
The essay explains critical reception by Chinua Achebe in his book “An image of Africa” criticizing author Joseph Conrad’s in the book “Heart of Darkness”. Chinua views Conrad as a racist by explaining the book of “Heart of Darkness” as rhetoric since it described the African continent as ugly with ugly black people wandering everywhere including the face of European. The critique reveals how writer’s drafted piece has an impact on them and the whole world. In addition, it discusses responses about ignoring racism as race thinking dominated and viewed as usual. It discusses reasons for Chinua feeling so powerful against Joseph Conrad. Chinua was fighting for powerful identity of Africans after independence of colonies. The paper also contrasts and discusses critics summarizing that every critique was influential with historical period and time it occurred.

 “An Image of Africa” by Chinua Achebe explains racism as a major obstacle in his period. The writer criticizes Joseph Conrad as a racist. Conrad was viewed as talking about a political revolution in his era while in a context describing black women as inferior, ugly with black skins hovering in streets of European (Gagiano 12). The study also explains about the historical revolution.

Joseph’s novel was rated as the best English Literature works by Chinua Achebe. In 1977, Achebe criticized Conrad as racist. As a response to critique review, many writers emerged to support and defend him. The writers included Fleming Bruce, Thelwell Ekwueme Michael, Williams Adebayo and Zeleza Paul Tiyambe.

The crafted piece by the author Chinua Achebe summarizes the Heart of Darkness concerning Marlow. His adventure in the jungle of Africa to look for a trade of ivory called Mr. Kutz.  He wanted to introduce him to civilization. Due to Mr. Kutz objection, he decided to order men to attack the steamboat he had boarded. Africans glorified mr. Kutz,’ and he adored it. Marlow’s attempts succeed in bringing Kutz on the steamboat. On their return to England, Mr. Kutz dies. Kutz last phrases were “the horror, the horror” and Marlow travels back without him. On his arrival, he visits Kutz intended and presents the old letters from Mr. Kutz. She mourns for his demise as a great man and demands to be told his words where Marlow responds “Your name.”

Critics have engaged in the debate about Chinua Achebe’s novel “An image of Africa” criticizing the works of Conrad “Heart of Darkness” about the cultural and political revolution in their eras.


Early critics said that the novel was “one of the events of a masterpiece and literary year” (Chinua 301). One critic said that the novella had the destructive knowledge and people should not think that Joseph’s novella was against imperialism, expansion or colonization. It should be seen as an experience of adventure, where its conclusion features a woman idealizing memory acts of Kutz as a method of expressing the journey he journeyed (Thelwell 321). Another critic revealed Kutz intended as heroic through her villain’s belief (Williams 45). In another book review, critic explains Conrad’s shift from past classes as fictional. “Heart of Darkness” does not only focus on adventure and movement but also on the torture and harassments experienced by Africans in their land as European search for ivory.

Zeleza (122) evaluates works of Nelson Mandela and Chinua Achebe for the struggle of revolutionary and civil rights, in a demonstration of their effect on the struggle for Africa’s postcolonial identity in 20th Century. The author examines profile works of Achebe as he employs the characters mentioned in a novel “Things Fall Apart,” and articles are known as “An Image of Africa” to express his concerns about the literary skills of Achebe. Zeleza describes the ways which protagonists of Achebe found stuck between postcolonial independence, colonial African Community and traditional. The critic relates and compares Achebe’s national reclamation agency in a way which Mandela overcame the limits through complete work and knowledge within a climate of politics in the 20th century in Africa. When comparing the two legends, Zeleza creates an argument describing Achebe and Mandela as Citizens of Africa who loves their continent and embraces contradictions of African society in the 20th century.

Thelwell (34) evaluates African literary works of Chinua Achebe in books like “Things Fall Apart” and articles “An Image of Africa” in the criticism he made concerning Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and the meaning portrayed from Achebe’s evaluation. The author shows how Achebe applied citations from Joseph Conrad’s statements to enable writers possess words like “document and expose” referring to the wrong misconception of Africa like “a dangerous other” being famous Africa depiction in literature (Thelwell 35). The journal further applies the periods in the lecture of Achebe as a general in writing style since he applies stories and traditions and opts to use English instead of igbo his native language.

Williams (9) evaluates the political literature of Chinua Achebe as a man of his kind depicting the real world of literature in politics. Adebayo views the works of Achebe and his image as a self- dissolution man without having the attachments of culture, origins, class, race, nation or family. He uses the phrase like “perhaps it is a value of his extreme pessimism, but his reasons are not insubstantial” (Williams 19).

Williams (20) reveals the true character of Chinua Achebe and his Image in the Journal “An Image of Africa.” Both critics show negative portraits of Joseph’s book “Heart of Darkness” and praises Chinua Achebe as ever existed Africa who struggled for revolution during independence period through political literature.

Achebe (782) in his well-known critique, “An Image of Africa,” Chinua upholds strong position against Heart of Darkness by Conrad’s. He asserts that Conrad was depicted as a racist and a novella depersonalizes a part of the human race so must not be measured by great task of art. The quote from Chinua clearly demonstrates his opinion: (Achebe 176) “The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. That this simple truth is grossed over in criticisms of his work is because white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked.”

