Otherness refers to a tendency of socially powerful people to identify the less powerful or marginalized group of people in the society. This process of ‘othering’ can be based on one’s gender, economical condition, cultural status or on the type of locality one belongs to. Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is one of the most popular texts that show an image of Africa and of the natives. Despite being highly acclaimed, this novella foregrounds a typical notion of otherness through its plot and symbols. This study focuses on theme of otherness and on representation of a distorted racial identity in this novella. Moreover, the study illuminates a contrasting representation of the other through analysis of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
Heart of Darkness is an 1899 novella about a voyage into Africa up the river Congo. The whole novella is narrated by one narrator namely Marlow regarding the story of Kurtz, a trader of ivory. This story of Kurtz allows the writer to represent Africa as a place of darkness and mystery and London as one of the most civilized place on earth. This novella seems to protest against racism and imperialism. On the contrary, the text itself has highlighted the difference between savages and civilized people (Nofal 78). It has been found that people of Africa has been represented as wild and savage as the place itself. In this context, it needs to be stated that intention of the writer has been showing the terrible side of colonialism and imperialism. According to Achebe (15), this novella has described Africa and its people as an antithesis of civilization or of Europe. One of the most important factors lies in the fact that the novella has been narrated by one singular narrator who is describing many characters as he versioned them. On the other hand, there are numerous symbols in this text including symbol of horror that symbolizes colonialism and symbol of darkness that symbolizes Africa and the natives.
Natives of Africa have been portrayed in this novella as uncivilized, wild and savages who are indulged in crimes. In addition, natives are sometimes termed as cannibals who are treated badly by European masters. It has been fore grounded that culture of natives are far more different than that of Europeans. Marlow, the narrator has been seen to be disgusted by the way the natives eat when they run out of food. On the contrary, the narrator does not give much heed to what has been done to the natives by the superior whites. Lack o technical knowledge has been another reason for seeing the natives as savages. According to Batur (319), the notions of natives and their masters have been shown in different ways so that they do not mix as the one.
On the other hand, the novella represents Europeans as forbearers of civilization and development. For that reason, European society has been related with superiority, intemperance and self gratification. On the contrary, the motto of the representation of Europeans was to show the repressive mentality of the white masters. Kurtz has been shown as a victim of imperialism who has also been portrayed as representative of European society (Manatschal 24). Thus, it can be said that Conrad tried to portray the pitfalls of civilization and of colonialism through the portrayal of Europeans and natives in the novella.
As mentioned above, Heart of Darkness has described Africans as the ‘others’ in order to illuminate the ‘self’ that is the Europeans. On a broader scale, Africa itself has been portrayed as the ‘other’ kind of world that lives under the veil with numerous secrets and mysteries hidden inside it. According to Wesley (21), this otherness has been used to describe character of Kurtz as reflector of imperialism. On the other hand, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is another remarkable piece of writing that portrays this otherness from various angles. In this regard, this can be said that rather than a group of people, a single person can be tagged as the other because of own life choices or social status. In opinion of Hojjat, Mahdi and Esmaeil (9), this text has perfectly explained notion of otherness while discussing about groups like women, effeminate men, Igbo people who have been seen as inferior to others just because they are different. So, it can be said that this text shows a less generalized version of otherness while Conrad focuses mainly on racial inferiority in his novella.
Conrad in his novella presents a critique of colonialism on the backdrop of Africa. Moreover, the text criticizes the destructive side of imperialism and the wrath of whites over the native Africans. However, this novella has been highly criticized for being racist probably unintentionally (Alaei and Saeideh 211). For example, the narration of Marlow shows Europeans as one of the victims of colonialism. In addition, the people of Africa have been portrayed in a vague way which hinders the readers from seeing them as individual beings. In opinion of Engel (39), European perspective has been given more privilege and for that reason, a European narrator has been telling experiences of ‘others’ (Africans) on their behalf and not themselves. Thus, it can be said that this text has reaffirmed superiority of Europeans while rebuking the same. As an outcome, both European and natives have been given superficial identities that in a way promote racism and identity crisis throughout the text.
Conclusion:
This study has been dealt with notion of otherness as portrayed in the novella namely Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. For that reason, an analysis of the novella has been discussed in relation to representation of Africa. On the other hand, representation of distorted idea of natives has been illumined along with description of Europeans in this text. In addition, the notion of racial identity or racism has been elaborated as identified in this novella. Moreover, the image of the other has been fore grounded through a comparative discussion with special reference to Achebe’s Things Fall apart.
Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” The Massachusetts Review 57.1 (2016): 14-27. Print.
Alaei, Mahya, and Saeideh Ahangari. “A Study of Ideational Metafunction in Joseph Conrad’s” Heart of Darkness”: A Critical Discourse Analysis.” English Language Teaching 9.4 (2016): 203-213. Print.
Batur, Pinar. “Heart of Violence: Global Racism, War, and Genocide.” Handbook of the sociology of racial and ethnic relations. Springer, Cham, 12.1 (2018): 313-327. Print.
Engel, Adam J. “Talking Heads: Bodiless Voices in Heart of Darkness,” The Hollow Men,” and the First World War.” Conradiana 45.3 (2013): 21-46. Print.
Hojjat, Mahdi Bakhtiari, and Esmaeil Najar Daronkolae. “By the Name of Nature but against Nature: An Ecological Study of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” Journal of Anthropology & Archaeology 1.1 (2013): 1-12. Print.
Manatschal, Anita. “Switzerland–Really Europe’s Heart of Darkness?.” Swiss Political Science Review 21.1 (2015): 23-35. Print.
Nofal, Khalil Hasan. “Darkness in Conrad’s heart of darkness: A linguistic and stylistic analysis.” The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics 6 (2013): 77-93. Print.
Wesley, Charlie. “Inscriptions of resistance in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” jml: Journal of Modern Literature 38.3 (2015): 20-37. Print.
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