arge Conrad with this rather harsh comment. By completely agreeing with either writer, I would be denying myself the right to find my own opinion regarding racism in Heart of Darkness. So, I stand now and say that depending on one's interpretation of Joseph Conrad's writing, there will be plenty of racism found (if looked for). What I do believe is that during the time that this novella was written, Conrad lived in a society where African people were not considered equal, to man, they were even considered sub-human. Not to excuse Conrad, but racism was everywhere and what came from it was people who wrote about it naturally and who did not think of a "politically correct" way to put things. If this novella had been written today, it might have been said that the Africans spoke "in a language that was unknown to me, and the sounds that came from their mouths sounded quite different than what I have ever heard," or something like that. It is my opinion, that Chinua Achebe searched for things that he felt could be considered racist, and when they were found, he'd call the author some harsh names and accuse him of slander. Of course, that is only my opinion, and I point this out, because Achebe did not--he only wrote what he felt.Belief that Conrad was a racist is not hard to come by, especially after reading Achebe's convincing essay. However, interpretation is the key word. Personally, I agree that Conrad did have quite a few racist passages in his story, yet I also believe that Achebe does not open his mind completely, in his analysis of the work. "Travelers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves"(Achebe, p. 260) is what Achebe points to in explaining Conrad's journey and how it turned into the novella. I use this particular excerpt in describing Achebe himself. It seems that Achebe was closed-minded in his essay regarding racism. He did not propose any other possibilities regarding the novella, only to say that a c...
