After a deeper examination of “An Image of Africa” by Chinua Achebe, one can see how people view Africa differently from the 1800’s to today, which is important because it shows how the definition of “humanity” has changed over time. In Achebe’s story, he analyzed a story written in 1899 by Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness. He used various explanations to define Conrad as a racist who was only allowed to publish his works just because he was also a beautiful poet. In addition, he gave the opinion of a few students who view the image of Africa in today’s world differently. He also wrote about the opinions of two critics, F.R Leavis and Albert Schweitzer, and how they were concerned Conrad’s writing style was too harsh. As expected, people today view Africa very different than a person would in the 1800’s, such as Joseph Conrad. 

Conrad, a European author who wrote about the western view of Africa, believed that Africa was the foil to Europe. He believed that Europe was near a utopia while Africa was considered “the other world or the antitheses of civilization.” In his story Heart of Darkness, he often called Africans “savages or beats,” referring to them as less than or not even human. The setting of the story took place on two rivers, the River Congo and the River Emeritus. The River Congo represented Africa while the River Emeritus represented Europe. Conrad believed that “going up that [Congo] river was like travelling back to the earliest beginning of the world.” He also said that the River Emeritus had conquered its darkness, referring to how Europe was more settled and advanced than Africa. Conrad believed his harsh writing style and imagery behind the two rivers wasn’t enough, so he also used the story of a European expedition to further make his point. 

Those European expeditioners felt like they were wanderers on a prehistoric earth or even an unknown planet. They felt like they walked into “a black and prehistoric frenzy” where no sane man could take part in this “enthusiastic outbreak of a madhouse.” In addition, Conrad stated how the western mind had trouble thinking of Africans as the same race as themselves, and how it was excessively “ugly.” He didn’t even give those “animals” the knowledge of being able to talk. During the entire story only two of the “niggers” were able to speak, while the rest of them just “howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces” to communicate to one another. At first glance, when Conrad gave the ability to speak to two of the “monsters” it seemed like he was giving them a sudden act of generosity. Unfortunately, he needed to use their words to express the dumb brute’s “unspeakable craving in their hearts,” cannibalism. Conrad’s expression of Africa was often viewed as a normal one while in the 1800’s, but in today’s society, Chinua Achebe and many other critics can easily see how Conrad was a vulgar racist who also had the ability to write beautifully. 

In the beginning of “An Image of Africa,” Achebe told the reader a story about how a couple of students view Africa nowadays. While walking to one of his college lectures one morning, a random student had sparked a conversation with Achebe. When asked by the student what he taught, he responded with African literature. The kid then preceded to laugh and questioned whether or not Africa had “that kind of stuff.” His response showed how ignorance can overtake a person and takes away the benefit of learning about other’s cultures.  Two weeks later, he received a letter from two boys in Yonkers, New York. These boys wanted to learn about the customs and superstitions of an African tribe, because their high school teacher made them read Things Fall Apart, a piece which was also written by Achebe. They believed that if they truly wanted to learn the customs of the African people, they would have to visit Africa themselves. According to Achebe, there were two types of people when it came to analyzing the image of Africa: the people who were willing to learn and the people who were too ignorant to learn. If these two students were born in the 1800’s, they would most likely agree with Conrad and his thoughts, but in today’s society the biggest problem they could face is a possibility of ignorance, not horrid racism. Two critics who Achebe wrote about were smart enough to overcome the ignorance and criticize Conrad on his writing style.

F.R. Leavis, a critic from England, criticized Conrad on his excessive writing style 30 years ago. He pointed out how Conrad used “adjectival insistence upon inexpressible and incomprehensible mystery” to show the reader the impact of a scene or incident. Leavis also stated that when a writer used a “bombardment of emotive words” or “other forms of trickery,” it put a stake on the style of the writer. Conrad tried to protect himself from conflict by using a distant narrator named Marlowe. When he used a different narrator he could defend himself and say it was the view of the narrator when it could easily have been his view as well. Albert Schweitzer, a missionary who sacrificed abundant careers in music and theology in Europe, also disapproved of Conrad’s harsh word choice and proceeded to help Africa better its image. Schweitzer believed that “the African is indeed my brother but my junior brother.” Because of his belief, Schweitzer built a hospital for his junior brothers because he insisted they needed one. This sensational act of kindness made Albert a role model for both Europeans and Americans. Conrad would never even think of doing something as generous as building a hospital for the savages, and therefore he would never get praised as much as Schweitzer was.

The image of Africa of critics and a few students of today’s world was widely different from the image of authors in the 1800s. Conrad was criticized and exposed for his 1800 beliefs by both F.R Leavis and Albert Schweitzer. While on the other hand, Achebe points out that people today are too ignorant to be as harsh as Conrad, much like the student who approached him on his college campus and thought his teachings were funny. From “An Image of Africa” by Chinua Achebe, one can see how widely criticized Joseph Conrad’s writing style was, which is important because it shows how a person’s view of the image of Africa has changed over the past hundreds of years. 
