The Depiction of African Colonialism by Achebe and Conrad - Paper Example

Introduction

"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe and "The Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad delineate contrasting views about colonization in Africa. The Heart of Darkness exposes Africa through European colonization, which depicts Africans as a violent force of barbarians and savages. On the other hand, Things Fall Apart depicts Africans as members of a highly developed and sophisticated culture in a thriving society. Although both novels reflects that Africans as colonial enterprises are savages, Conrad consider cultures subjected to colonialism as primitive while Achebe sees them as culturally advanced, complicated and nuanced but dominated by colonialism. This distinction between Achebe and Conrad is undeniable and important but Conrad depicts Africans in a racist way while Achebe considers his natives normal humans who exist in a virtuous society with a complicated hierarchy. Thus, Conrad shows how European powers destroyed African-savage cultures, while Achebe shows how colonialism destroyed cultured and sophisticated Africans-this gets to the heart of colonial injustices in Africa.

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Colonialism and its colonial aspect are observed to be based on one's own observation. The setting of Things Fall apart is at a time of Colonialism in Africa. Although Achebe primarily looks into his experience and the life of Okonkwo in Africa, he offers thoughts and insights of other characters such as Ekwefi, Obierika, Nwoye, Ikemefuna. The use of different characters allows the readers observe different voices using different angles and lenses, and the thought of the life of the Igbo people. In his narration, Achebe does not allow the reader to sum up Africans as underdeveloped, primitive and savages; rather he describes the modern and simple life of Africans and considers them as culturally advanced, complicated and nuanced but dominated by colonialism. Africans had great abilities such as the use of proverbs and the art of their conversation. Achebe describes that the African language is too complex for the colonizers to translate making it a sign of their rebellion against colonizers. Achebe is also realistic in describing the food and customs of the Igbo people. He tries to show the bad and good sides of Igbo culture and food without trying to make them look good. Contrary, Conrad does not have any knowledge about African's way of life and culture and portrays them as animalistic and represent them with prejudice. Unlike Conrad, Achebe represent Africans real image without prejudices yet he was born and bred in Africa, and has a better understanding of the traditions and culture of the African people.

The Racial prejudice depicted by Conrad in the Heart of Darkness is seen when Marlow depict Africans as "black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth in all attitudes of pain, abandonment, and despair.... they were nothing earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation..... One of these creatures rose to his hands and knees and went off on all fours towards the river to drink (CONRAD 17). This reflection and perception towards Africans as black shadows and black shaped creatures means they are considered animals, which is also degrading. Besides, Marlow further calls Africans as simple and prehistoric. Conrad writes, "A prehistoric man was welcomed us, prayed to us and cursed us (35)." Besides, Conrad considers the natives as to make a violent babble of sounds rather than having a sensible speech. Thus, this means that they were seen as unsophisticated by the European colonialists. Marlow also depicts the dark and grim picture of the African continent. For example, "he considers the banks of Congo River to be rotting in mud, with thickened waters invaded by mangrove trees that looks at us in impotent despair. " Considering the Congo River as rotting is stereotypical and shows the African image as deplorable and wild. Thus, Conrad story depicts the history and culture of Africans in a racist manner.

In Things Fall Apart, Achebe tries to break the stereotypical nature of Africa by Europeans as an uncivilized and cultureless nation through a detailed elaboration of the traditions and customs of Umuofian people. He tries to explain their justice system and how their culture flourished before the coming of the colonizers. For example, Okonkwo had to flee from his clan because he had accidentally killed a young boy aged 16 at his father's burial. According to the Umuofia clan, killing a clansman was an offense against the earth goddess, and the perpetrator of the crime had to flee the village. The murder was unintentional ergo; Okonkwo was allowed to return to the town after seven years. Apart from banishment, Okonkwo's walls were broken down and burnt, his animals killed, and his house burnt early the next morning.

