In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa, he talks about Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness more in depth and analyzes what Conrad really meant in his 1899 piece which now is considered a classic among several schools. Throughout Achebe’s story, he claims that Conrad’s meaning is not as subtle as it may come across.  He does so by emphasizing his points with the use of literary elements such as repetition and striking imagery.  With the proper uses of these elements, Achebe reveals what Conrad was really trying to say about this new foreign land.

One of the main devices that Achebe uses to emphasize his point is repetition.  He puts emphasis on the words black and dark that Conrad uses in his book.  The quote “A black figure stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms” is a prime example of repetition (Achebe, 59).  Achebe specifically chooses this sentences from Heart of Darkness to show the negative connotation that Conrad puts with the word black.  The fact that Achebe points out that Conrad uses the word black three times in this sentences helps proves Achebe’s underlying theme that Conrad does not see the Africans on the same level as himself or as a person in general.  Even Conrad’s title Heart of Darkness is an example of the repetition.  “…they were nothing earthly now- nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation” is another example of repetition used throughout the story (Achebe 57).  Achebe incorporates this into the story to put emphasis on the fact that Conrad again uses the word black as if it is like death.  Achebe wants the reader to understand through the use of repetition of the word black that Conrad is not putting a nice meaning with this word.  Instead, he is putting a negative meaning and comparing the adjective black to death and sorrow.  Achebe wants to make the point that Conrad’s use of repeated word choice shows his true colors of what he really meant when he wrote The Heart of Darkness.

Achebe also uses striking imagery and vivid vocabulary to get his point across to the readers.  In the quote “The eagle-eyed English critic, F. R. Leavis, drew attention nearly thirty years ago to Conrad’s adjectival insistence upon inexpressible and incomprehensible mystery” (Achebe 54), Achebe uses very descriptive language such as “eagle-eye and inexpressible and incomprehensible mystery” (Achebe 54).  He uses the term eagle-eyed to describe F. R. Leavis saying that he saw through Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness just like Achebe did but without just blatantly saying it.  He also uses the words inexpressible and incomprehensible mystery to describe the fact that Conrad’s mystery of Africa really was not easily understood on the surface but once really looked into and analyzed then Conrad and his real point of the story could be seen right through.  The quote “But suddenly as we struggled round a bend there would be a glimpse of rush walls, of peaked grass-roofs, a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us -- who could tell?” has many examples of Achebe’s use striking imagery (Achebe 54).  This whole quote talks about how Conrad saw the Africans as nothing but savages.  When Achebe points out that Conrad said “…a burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage” his main goal is to use this imagery to show the reader just how Conrad thought of these people and how Conrad really did not see them as people (Achebe 54). He saw them more as animals or soulless swaying bodies.     

Achebe uses literary elements like repetition and striking imagery and vivid vocabulary to pull the reader in, to really make the reader look past the surface of just the words on the paper and analyze what is really happening in Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness.  Throughout An Image of Africa that is Achebe’s main goal is to show the reader what was Conrad’s true purpose of his writing.  Without the uses of Achebe’s literary elements, An Image of Africa would not have the same passion and strong leading points that it presents now.  
