Achebe’s article also states that Heart of Darkness allegedly makes use of the dichotomy between the river Thames and the Congo River to juxtaposition the light and dark, or civilized and savage themes of the novella.
Joseph Conrad also is purported to have deliberately influenced the reader’s emotions and perception through a combination of adjective and prose. He effectively delivers an immense amount of imagery and is able to convey thought in an allegedly crafty and tricky way, therefore influencing the readers mind on the subjects in the novella.
Achebe’s article alleges that Joseph Conrad also portrayed the indigenous peoples of Africa as savage and sub-human quite brazenly with open remarks that place the humanity of the Africans under question. Heart of Darkness supposedly also gave stereotypical remarks about the Africans which directly influenced the reader’s image of the natives. Joseph Conrad supposedly gave great detail to some Africans such as Kurt’s mistress; however they also apparently suggest that even this woman is only nearly capable of being a civilized human being. Achebe submits to the reader that dialogue between the Africans and the civilized Europeans (such as Marlow) were some of Conrads greatest remarks on the state of the Indigenous, including the cannibals.
Achebe also states that Joseph Conrad purportedly used his character Marlow, as a vessel to convey his racism without being criticized for his supposedly racist remarks in the book.
Achebe responds to many points students of heart of darkness have made to him, mainly on the subject of racism, by alleging that the book does spend a considerable amount of time on Kurtz’s deterioration in the jungle, but more importantly, that Africa was the setting for this corrosion of civilization.
Achebe concludes his article by surmising that people in our present day and age (or that of 1974) do not view the novella or Joseph Conrad himself as racist, because such an attitude towards Africans was normal in his time. He concludes however, by stating that its alleged racism may have been acceptable at the time, but it’s supposedly racist message still finds its way into classrooms of the modern age.
Achebe’s article claims that Conrad’s experience, documented through his very eyes (or at least those of Marlow’s) is allegedly not the genesis for the image of Africa that the reader experience, but rather the very common image the Western world held of Africa. Conrad was supposedly only perpetuating this already quite familiar western idea of Africa.
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