LITR 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Sample Student Midterm 2005

Anuruddha Ellakkala

Fall 2005

Darkness of Colonizers’ Hearts/ Pain of Colonized Africans’ Hearts

When I was a sophomore student at San Jacinto College in the Fall Semester 2003, I came to know about Joseph Conrad and learned about his classic novel, Heart of Darkness. The novel was one of the required texts of Survey of Late British Lit/Romantic.  According to the course requirement, our college professor basically focused his teaching on British imperialism rather than the other facts in the text.   Fundamentally, in this college level course, we criticized the British imperialistic figure Mr. Kurtz, the white god.  After learning this classic book, I was so impressed with Conrad and his narrator Marlow, thinking they condemned brutal British and Belgian imperialism and colonialism, in the18^th century.  However, UHCL Colonial and Postcolonial Literature 5734 and Dr. White’s course arrangement and his teaching greatly helped me to broaden my knowledge about this subject. 

Colonial and Postcolonial Literature is a thoughtful cross-cultural conversation between the colonizer and the colonized.  Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness projects the image of European colonialism.  Things Fall Apart is the ritualistic voice of the colonized Igbo Africans.  In response to Conrad’s “prehistoric” attribution to the native African, Chinua Achebe provides the destructive picture of his native culture at the hands of imperialism.  Derek Walcott Collected Poems is the lamentation of a colonized African who loss his identity as a result of hybridization.  Clearly, through this textual and cross-cultural dialogue students can understand the dark side of the colonizer’s hearts and the pain of the colonized African’s hearts.

Achebe is the earliest person to pronounce Conrad as a “thoroughgoing” racist.  For instance, a writer of “Joseph Conrad – Facts, Info and Encyclopedia article” says, “In 1975 Achebe published an essay entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness", wherein he labeled Joseph Conrad as a "bloody racist."  Further, the author says that Achebe later revised his statement to a "thoroughgoing racist."  Moreover, the same author point out “this essay has since sparked a storm of controversy surrounding Heart of Darkness and spreading to cover Conrad's other works as well.”  Certainly, in his novel, Heart of Darkness, Conrad gives some controversial comments, and employs different terms: also he uses animal metaphor to describe native Africans of color that may clearly offend people.

Achebe is incredibly critical about his predecessor’s notion about his nation and the native African.  In his essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness," the writer clearly says, “Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as “the other world,” the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality” (252).  Truly, in Heart of Darkness, Conrad does not regard Africans as human beings.  From the beginning of the novel, he depicts an animalistic picture of native people.              For example, he regards Africans as four legged creatures.  Conrad says that, “one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink.  He lapped out of his hand, then sat up in the sunlight crossing his shins in front of him, and after a time let his wooly head fall on his breastbone” (Conrad 21).  To the Conrad’s eyes, “their bodies streamed with perspiration; they had faces like grotesque masks,” (Conrad 17).  Conrad says Africans are "prehistoric" (Conrad 37), mindless "creatures" (Conrad 21), they look "like ants" (18), “like a sluggish beetle crawling on the floor of a lofty portico” (Conrad 37).  Conrad reiterates, “. . . . No they were not inhuman,” “. . . they have no human voice,” “they howled and leaped and spun and made horrid faces” like animals (Conrad 37). 

According to Conrad, these "faithless” (Conrad 26), and "bewitched pilgrims" (Conrad 29), are black shadows of disease and starvation lying confusedly in the greenish gloom” (Conrad 20).  These illiterate people have “distaste for the work” (Conrad 21). So that, their values “no more account Conrad than a grain of sand in a black Sahara" (Conrad 51).

 Moreover, for Conrad the life of a donkey is more valuable than the African human’s lives.  For example, the writer is talking about a donkey; it carried white men’ bags and baggage (Conrad 33).  Later, he is concerned about the death of the same donkey but the author never thought about native human’s lives, except for his helmsman (Conrad 35).

Clearly, Conrad is a "thoroughgoing racist."  As Achebe mentions in his article, Conrad “was strangely unaware of the racism.” He uses brutal racist words, symbols, and metaphors for native Africans.  In his essay Achebe says, “Certainly Conrad had a problem with niggers” (258).  Truly Conrad’s favorite adjectives are “dark” and “black”.  Achebe thinks Conrad’s terms such as, “A black figure stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms . . . .,” are a clear indication of his unceasing racist thoughts (258).  On the other hand, Conrad’s exceptional favor to the white people in the novel is another point to label him as a thoroughgoing discriminator. For example, Conrad states:

“When near the buildings I met a white man in such an unexpected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision. I saw a high, starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots” (Conrad 21).

