LITR 5734 2008 sample student midterm

LITR 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Student Midterm 2008

Cory Owen

A Voice for the Unheard

When looking at my options for the spring semester, I came across this class listing and became interested immediately. I’ve always enjoyed postcolonial literature in reference to India and had recently taken a course in African post-colonial lit, so I was hooked. Seeing that Jasmine was on the list of books for the semester was just icing on the cake since I plan to use that book as part of my thesis project. Since I have no experience in the Caribbean literature, my interest was even more piqued.

Even though Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart are both canonical and considered “must reads”, somehow they’ve both sat on my shelf for years without being touched. I was excited to delve into both books to see how they responded to the European presence in Africa and see the differing perspectives. Heart of Darkness proved to be what I consider a “typical” recounting of a colonized nation--a very Eurocentric view of “savage” people. Being greatly influenced by Edward Said’s Orientalism, I see parallels in how the Occident views the “Other” even though Africa is not considered part of the Orient. In the same way that the Orient “needed” the Occident to humanize the population, Africa became part of the “white man’s burden”. One of the best examples of this mindset can be found by Marlow’s aunt who praises her nephew for going and “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (Conrad 58). There is a sense of obligation to teach the outside world how to be “civilized”. It is this very notion that justifies and fuels years of colonization through the various regions of the world and has left much of the world reeling from the effects many years later. By leaving colonial texts without a voice for the colonized, post-colonial literature aims to give voice to the voiceless.

Marlow’s recounting of his journey into Africa has various characters representing different views, but all are from a colonist perspective which limits the storytelling. We are given Kuntz as an extremist version of how living amongst the “savages” can effect even the most civilized person. He’d “gone native” during his stay in Africa and the very thought of this disturbs Marlow and echoes some of the previous fears of the Europeans and the impending effects of living amongst the savages for an extended period of time. Even as we’re introduce to how Marlow gets his position, we see that there are accommodations made for behavior that would otherwise not have been tolerated in Europe.

Oh, it didn’t surprise me in the least to hear this [that he attacked the chief of a village], and at the same time to be told that Fresleven was the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs. No doubt he was; but he had been a couple of years already out there engaged in the noble cause, you know, and he probably felt the need at last of asserting his self-respect in some way. Conrad 53

Before Marlow even steps foot into Africa, he has a different set of rules concerning what is morally acceptable in certain situations. It is as if a certain degree of savagery is expected to overcome anyone who steps foot into Africa as displayed by the comments posited by the doctor, “it would be interesting for science to monitor the mental changes of individuals” (Conrad 57). In this sense, though Marlow is still shocked by Kurtz’s behavior, he is still somewhat sympathetic which is shown in how he continues to paint Kurtz in a favorable light to his fiancée. “Would they [the heavens] fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justice which was his due? Hadn’t he said he wanted only justice? But I couldn’t. I could not tell her. It would have been too dark -- to dark altogether. . .” (Conrad 149). Though he doesn’t agree with Kurtz’s behavior, he can’t help but feel as though there is a type of allowance to be made since the circumstances were so extreme in Africa.

While reading Things Fall Apart, the view of the Africans is drastically different from the perspective of Marlow. In this novel, the Africans actually have a voice. With Okonkwo as the protagonist instead of a white man, we are given a completely different look into everyday life in Africa. Achebe is concerned with giving the reader a glimpse into the lives of Africans both before and after the influence of Europe so that the contrast is even greater. Achebe uses different characters to show the wide range of influence from the white community by given the readers a chance to meet both Mr. Brown and Reverend Smith. The white characters in the novel provide a wide spectrum of attributes so that the reader is not left with a generalization. This is significant since one of the main criticisms of Conrad‘s novel is the one dimensional representations of Africans. While Conrad’s novel leaves the Africans without a voice, they are no longer left unheard as post-colonial literature tries to respond to this void.

The importance of voice within a novel is key to understanding the values placed on these characters and furthermore on the archetypes that these characters represent. In Heart of Darkness, the Africans are not given a real voice and as Georganne Ward stated in her 2005 essay, “Conrad portrays the natives more as a feature of the African landscape and climate rather than as brother human beings”. This concept that Africans are nothing more than fixture in the scenery not only dehumanizes them, but allows for the narrator to speak for them. In fact, the most significance lines that any African is given in Heart of Darkness is the dialogue between Marlow and the cannibals on board the ship when the Africans want Marlow to “catch” their opponents so that they can “eat ’im!” (Conrad 98). In a way, the lack of voice would be less damaging than including this passage as far as perpetuating stereotypes of Africa. Nevertheless, this general lack of voice is a crippling force within the novel that is rectified in Things Fall Apart.

