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Lesson Before Dying - Prospectus

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My Personal Response to Achebe

     As a long-time fan of Chinua Achebe, I was disappointed with his take on Heart of Darkness.  I will never forget the first time I read Things Fall Apart.  I couldn't let it go.  I read it again.  And again.  It is one of those few novels that changed me, altered my perspective on issues dear to my heart, and modified my behavior towards others.  Yet, Achebe fails to recognize in Conrad's novel the opinions and agendas that are so similar to his own in TFA.  I agree with Watts that the authors are indeed on the same side of the issue, both fighting racism and oppression in their individual time periods.

     Not that I believe a text should be judged based on the historical context alone, but if we are going to make moral judgements about the author of a text, then it is imperative that we consider the culture that existed during that specific time period.  Indeed Conrad uses descriptions that I dare not even replicate.  That was part of his creative strategy - to present people as other Europeans viewed them and then to take a stand against such ideologies.  Using terminology just because it was common-place during his day doesn't necessarily justify the act, but it does provide a reasoning for the usage.  Dare I say, he was a progressive thinker and writer, challenging views that were shaping his modern world.    

Achebe and Watts on Heart of Darkness

     Achebe begins his essay with an argument that critical race theorists would call interest convergence.  He argues that Conrad’s Heart of Darkness developed out of the desire and need to set Africa at contrast with the “spiritual grace” of Western society.  Achebe sees a great need to expose Heart of Darkness as the work of a racist because, as literature, it falls into a different category.  Widely read and studied, the novel is considered “permanent literature (Achebe  1).”

His first argument is that Africa is mocked as the antithesis of civilization in Conrad’s novel.  Conrad asserts, according to Achebe, that Europe and the Thames are good, and Africa and the Congo are bad. He implies that Conrad fears the “common ancestry” between them, that he considers Europe superior.  Watts counters this opinion in his article by citing the quote, “And this also..has been one of the dark places of the earth (198).”  According to Watts, this is written to undercut the tribute to the Thames that the narrator gives and to defuse any ideas of superiority.

Achebe has strong words for Conrad.  He accuses him of engaging “in inducing hypnotic stupor in his readers through a bombardment of emotive words and other forms of trickery (2).” In response to Conrad being labeled a “purveyor of comforting myths,” Watts shares that the novel actually exposes and destroys those myths.

Another argument by Achebe:  blacks are dehumanized in the novel.  Watts counters that by showing that Conrad protests again such dehumanization.  He references the scene of the group joyfully paddling their canoe down the river.  “Of all the people described, by far the happiest, healthiest, and most vital are” these (Watts 198).  Watts explains that this happiness and energy is what the native people should be experiencing instead of becoming crouching shadows and shackled servants, etc.  This scene exists, he argues, to contrast the condition of the native people in their undisturbed environment with their condition after the infestation of white people.

At the heart of Watts’ argument is his statement that “really Conrad and Achebe are on the same side…the Conrad of Heart of Darkness is the brother of the Achebe of Things Fall Apart (204).”  Both of their novels show valuable features of a society while condemning cruelties and injustices.  Achebe criticizes the descriptions of the African people found in Heart of Darkness.  Watts, however, states what any traveler knows; when traveling to foreign places, “strange and bewildering experiences” will present themselves.  Achebe wrote his novel about sixty years after Heart of Darkness was written and was privy to a more progressive world view.  Watts argues that Conrad shows “what most whites at that period were unable to see (199).” Again, an example of the overlap of critical race theory and new historicism.

Finally, Watts attacks the premise of Achebe’s essay.  A work is only ‘good’ if it makes recommendations that are humane by Achebe’s standards.  Watts asserts that “works of high literary merit often appear morally nastier than works of literary inferiority (206).”  Also, to praise works only when they share your own values is what he terms “ideological imperialism (207),” which is especially ironic in this situation.

Literary Theories at Work in Heart of Darkness

New historicism compliments critical race theory.  For example, in order to make sense of Heart of Darkness and Conrad’s use of derogatory descriptions of the native people of the Congo, a historical context is necessary.  Cedric Watts states in his essay, Achebe’s View of Conrad, that “the historical sense which was so keen in {Achebe’s} novels appears to have been forgotten (197).”  The implication being that the perspective of the author is crucial to interpreting the text.  Consistent with New Historicism, Watts states that “Conrad [was] influenced by the climate of prejudice of [his] times (208).”  The argument might be, therefore, that the prejudicial language that is part of Heart of Darkness exists because of the time period and the culture that Conrad was a part of.

Heart of Darkness was written at the height of the imperialistic fervor that had taken hold of England.  Queen Victoria ruled the country and the common view was that African lands were to be conquered, her resources acquired, and her people tamed.  To have an opposing view, which Conrad arguably did, was to be commended.

     If we consider the concept of differential racialization within the critical race theory, we would view the characterizations found in Heart of Darkness through the lens of that particular time period.  The descriptions that Conrad offers are consistent with the needs of white Europeans during the late 1800s.  What exactly were these needs?  How were the African people racialized?  These Africans were considered inferior by most of England, and Europe, for that matter.  They were in need of ‘civilizing.’  The native people were thought to be savages in need of taming.  They needed education and direction from whites.  They had no use for, or did not know how to use, ivory and other resources.  These were ideas that, according to most, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness opposed.
 

Deconstructive criticism and critical race theory can also be looked at together to gather meaning from a text.  Consider the way binary oppositions can be deconstructed to show not only the differences, but the commonalities within a text, between seemingly different characters, between apparently different texts.  Watts mentions the contrast between Western civilization and the African civilization (203) in Heart of Darkness.  Arguably, Western civilization is shown to be just as savage and base as they believe the Africans to be.  Their abuse of the native people, the implication that Kurtz participated in native ceremonies involving cannibalism, the attitudes of the people back home all show a lack of civility and immorality.

Another set of binary oppositions can be seen in Kurtz’s African mistress and his fiance back home.  Watts draws attention to this pair in his article entitled Achebe’s View of Conrad.  He contrasts them by describing the mistress as “the seductive darkness of the jungle” and the fiance as a “statuesque representative of noble idealism (200).”  Despite the physical contrasts, the similarities are solid.  Both stretch forth their arms in memory of Kurtz.  “Both are loyal” to Kurtz and “have charms…which have proved impotent (200).” Both of these women are shown grieving and are also described as tragic.  These similarities reveal how inaccurate it would be to categorize these women as true opposites, highlighting the fact that the common ground between the two cultures is greater than the disparity.

Work Cited
Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-friendly Guide. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.
Watts, Cedric. "'A Bloody Racist': About Achebe's View of Conrad." The Yearbook of English Studies 13 
                 (1983): 196. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" Massachusetts Review.     
                 18. 1977. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness, An Authoritative Text, background and Sources Criticism.   
                 1961. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough, London: W. W Norton and Co., 1988, pp. 251-261.