

Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness 3rd ed. Upon arriving at the first station, Marlow commented what

he observed. [The Colonialistic Bias of Heart of Darkness. Marlow praised the book keeper as if he felt it's the natives'

fault for living in such waste. Marlow felt pity

toward the natives, yet when he met the station's book keeper he changed his views of the

natives. "They howled and

leaped and spun and made horrid faces, but what thrilled you was just the thought of their

humanity - like yours - the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate

uproar.

Approximate Word count = 1020
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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