In regard to Chinua, Conrad was obsessed with the color of skin: he describes a person as being black with long black arms and long black legs. Chinua states a picture in the novella that after Kurtz’ death the manager’s boy is portrayed as placing his “insolent black head in the doorway” (Conrad 69). He also rejects the thought that Conrad was not racist since he is just describing what Marlow sees and thinks; this thought is ridiculous since there was no other alternative reference and the readers have believed what the characters’ state as truth because no one is there to dispute them. 

Achebe’s central point in censure is that Joseph Conrad thinks that all things must be in their stated position and how tragedy occurs when Europeans in good health tours the heart of darkness. Cannibals are good people when in their place. Africans are termed as savages of feral eyes using crude language comprising of grunts and phrases like a violent babble. Africa is viewed as another world through bestiality contrasting the refinement and intelligence of Europe. Africans are on some occasion regarded as specimens, Marlow on an African as an enhanced specimen since he can fire up a boiler (Achebe 172). This point is further discussed in the meaning of the two streams in the heart of darkness. Africa is described as being a prehistoric universe consisting of prehistoric people behaving in a “black and incomprehensible frenzy” (Zeleza 35). The Africans are leaping and howling and viewed as not inhumane. At this point, Marlow recognizes the humane fact of the tribesmen, even though he still regards them as being savages. He states how they possess faces as grotesque mask energy, a wild vitality, and strong muscles. According to Chinua, Conrad is describing things in their position.

To explain why Chinua feels against Joseph one should look at what occurred in Africa at hat period. In the 1960s some former European colonies of Africa attained their independence, which also signified the end of European era. The negritude movement emerged in the 1960s to 70s. The main focus of the association was to “unite peoples living in different nations through their shared ancestry and common ancestry and common origins” (Thelwell 77). This was criticized mainly due to focusing on blackness, the skin color, and binary separatist oppositions, and another criticism was that it did not question negative associations through’ blackness.' However, it seemed too significant because it created an identity of African. Chinua was one of the Pan- Africanism associations whose aim was to unite native Africans for colonialism to end.

Achebe feels that the western psychology needs change has “set Africa up as a foil to Europe” (Achebe 170). Achebe sees that creating an African identity is significant to him and views it as one of the important role a writer must emulate (Szeman 15). In several occasions, he has been presented with this question “are you from Africa” and he noted that Africa looks to mean something to individuals. Chinua asks a question “when you see an African what does it mean to a white man?” (Zeleza 71). The European stare is what made the African identity. This may be why Chinua thought that identity was something we should proceed to reshape. Achebe claimed that: I am an Ibo writer because this is my basic culture; Nigerian, African and writer….no, black first, then writer. The aspect of contemporary Africans cultural living has been influenced with colonialism. Chinua needs to go beyond this circumstance and create an African identity. Achebe fails to understand the fact that he like Conrad is influenced by social norms, political influences and cultural beliefs of his time.

Conrad wants to present to the reader a sense of perplexity as to what seems to be secure could not be secure again. He realized that “darkness” might be illuminated or colonized.  Conrad’s limitation was that although he knows that colonialism in a particular way was simply land-grabbing and dominance (Okechukwu 12). He still did not comprehend that imperialism would end and the natives could live free lives from European control. In his period Conrad, could not give the natives freedom of their lives despite his critique of imperialism which enslaved them.

Chinua Achebe claims is that even though Conrad needed to add an alternative allusion he could have included. Chinua forces readers to believe what the characters speak in the novella as truth. A book could be short-sighted and narrow in its portrayal, but readers have some objective not to capture all that they hear as the truth. Marlow’s state of knowledge when he comes to Africa was limited and thus he might provide a simplified picture. In Chinua’s criticism, he states a novella which depersonalizes a part of the human race must not be regarded a good work of art. This was wrong even if the heart of darkness completely depicts racist, but it can still be of artwork. One must therefore not disregard early critics who happened to praise the novella’s prose and writing. Conrad may be considered racist as per today’s standards; unlike the time he wrote the book was not a racist at all. Conrad could not have imagined the novella as of being racist. It is difficult to determine on what was said in novella was written as of dramatic effect, Marlow seem to be created to slightly portray racist. According to Chinua this affects the importance of novella. This is possibly due the feelings racism and Africa is closer to Achebe’s heart. It is also possible to perceive Conrad of having a positive perception about Africa as he implies the origin of man to be in Africa. Marlow travels constantly to Africa and views Africa just like London “one of the dark place of the earth” (Conrad 5). He sees a connection in the birth of man and concludes that we all have a common ancestry.      

In summary, the previous response only focused on the artistic features of Heart of Darkness. They discuss on how beautiful and atmospheric the language can be. The aspect of the race is ignored. It is not surprising to see that racism picked no attention and race thinking was assumed to be something of natural and they were blind to it. In 1977 Chinua criticized Conrad and refers to him as a racist. He further claims that a novella depersonalizes a part of the human race must not account for as artwork. In the 1960s some former Europeans colony attained their independence.