The writer deliberately draws white man’s European styles of clothing and his appearance to depict contrasting pictures of civilized Europeans and uncivilized natives.  However, the author says he “respected the fellow” because of “his collars, his vast cuffs, his brushed hair,” and his “… light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots (Conrad 21), and those are different to natives’ rags they wore, "round their loins and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like `tails" (Conrad 19).  Further, it is clear Conrad intentionally chooses  words “white,” “light,” “snowy,” “clean,” to show the distinguish picture of the civilized versus  the uncivilized.  These words are direct opposite words of “black,” “dark,” “darkness,” “ugly,” that Conrad constantly used to address native Africans. 

Further, the details about the Russian pilgrim are another example for the author’s racist thought. His narrator Marlow says:  “He looked like a harlequin. His clothes had been made of some stuff that was brown Holland probably, but it was covered with patches all over, with bright patches, blue, red, and yellow….you could see how beautifully all this patching had been done” (Conrad 53).

At first, to Marlow the Russian is “a harlequin” in his distant appearance.  After the narrator realized the person was a European, and his patched clothes were made in a European country, he admires him.  Conrad might think “niggers” cannot do even this poor patching beautifully because they are not capable civilized people to do such work.  If we carefully watch, the Russian has many color patches over his clothes, but none of them are black.   

Furthermore, Conrad is not only a “thoroughgoing racist," but also a thoroughgoing imperialist.  The author justifies British colonialism. He thinks these ignorant and "prehistoric” people "… still belonged to the beginnings of time - had no inherited experience to teach them" (Conrad Conrad 42). Conrad thinks not only human life but also everything in the African continent is inferior to Europe.  The writer regards Africa is as “one of the dark places of the earth” (Conrad 9).   He thinks “Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world” (Conrad 35).   Moreover, through his different terms such as “prehistoric earth,” and “unknown planet,” the author ignores the historical background of the African continent. 

Moreover, Conrad tries to portray black and white pictures of the river Congo and the Thames. In his essay Achebe says, “River Congo, the very antithesis of the Thames” (252). Conrad uses excellent metaphoric language to introduce the Congo River.   He says, “… an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country and its tail lost in the depths of the land” (Conrad 12).  But compared to the definition of the Thames, the river Congo is animalistic.  Conrad sees the “great spirit” of the Thames. 

And the Thames is not like a snake that “uncoiled its head in the sea”, but “the venerable” Thames “spread out in the tranquil dignity of a waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth” (Conrad 8).  These definitions are a clear indication of Conrad’s imperialistic attitude over colonized people and their natural resources.   Achebe questions, “Is Conrad saying then that these two rivers are very different, one good, the other bad? Yes, but that is not the real point” (252). Without a doubt one can think, these two rivers are symbols of the colonizer and the colonized. However, in reaction Achebe says the Congo River is “the Great River,” and that most of these white strangers deliberately came to the African territories. (Achebe 181).

          Things Fall Apart mirrors the image formalist Ibo culture before modern imperialism. According to Achebe, Umuofians are not cannibals; they are civilized people; not even hunters; they only eat chickens, fish, and goat meat that they raised their own or purchased from the market place—and the only wild thing that they seldom eat is locust. Then, how can Conrad say they eat humans?

 Moreover, Conrad cannot pronounce Africans as “prehistoric” and “rudimentary souls.”  Even though they are not inheritors of a recoded history, they have preserved histories that are carryed in memory from generation to generations. For example, the stories about war heroes frequently fathers sued to tell his sons at their obi.  These heroic tales could be the male literature in Igbo culture. There are women’s stories, especially for daughters that Nwoye and his sisters used to hear from their mother when Nwoye was a little boy. Definitely, their stories must be Women’s literature in this culture.

            In addition, there is clear indication of educational and technological development in Ibo culture.  Okonkwo’s father Unoka’s statistics about his debt is an excellent example for that.  Unoka shows his friend, Okoye, “Look at those lines of chalk;” . . . each group there represents a debt to someone, and each stroke is one hundred cowries” (Achebe 7).  The chalk lines and Unoka’s statistics could be representing the growing roots of Ibo alphabet, numbers, and math.  Further, there is a clue about a classroom, and a relationship between teacher and student.  Unoka is a music teacher in a neighbor village (Achebe 4).  Besides that, the Iboare capable of manufacturing guns.  Okonkwo “. . . had an old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who had come to live in Umuofia long ago” (Achebe 38).  Clearly the blacksmith was not a white man he was an African.

