(De)Humanization of African People in the Eyes of Joseph Conrad, Scholars, and Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a novel that retells the history of an Africa that has been stereotyped by European and American culture. In this retelling we find customs and the true essence of Africans; people who feel, who have a civilization, who have a sense of community, who have an own lifestyle. We could dare to say that one of the Achebe's prompts to write the novel is a reaction towards Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

In Heart of Darkness, we have Marlow as main character, whose story we get to know through an unnamed narrator. Marlow tells his stories while he was in Congo, and how his experience with African people and all their context was. By reading the novel, we find a version of them that is not far from the stereotype that we all have access to regarding African culture. In the novel we have an image of Africa as "the other world, the antithesis of Europe and civilization", according to Chinua Achebe's essay "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness". Furthermore, what Conrad's really does is to give the audience what the audience wants: It confirms the status of African People as prehistoric, cannibals, uncivilized, with no clear language.

However, some scholars and students of Conrad's novel have said that the central theme of the novel is not racism but a criticism of European culture and Imperialism, having African people just as a setting. In this point, it is impossible for me not to agree with Chinua Achebe when he says that this view of scholars only confirms how natural is for white people to be racist as with that position they are dehumanizing African people taking them as an object (setting) and not as a human factor.

Achebe claims that the racism in the novel hadn't been addressed, but it's easy to imagine that it would had never been addressed, and the reasons are very simple: There was a naturalization of racism, it was common to see black people as something of no importance.

In that time, and maybe until today, it's hard to take out the almost fixed fake image of African culture and people. This dehumanization cannot only be seen in Joseph Conrad's novel, but also in the fact that black people, slaves, were seen as property, as beings with neither a choice nor a voice. It's in here, that Achebe comes almost as a super hero to give life, voice, history, and identity to a culture that didn't deserve that theft.

All in all, if we pay little attention, Heart of Darkness is useful in the personal aspect as it makes us aware of how racist we are. If you happen to read it, please pay attention to the following questions: Do I consider the story racist? Do I consider correct the way African culture is portrayed? Do I disagree with the characteristics given to that culture? Which one do I prefer the most: Things Fall Apart or Heart of Darkness? Once you have do so, I am sure you will find that you knew well or accord with some stereotypical views; then, when that's moment has arrived, ask yourself how much do you know about you ethnic roots, whatever they are. Do you really know the culture that you come from or have you been living with stereotypes about your own background? Let's follow Achebe's example and humanize our views of groups with different customs and colours than ours.

Just to make it clearer, I will post here a trailer that shows a bit of how African culture is portrayed in Heart of Darkness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX2wofgkjRI