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In his essay "An image of Africa Racism in Conrads Heart of Darkness" Chinua Achebe says that Heart of Darkness is a "novel which celebrates the dehumanization of Africa and Africans; which depersonalizes a portion of the human race we cannot call it a work of art." I do not agree with this idea because I don't think any work of art should be judged in moral terms. I think that if we judge a novel in moral terms would be like trying to judge a criminal using laws such as the gravity law. The aim of this paper is not to defend Conrads racist ideas, which undoubtedly appear in the novel. They appear in some passages; the novel indeed contains contemptuous descriptions of black people. Not only that, black people in the novel most of the times are simply reduced to "limbs", "bundles", "black shapes crouching", " a mass of hands clapping", etc. Here is an example of one these descriptions
"Near the same tree two more bundles of acute angles sat with their legs drawn up. One, with his chin propped on his knees , stared at nothing, in an intolerable and appalling manner his brother phantom rested its forehead, as if overcome with great weariness; and all about others were scattered in every pose of contorted collapse, as in some picture of a massacre or a pestilence. While I stood horror-struck, one of these creature rose to his hands and knees, and went off on all-fours towards the river to drink."
First of all, these sick people are described merely as "bundles" and secondly Marlows reaction is of horror. The scene is coldly described as "a picture of a massacre". Well, we see that kind of pictures very often in the newspaper, however the reactions we may have in seeing these kind of images are very different; Marlows reaction is of repulsion. In the following passage Marlow, unwilling to behold the scene any longer, leaves towards one of the stations along the river. There he encounters a "white man" who is described quite different (one may well imagine how). One of the most degrading descriptions of a black person made in the novel is to be found in the third chapter when Marlow, sailing up-river, describes a black guy who was a part of the crue
"And between whiles I had to look after the savage who was a fireman. He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler. He was there below me and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat walking on his hind legs. A few months of training had done for that really fine chap."
Custom Essays on "Heart of Darkness: a moral and aesthetic issue"
We do not think any further comment is needed here. This manner of describing a human being should not be thought as correct never. It is so full of disdain and discrimination that we should be ashamed of ourselves if we though it somehow funny.
The ideas behind these descriptions are the ones we condemn because they are founded on mistaken conceptions not only about black people but about mankind. Nevertheless, a work of art should not be at any time subjected to judgements such as the following "This novel can not be called a work of art since it celebrates the dehumanization of Africa and Africans." Achebe acknowledges that Heart of Darkness is a novel. There are different sorts of novels cheap novels and good novels. For scholars novels such as Heart of Darkness have always been good novels in the sense that they are works of art. Throughout many years Heart of Darkness has been studied in universities, and has been the starting point of many critical works. Why ? It is simply because it is beautiful and it holds aesthetic values. What makes something beautiful? According to Kant "lo bello es lo que, sin concepto, es representado como objeto de una satisfacción universal". Kant says that "Gusto es la facultad de juzgar un objeto o una representación mediante una satisfacción o un descontento, sin inters alguno. El objeto de semejante satisfacción llámase bello". The expression "sin inters alguno" means that when reading a novel, or listening to a music piece or contemplating a painting, we must not let our prejudices and ideas to interrupt and interfere with our first acquaintance with the work of art in turn. We must stay passive. The perception must be flawless. Our "gusto" must be the only judge to determine whether a novel is beautiful or not; if it is ,but it also displays ,like in this case, ideas which might be wrong or ideas we do not agree with, we have to make a distinction between the aesthetic values it holds merely for the sake of it being a work of art and the ideas , racist ideas in this case, displayed in the work of art. The latter must not influence the former and vice versa.
Achebe says that Conrad "…while pretending to record scenes, incidents and their impact is in reality engaged in inducing hypnotic stupor in his readers through a bombardment of emotive words and other forms of trickery much more has to be at stake than stylistic felicity". I think this is going too far. Achebes mistake is to justify a statement like the previous one on the argument that Conrad , who being racist, only wanted to hypnotize his readers so they could not be aware of his racism; furthermore how on earth Achebe could know Conrads intentions when he was writing Heart of Darkness? This is to let our ideas, which may find their raison dtre in the novel, to misguide the judgement we may reach. As Ive already said this is to judge with inadequate tools. The style of the novel must be judged in terms of style , and not in terms of Chinuas Achebes ideas concerning racism in the novel; Im not saying those ideas are futile , but they should only be used only in a different kind of analysis of the novel, social criticism in the novel for example.
On the other hand , we shall not dismiss the underlying implications of Conrads racism in the novel. Casting off the racist ideas in the novel merely because what we are reading is beautiful, is not only an unwise but stupid "reading" of the novel. Thus , when reading novels which require from us not only the passivity of our "gusto" and perception , but also a critical eye on subjects ,such as racism, that deal with some of the problems of our society. Also, we must not allow ourselves to judge the aesthetic values of the novel in terms of , for example in this case , social criticism, and vice versa; we cannot justify ideas ,such as Conrads ,regarding one of the major problems during I do not know how many centuries, namely, equality between black and white men.
Im quoting here a passage that could be well considered from the aesthetic point of view
" The reach was narrow, straight, with high sides like a railway cutting. The dusk came gliding into it long before ths sun had set. The current ran smooth and swift, but a dumb immobility sat on the banks. The living trees, lashed together by the creepers and every living bush of the undergrowth, might have been changed into stone, even to the slenderest twig, to the lightest leaf. It was not sleep- it seemed unnatural, like a state of trance. Not the faintest sound of any kind could be heard. You looked on amazed, and began to suspect yourself of being deaf then the night came suddenly, and struck you blind as well.
As Keats poem says "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,- that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know".
Of the other kind, of those which involve racism Ive already quoted enough.
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