Although Achebe succeeds in reducing the stereotypes perpetuated by Europeans to a certain extent, he agrees that Africans are savage and violent. For example, he gives an account of Okonkwo by describing his masculinity and suppresses his feminine side because their culture considers it unmanly and weak to show affection and love. Okonkwo is punished for beating Umuofia, his wife, and he could not have stopped regardless of the fear of the gods. During the week of peace, Achebe describes how it was against the customs to beat children and wives. This means that the practice was common, but extreme violence was forbidden and that is why Okonkwo was banished when he accidentally shot one of his own, an African. Besides, Okonkwo also killed Ikemefuna using a fatal blow because he was afraid of being seen as weak (38). Thus, from Conrad and European perspective, they saw such violence as lack of self control which categorized Africans as barbarians and savage. Achebe sees that the Europeans only experienced the brutal side of Okonkwo, but they were never exposed the culture of the Igbo people, which defies such characters and actions.

Considering the language of Conrad and Achebe on colonization, it can be concluded that they were both highly democratize and intellectual. Africans were not aware of the Europeans before colonization yet their society was not mindless. They had poetry and dignity, which they lost after the European colonizers came. This means that the major issue in Things Fall Apart is the lack of understanding between the colonialist culture and the culture of the Igbo people. For example, the Africans ask how the Europeans can call the African culture bad and primitive when they do not even speak the African language. Therefore, Conrad in The Heart of Darkness did not understand the culture of the Igbo people and he could not relate to the African terminology and language to write a story about it and stereotype their culture. For example, considering the economic customs of the Igbo people such as the marriage negotiations for the daughter of Obierika, the wedding ceremony, the use of sticks, the brides jewelry and the drinking of palm wine shows how the culture of the Igbo people was complex. Such marriage customs also involved paying wedding costs and dowry by the groom. This means that the perception of terming Africans as uncivilized and primitive were untrue.

Achebe in Things Fall Apart represents the African culture while Conrad in The Heart of Darkness represents the European culture. This means that the representation their representation towards both African and European culture is different. The Ibo and Europeans in Things Fall Apart have distinct cultures, but their cultures try to blend with the incoming of missionaries particularly when they tried to communicate and coexist together. The European culture is different from the Igbo culture as Conrad describes that Europeans such as Kurtz tries to connect with the native culture and people but later taken down by other Europeans. Both Achebe and Conrad in their novels also represent the practice of each culture to represent evil things. For example, the European colonizers and missionaries introduced the church, which the Igbo people saw just as a building raised by colonizers who settled within their territory because they did not recognize who Jesus was. This made the natives to feel like the gods had cursed their race. The people of Umuofia were belittled, and their customs spat on by the white people who introduced their language in the form of education. One is prompted to wonder whether or not they also abandoned their culture in preference for that of the English people. On the other hand, the Europeans considered the Congo River to be inhabited by evils because they had never lived in the region and the vines covering the river added to their belief of an evil atmosphere.

Conclusion

Overall, Things Fall Apart is seen as both a tragedy and a quest of the World literature n Africa, while the Heart of Darkness is considered as what the colonial Europeans were killing for. The novels by Achebe helps to shape people's perceptions about Africa while Conrad's novel paint a picture of a not so well Africa, which does more harm in people's perspective about Africa. Conrad depicts Africa as a dark continent and Africans as savages in an uncivilized continent who had to be enlightened by Europeans. Achebe really struggled to write a novel with realism about what Africa is all about. He did that in attempt to respond to blind truths from authors such as Conrad on the rigidity, cruelty, time of colonization, and barbarism of the African people. Therefore, he tried to sympathize with the African by portraying it with specialty and looking into the effects that European colonialism on Africa. This means that the mindset of the Europeans was very different from that of the Igbo people particularly before colonization. Thus, Achebe depicts how colonialism destroyed cultured and sophisticated Africans-this gets to the heart of colonial injustices in Africa.

References

Alam, M. M. (2014). Reading Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart from the Postcolonial Perspective. Reading, 4(12).

Farn, R. (2005). Colonial and Postcolonial Rewritings of" Heart of Darkness": A Century of Dialogue with Joseph Conrad. Universal-Publishers.

Okafor, C. A. (1988). Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe: two antipodal portraits of Africa. Journal of Black Studies, 19(1), 17-28.

Pallua, U. (2004). Africa's Transition from Colonisation to Independence and Decolonisation: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, and Moses Isegawa's Abyssinian Chronicles. ibidem-Verlag/ibidem Press.