This quote I would say best sums up Achebe's objection.
"The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go com-that Conrad was a bloody racist" (8-9).
Not being very specific when I state this, but Achebe objects highly against Conrad! In terms of Heart of Darkness, Achebe brings up the idea of dehumanization in the reading. It is as Africa is this backdrop to everything else going on. He states how it should not be recognized as some prop that is ridden dry of the human factor. One main point/question he is trying to answer is "the dehumanization of Africa and Africans which this age-long attitude has fostered and continues to foster in the world" (9).
I want to take this and relate this whole idea of dehumanization to Apocalypse Now. The movie represented to me the sort of hazy and surreal landscape. The movie also shows how the American forces (Willard and his men) were hardly even seeing the Vietcong. Soldiers in the movie were taking the whole landscape of Vietnam has a huge prop. To me it was as if they were performing a play. Soldiers helicopter in, blow up an entire village, completely disregard an person, then surf.
What an idea.... Such as the theme in An Image Of Africa. Where is the human factor, this factor of human life.
The Africans were definitely dehumanized as well as the Vietnamese. I feel this issue is due to Ethnocentrism which has existed with people for years. Often when a group of people aren't understood they are not pictured as equals. Basically a lot of assumptions can be drawn up about a group of people simply because their ways are not understood. The real problem is that these cultures or ways of life are usually not considered and we just see them as different. This usually results in a lot of misconception I feel like and has always been like that throughout history. In all Ethnocentrism is the main thing to cause these worldwide issues I feel like.
ReplyDelete-Cole p
I totally agree with you both. It has been all too common throughout history for Westerners to dehumanize different peoples and cultures that they don't know, or try to understand. This is a theme that is common in both the movie as well as Heart of Darkness and Achebe does an amazing job calling it out. But what i loved most was that he doesn't stop there. He brings up Marco Polo, Picasso, and praised missionaries to further show this Western thought process of superiority and type of "Jr. Brother" treatment that has been around for centuries.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you both. It has been all too common throughout history for Westerners to dehumanize different peoples and cultures that they don't know, or try to understand. This is a theme that is common in both the movie as well as Heart of Darkness and Achebe does an amazing job calling it out. But what i loved most was that he doesn't stop there. He brings up Marco Polo, Picasso, and praised missionaries to further show this Western thought process of superiority and type of "Jr. Brother" treatment that has been around for centuries.
ReplyDelete