By giving voices to the Africans in Things Fall Apart, Achebe allows for the characters to become human. They are no longer side characters or just furniture--they have depth, emotions, and culture. This idea that everyone has a voice (markedly, we even get a glimpse into the lives of the females as Achebe does allow for bits of dialogue from some female characters) is further emphasized by Derek Walcott’s poem “The Season of Phantasmal Peace”. He starts this poem by reflecting on the variety of human qualities and comparing them to the songs of birds, “Then all the nations of birds lifted together/the huge net of the shadows of this earth/in multitudinous dialects, twittering tongues,/stitching and crossing it”. Since oral traditions are so strongly revered within the African societies, it is even more indicative that this novel is more sympathetic towards the African characters.

It is important to note that any type of post-colonial text will be one that forces a dialogue between their European colonizers and how they effect the native peoples. However, the same cannot always be said of colonial texts. Since the voice of the Africans is so stifled in the Heart of Darkness, it becomes apparent why Achebe felt the need to respond. This dialogue between the two texts becomes more apparent when reading the novels in order and especially with Achebe’s article on Heart of Darkness as a bridge. However, not all have been supporters of Achebe’s feelings on the subject. Though Achebe is known for his literary works (of which, Things Fall Apart is most prominent), his article in response to Heart of Darkness has been attacked at more of a political piece than that of literary criticism. Cedric Watts attests that Achebe’s article attacks Heart of Darkness as being solely a racist while ignoring the importance of the novel in the canon by focusing mainly on this. “Achebe is black and I am white; he argues that whites have long overpraised Heart of Darkness precisely because it reflects their racial prejudice, whereas he sees clearly: he resembles the boy who declared the Emperor had no clothes” (Watts 196). Achebe does indeed feel as though that audiences who disregard the lack of African voice in Heart of Darkness to be caused by something “much deeper and more serious. . .something more willful than a mere lack of information” (Achebe 337). Though both sides can be supported, it is apparent after reading both Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart side by side, the definite shift in attitudes towards the Africans is palpable.

Though both novels are considered greats within literature and their merits are plenty individually, by reading the novels together, a greater sense of understanding can be sought. Knowing that Things Fall Apart is a response to Heart of Darkness will greatly effect the way the novel is read. This type of interdependence comes from the types of genres that they are categorized in. Post-colonial literature could not exist without colonization. The differences are many, but the major point that cannot be ignored is the lack of voice for the natives in colonial texts. With novels written from the perspective of the colonizers, it is rare to get an even kilter voice for the colonized when the authors and narrators are busy justifying their actions. This “white man’s burden” is essential to understand when reading colonist novels. However, it is exactly what works against them in post-colonial texts. In the article, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”, Achebe claims that, “although I have used the word willful a few times here to characterize the West’s view of Africa, it may well be that what is happening at this stage is more akin to reflex action than calculate malice” (Achebe 348). Achebe is insulating that this reflex is a direct result of years and years of being convinced that the “white man’s burden” is alive and well. This concept is what keeps “the other” whether they are colonized or enslaved as a group that needs to be protected and taught by the otherwise more enlightened Europeans. The fact that the post-colonial writers not only disagree with this notion, but also find a voice strong enough to speak up against such assumptions is what divides these genres so definitely.

The notion of “voice” in colonial and post-colonial texts is not one to be delved into lightly. Achebe’s description of Reverend Smith sums up his frustration with colonization well, “He saw things as black and white. And black was evil” (Achebe 184). Post-colonization not only sets out to change this mentality, but to use their voice as their tool to try and undo the harm and misconceptions caused by years of colonization. It is this very reason that the lack of voice given in colonial texts, in this case Heart of Darkness, that becomes pivotal in understanding why post-colonial literature is necessary to combat this one sided story of history. It is only once all sides are given equal ground to allow their stories to be heard that this type of history can be understood.

Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”. Norton Critical Edition, 4^th Ed. Eds Paul B Armstrong & Robert Kimbrough. NY; Norton. 2006

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Banton Doubleday, 1959.

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Barnes and Nobel, 2003.

Kipling, Rudyard. “White Man’s Burden.”

Ward, Georganne. “Colonial and Post-Colonial Dialogue in the Works of Conrad, Achebe, and Walcott”. http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/hsh/whitec/LITR/5734/models/2005/midterms/mt05war d.htm

Walcott, Derek. “The Season of Phantasmal Peace”. Collected Poems: 1948-1984. New York: Frarrar Stratus Giroux, 1986.

Watts, Cedric. “‘A Bloody Racist’: About Achebe’s View on Conrad”. The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol 13, Colonial and Imperial Themes Special Number (1983), pp. 196-209