Joseph Conrads view towards colonial ideology reflected in Heart of Darkness

The aim of my essay is to illustrate and reveal the aspects of postcolonialism that stand at
the basis on Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. I shall define the main idea and purpose of
postcolonial literature, and identify core issues brought to light in this novella. Furthermore, I
will base part of this essay on Chinua Achebes interpretation of the image of Africa presented in
Conrads novella.
To begin with, I would like to specify that the twentieth century was the time when the
downfall of the worldwide famous magnificence of Britain began, leading to the imperial ethos
being thus questioned, as reflected throughout Heart of Darkness (Zirra, 112). Throughout time,
colonizers, mainly, brought into existence the practice of othering, which meant devising the
world between the civilized and savages or the other (Crstea). The purpose of postcolonial
literature was revealing the devious transgressions carried out by imperialists against other
nations in the past (or which were still ongoing at the moment the novella was written, in the
twentieth century), as the frenzy for power, lands, wealth and so on led to immeasurable damage
though there were good parts to it for the colonized, such as jobs in the administration
towards the colonized nations. Additionally, postcolonial criticism studies are meant to bring to
light ways in which authors either enforce or resist the negative depictions of colonial ideology
(Crstea).
Nigerian critic Chinua Achebe claims that, be it either due to youthful inexperience or,
more likely, lack of factual knowledge, there is a need in Western psychology to set Africa up as
a foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in comparison with
which Europe's own state of spiritual grace will be manifest (Achebe, 2). He argues that this
need is largely displayed in Conrads Heart of Darkness and that, first and foremost, what
Conrad does in this novella, for example by presenting images of Africa in opposition to images
of Europe (opposition characteristic to colonial ideology, therefore an opposition that conveys a
demeaning image of native Africans), is to reinforce colonial principles that are belittling
towards the other. To illustrate this statement, I would like to present as an example a scene from
the book that was used by Achebe as well in his critique of the novella:

The book opens on the River Thames, tranquil, resting peacefully "at the decline of day after ages
of good service done to the race that peopled its banks."6 But the actual story will take place on the River
Congo, the very antithesis of the Thames (3).

What Achebe means to emphasize with this example is the fact that Conrad implies that
the two rivers and thus the concepts they represent (Thames Europe and Congo Africa) are
opposed in the sense that one of them is good (Europe), while the other is entirely the opposite
(Africa). Furthermore, he explains that the suggestion given is that although the two have indeed
common dark ancestry, one of them was able to overcome this past, which hints that this is a
valid reason as to why one of them is seen as good, while the other as bad (3).
However, I do not fully agree with Achebes interpretation. Personally, I do not believe
that Conrads intention was to enforce the image of African natives as savages and thus
dehumanize them; quite on the contrary, what he presents in the novella is simply the imperialist
perspective of the situation, if not simply the perspective of someone who is confronted with
something entirely new, though still so close to the nature of the observers. Besides, I think
Conrads nationality serves as a solid argument that should be taken into account when providing
an interpretation for his book. I reckon he is neither dehumanizing the native Africans nor is he
enforcing colonial ideology. At the core of it, aside from the novella itself being a critique
addressed to this negative view of Europeans towards non-Europeans, it simply suggests that evil
exists in fact in everyone, regardless of ones color or origins. Though aware of the possibility
that Heart of Darkness may not reflect Conrads personal views, being a piece of literature which
presents an ironical attitude towards those whose views can be correlated with those of the
narrator, Achebe does not agree this is a valid possibility. He argues that there are many and
indisputable resemblances between the narrator and the author, and that if Conrads view were
indeed ironical, he would have placed hints as to let the readers know, and he would not have left
it all to readers and critics assumptions (Achebe, 6.)
To conclude with, I believe that Joseph Conrads novella displays an accurate Eurocentric
view of Africa, while subtly conveying a satirical attitude towards this view adopted by
Europeans in the twentieth century, even though there are no concrete hints to point out the fact
that this book presents a critique towards a flawed mentality. Lastly, I would also like to mention
the fact that T.S. Eliot used a quotation from the novella as the epigraph for The Hollow Men

(Eliot, 121-123), which reveals another side of Conrads book the fact that maybe the core idea
of the story is not that solely the Europeans were evil towards the Africans or that the Africans
are evil though their savage nature; instead, the suggestion is that the story essentially conveys
the nothingness that is at the core of all humans alike, different as we may be amongst ourselves.
Thus, taking this claim into consideration, I reckon it is rather preferable to believe that Conrads
novella is indeed meant to serve as an ironical mirror for those who directly or indirectly support
the colonial ideology.

Bibliography
Primary text:
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Harlow: Longman, 1998. Print.

Sources:
Zirra, Ioana. British Literature in the Twentieth Century: Themes, Paradigms, Authors,
Approaches. Bucuresti: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2014.
Crstea, Daniela. "The Marginal Other." University of Bucharest, Bucharest. 14 May 2015.
Lecture.
Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." (n.d.): n.
pag. Http://english.gradstudies.yorku.ca/. Web. 7 June 2016.
<http://english.gradstudies.yorku.ca/files/2013/06/achebe-chinua.pdf>.
Eliot, T.S. Poems: 19091925. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1934. Print.