            Umuofian’s rhetorical power is far beyond to Conrad’s little knowledge about African tribes. Ahebe talks about an argumentation between Mr. Brown and Akunna.  Mr. Brown wants to deny Ibo’s god, Mr. Brown says;

 “. . . you call it a god. But it is still a piece of wood” Akunna says, It is indeed a piece of wood. The tree from which it came was made by Chukwu, as indeed all minor gods were. But He made them for His messengers so that we could approach Him through them. It is like yourself. You are the head of your church.” (Achebe 179)

Akunna’s counter argument is better than Mr. Brown’s.  He could not convince Akunna that Chukwu is a false god.  Akunna tries to point out fundamental similarities about their belief system.

In addition, Natalie Martinez says that “the Ibo culture is completely capable of serving justice within their own clan for crimes committed against the women” (midterm 2003).  Her point is related to the scene when Okonkwo beats his wife during a religious holiday he is punished by the female priest.  And she is concern about the elder man’s words that, “…in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoiled the peace which it was meant to preserve”(27). Quoting this passage Martinez reveals, “Achebe revels that the traditional cultures are able to evaluate and change their own justice systems” (Midterm 2003).  However they change moral disciplines, Okonkwo says, “An Umuofia man does not refuse a call,” yet, Europeans have different attitudes.  Achebe says the District Commissioner politely invited them to a nice conversation, but instead of an honest dialogue, the men were cheated, ambushed and handcuffed.   “It all happened so quickly that the . . . men did not see it coming. . . . The six men were hand-cuffed and led into the guardroom,” (194).  At this point Achebe denies the civilized characteristics of European culture.  However, is educated and nourished by European culture, so he is also a hybrid person.  For example, Dendy Farrar states:

In a sense, Achebe has created, to use one of the objectives in another manner, a “hybrid” language that borrows from both cultures.  For instance, words like “osu,” “obi”, “uli,” and “chi” appear several times, and as a result, the reader begins to have an understanding of these words and an understanding of this blending of the languages. (Midterm 2003)

Kayla Logan indicates that “Ahcebe’s struggle with his dual heritage” is an exact reflection of “Nwoye’s struggle with his father.  Nwoye is a hybrid worshipper of the European culture. He wants to reunite with his father. In the same way Achebe wants to keep his own cultural dignity unharmed while being part of a modern European culture.

Derek Walcott is one of the major figures of colonial and post-colonial writing.  Walcott is also frustrated about dual heritage. He discusses his inner conflict between his loyalties to both heritages. In Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the author shows his social instability to function as an African “poisoned” with British blood.  Meantime he argues how he can be British having “poisoned,” his “vein” “with the blood of both.” “I who am poisoned with the blood of both, / Where shall I turn, divided to the vein? / […] how choose / Between this Africa and the English tongue I love? / Betray them both, or give back what they give?” (18).  As a hybrid, Walcott feels he is an illegitimate child in his mother country, a bastard in the British culture.  His hybridism makes him foreign in both cultures.

Besides that, as Achebe accused Conrad for thoroughgoing racist, Kirsten Holst Petersen, the author of the “First things First,” argues that Achebe as a women discriminator. The writer points Achebe’s protagonist, “Okonkwo being punished, not for beating his wife, but for beating her during the week of peace” (254).  Truly, Achebe uses different discriminative terms that may clearly offend women. For example, Achebe says that, “Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop,” but, “like coco-yams, beans and cassava,” are “women crops (Achebe 23).  These “crops” definitions shows men’s superiority in Ibo culture.  In another occasion, the author says in Ibo culture, “the crime was of two kinds, male and female. Okonkwo had committed the female, because it had been inadvertent” (Achebe 124). Through this interpretation, Achebe might regard unintentional deeds or accidents are cheap or shame like women. Moreover Achebe’s tragic figure, Okonkwo always says, “I am worried about Nwoye,” and he thins his daughter have been a boy,” (64). Through this statement, Achebe might think male should have strong characteristics rather than female. So, these textual dialogue shows not only talk about Conrad’s racism but also Achebe’s thoroughgoing discriminative expressions about the women in Things Fall Apart.