LITR 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Student Midterm 2008

Talli Ortiz

Whose Side Are We On?

When thinking of literature, most people think of a specific genre or classification, such as romance, medieval, British, or poetry; however, as studies in literature deepen and intensify, these narrow margins become ignored and other  forms of literature are expounded.  When I chose to take the Colonization and Post-Colonization literature course, I was not sure what to expect.  Were we going to be discussing American colonization with pilgrims and Indians or cowboys and Indians?  The answer is no.  Instead, it was about something much more interesting, we were looking at the European colonization of what they called “savage” nations (i.e. Africa),  or as Pauline Chapman points out in her 2005 midterm, we get, “an insider’s view of the imperialists—their greed, prejudices, fears, pettiness, arrogance, and attitude of entitlement”.

            Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, is an eye-opening novel about the difficulties of colonizing Africa.  Conrad’s text follows Marlow, a young explorer, as he steers a steamboat up the Congo River, trying desperately to see through the darkness (both literal and metaphorical) that surrounds him.  Marlow’s journey includes setbacks that thwart his attempt to reach Mr. Kurtz, who is a European living with Africans and learning their customs while trying to obtain ivory.  Seeking Kurtz to take this ivory back to England is Marlow’s goal, but he also wishes to meet Kurtz.  Kurtz represents the man that knows Africa and all its hidden secrets, since a better part of his life has been taken up with living not just in Africa, but with the natives.  Marlow’s trials include waiting for months for material to fix the steamboat and an attack on his steamboat by a tribe of unknown Africans.  Conrad’s insistence that Kurtz is important is at times contradicted by the description he gives him, “All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz…the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs had intrusted him with the making of a report” and this seems to show that Conrad did not support the ideas and philosophies that Kurtz represents (45).  Conrad does this by showing the darkness of Africa, the cannibals and the silence of the jungle, “And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble peace.  It was a stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention.  It looked at you with a vengeful aspect” (30).

            By making Marlow, an observer on this voyage to the “heart of darkness” (i.e. the Congo River) Conrad is able to illustrate the characterizations of the “savages”.  For example, after the attack Marlow’s confusion is evident:

Unexpected, wild, and violent as they had been, they had given me an irresistible impression of sorrow.  The glimpse of the steamboat had for some reason filled those savages with unrestrained grief.  The danger, if any, I expounded, was from our proximity to a great human passion let loose.  Even extreme grief may ultimately vent itself in violence—but more generally takes the form of apathy (39).

Conrad seems to be exploring the depths of communication.  Communication seems to be regarded as an outlet only for those educated.  The “savages” are simply ignorant, there is no way to communicate with them; or if communication happens, then the individual ends up like Kurtz, who “lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts” and “the wilderness had found  him out” (53).

            On the other hand, Chinua Achebe gives us the view of the people being colonized in his novel, Things Fall Apart.  This novel mostly takes place in the village of Umuofia where Okonkwo is an influential member of the tribe and it follows his trials and tribulations as an adult.  Achebe shows the reader how this culture works, just as any government would work.  Each individual of the tribe contributes by doing his or her work, while slackers prove negligent and harmful to the tribe.  For instance, Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, “was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (4).  The audience learns quickly that the one fear that rules Okonkwo’s life is “to resemble his father” (13).

            This fear, leads Okonkwo to start his own life without the aid of his father and be much more involved with the clan than his father ever was.  However, this fear also, leads Okonkwo down an inevitable path of destruction.  The irrationality of Okonkwo’s fear leads him to believe, “To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (28).  This lack of sensibility forms itself in Okonkwo through several events.  For instance, he beats his third wife, Ojiugo during the Week of Peace because she left to get her hair plaited by a friend and was unable to make his afternoon meal.  Even though Okonkwo repents within his own mind, he shows no outward sign that he was sorry for breaking the Week of Peace, which causes many of the clansmen to frown and believe that he has “no respect for the gods” or the rules that go along with being a leader (31).  Okonkwo’s knowledge causes him to believe in strength above all else and this leads him to commit one sacrilegious crime after another.  For instance, his involvement with the killing of Ikemefuna, who is his own adopted son from another tribe causes him much more harm than he realizes, while the consequences are not directly related, this is the turning point in his life, from which everything proceeds downhill.

