Chinua Achebe’s “An Image of Africa” close reads and analyzes Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as being potentially racist. The Heart of Darkness was originally published in 1899. Joseph Conrad got his inspiration for this book after he traveled the Congo River in 1890. Conrad refers to this trip multiple times during the Heart of Darkness as he tells his thoughts of his journey. There are many ways in which Joseph Conrad can be seen as a potential racist. One way is through the diction he uses when describing his trip and the people he encountered. Conrad is seen as a potential racist based on Chinua Achebe’s views and opinions of the Heart of Darkness. Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist and professor at Brown University. It may be assumed that Achebe takes a greater offense to the words of Conrad because of his background. Many question whether the Heart of Darkness should be allowed in libraries and school because of its racist content. This argument can be seen from both sides. Through many instances, Joseph Conrad can potentially be seen as a racist based on his diction in the Heart of Darkness and Achebe’s interpretations in “An Image of Africa”. 

Joseph Conrad is seen as a racist through the use of his diction in the Heart of Darkness. Multiple time throughout Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, he portrays Africans in an unpleasant manor. Chinua Achebe was able to support his thought of Conrad as a racist through quoting the Heart of Darkness. The choice of words that Conrad selected gives a negative impression of the Africans and their culture. “They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly” (Achebe 55).  Achebe quotes Conrad’s repetitive use of offensive terms such as inhuman, inferior and black. When Conrad speaks of his “unforgettable Englishman”, he speaks kindly and positively. Yet, Joseph Conrad does not speak kindly when he describes Africans. Marlow said, “They were nothing earthly now – nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the green-ish gloom” (Achebe 56). Joseph Conrad also uses vulgar language while talking about Africans. “A certain enormous buck nigger encountered in Haiti fixed my conception of blind, furious, unreasoning rage, as manifested in the human animal to the end of my days. Of the nigger I used to dream for years afterward” (Achebe 59). In “An Image of Africa”, Achebe states that he believes that Joseph Conrad was obsessed with the word ‘nigger’. 

Based on Chinua Achebe’s Nigerian ethnicity, he personally takes offense to the racism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe refuses to describe Conrad as an artist. Instead, he believes that the Heart of Darkness should not be seen as a piece of art. Achebe states, “…such a man is no more a great artist than another may be called a priest who reads the mass backwards or a physician who poisons his patients” (Achebe 58). However, Chinua Achebe is bold with his feeling on Conrad by saying in “An Image of Africa” that, “The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely, that Conrad was a bloody racist” (Achebe 58). It is clear that Achebe strongly dislikes Joseph Conrad through his openness and honesty about his feelings. Chinua Achebe even compares Hitler’s master races with “Conrad’s ‘rudimentary souls’” (Achebe 59). In “An Image of Africa”, Achebe repetitively discusses mankind and how the Heart of Darkness has impacted mankind. “I am talking about a book which parades in the most vulgar fashion prejudices and insults from which a section of mankind has suffered untold agonies and atrocities in the past and continues to do so in many ways and many places today” said Achebe (Achebe 60). 

“An Image of Africa” can be used as a teaching tool for aiding in the understanding of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. This close reading by Achebe is helpful to readers by increasing the reader’s chances of truly understanding Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It is disputed on if the Heart of Darkness should be allowed in schools and libraries based on the amount of racist content that it contains. Many believe that this amount of racism should not be allowed to be taught in schools. Others believe that through the teaching of Heart of Darkness, students can actually learn about Conrad and his diction. Joseph Conrad does belong in schools and libraries in order for students to learn about his story the Heart of Darkness. Some people would agree with Chinua Achebe’s belief that Joseph Conrad and his Heart of Darkness does not belong in libraries and schools because of the amount of racist content. 

There is major evidence against Joseph Conrad that validates him being a probable racist. The language of the Heart of Darkness perceives Conrad as a racist. Conrad focuses on the color of the Africans’ skin and speaks negatively about their culture. Joseph Conrad is also seen as a racist by Chinua Achebe. Achebe has strong unpleasant feelings for Conrad because of the way Conrad describes his experience on the Congo River and the people he encountered. Chinua Achebe’s Nigerian ethnicity impacted his views and opinions on the racism in the Heart of Darkness. Even though the argument concerning where Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness belongs still lingers, having his story and “An Image of Africa” in schools and libraries is a helpful learning tool to students.