            After reading both Achebe and Conrad, the question becomes whose side do we support: the colonizers or the individuals who were there first?  This is also examined in Derek Walcott’s poem, A Far Cry from Africa, “I who am poisoned with the blood of both, / Where shall I turn, divided to the vein”.  This need to identify as either British or African is a major problem with Walcott and, in essence, it is the same problem with Conrad and Achebe.  Walcott questions modernity vs. tradition, just as Conrad, Achebe and our class does in Objective 1b (Historicism: To counter challenges to global knowledge and planetary identity by enhancing knowledge and identifying persistent oppositional themes or identities in cross-culture dialogues).  The ultimate question, which is better, tradition or modernity?

            Conrad seems to support the side of tradition, however, without supporting the need to change Africa.  His novel centers around the English and their viewpoints about getting ivory out of Africa.  For example, even after Kurtz is dead, Marlow finds himself taking care of personal items, such as letters, and going to see Kurtz’s future wife, even though, he had only met Kurtz but a few days before he died.  Marlow knows that his notions are “an impulse of unconscious loyalty, or the fulfillment of one of these ironic necessities that lurk in the facts of human existence” showing traditional ties with European standards of etiquette (67).  His noble intentions stay with him even when he throws his dead helmsman overboard to keep the cannibals from eating him stating, “if my late helmsman was to be eaten, the fishes alone should have him.  He had been a very second-rate helmsman while alive, but now he was dead he might have become a first-class temptation” (47).

            Achebe also believes in tradition, but not that of European tradition.  The reader follows all the customs of Okonkwo’s clan, even following him when he is exiled to his motherland, the village where his mother was born.  Achebe uses the whole book to tell the story of Okonkwo, while at the end the Commissioner narrows the story down to “a reasonable paragraph” (209).  This way, Achebe is able to promote a different point of view instead of the traditional colonization side.  He is trying to show that the English were trying to civilize a world that already had a civil order in place, though the customs were different than the English were able to accept.

In Achebe’s article “An Image of Africa:  Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” he argues that Conrad is a racist based on different notions.  One notion is that Conrad does not sympathize with the Africans and barely gives them any dialogue throughout the novel, thereby saying that Conrad gives a “portrayal of the dumb brutes” (341).  This seems unfair because Conrad seems to see the Africans in a different light, a light that the Europeans, or any white man for that matter, cannot possibly comprehend or relate to.  Conrad’s novel ends with the death of Mr. Kurtz.  This shows that a distinct line exists that no man can cross without consequences; that Africa still holds a wildness that the English cannot comprehend.  Those consequences represent the main theme for Conrad’s novel, that by trying to aid Africa we are losing something else, a piece of world history.

In conclusion, colonialism and post-colonialism go hand in hand, one cannot exist without the other.  Each side has an individualistic view and by trying to broaden that, both Achebe and Conrad, are bringing information forward for future generations.  However, by reading these novels, the reader is able to make conclusions for himself or herself.  Moreover, it is difficult not to be angry with the Commissioner for not caring that Okonkwo is dead, it also dawns on the reader that Achebe is telling his point of view and that each side has good and bad qualities.  Achebe and Conrad support tradition in their own cultures, but they do not support imperialism or expansionism.  They see that this brings consequences for the smallest action though even side believes they are following their own traditions.  Colonization and post-colonization are ways for us to explore other cultures.  The New Orleans people from Hurricane Katrina, for instance, are having to readapt themselves in new places, similar to that of people being colonized.  This exploration not just prohibits actions, but teaches that while we may look the same, traditions are different, even in modern times.