While reading Achebe's account of his opinion about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness I found that paragraph 56 was most intriguing to me. I thought the statement that Africa was "a carrier onto whom the master unloads his physical and moral deformities so that he may go forward, erect and immaculate," seemed to be a rather compelling argument not only for the subject at hand but for many other modern day debates. And it seemed to be something we are taught from a very young age, "mirror, mirror on the wall who is the prettiest of them all." Me of course, right I know. j/k. Anyways, I believe the world has always been obsessed with self-image and confidence problems, and one way we deal with that is to compare ourselves to those around us.The more I thought about this the more I could see our society doing this as whole, over very ridiculous things, such as looks and fashion. And what about radical Islam, Christians are seen as vile and disgusting beings that must be wiped from the face of the earth. What about the Holocaust, people seen as different were seen as "inferior." There are many instances of this throughout history, and it makes me laugh, the desire people have to help there own self-confidence by tearing down others is quite ridiculous.
VERSUS
As for Achebe I believe he does make some rather interesting points about some of Conrad's possible motives and the way he could have stated some things differently in the book. He also makes the point of using a narrator behind a narrator so as maybe to hide is own beliefs. It did become rather obvious to me though that Conrad could have describe the setting a little differently if he really wanted to make a stand against what was actually taking place. After all I did find it rather hard to understand what points were being made and now that I have read Achebe's argument about the European comparison, I can see where he is coming from. The way Africa is referred to as the "Dark Continent" by the English is a rather absurd name to associate with a place because it is different and unknown.
2 comments:
Nice blog. I loved tyhe way you set it up, as if the images are battling each other. I also love the humor that you bring to your blogs, as well as mine. :) And, just so you know, asses are in! :)
Uncalled for, you beat me to posting. I agree with Brandy, great set up. Good points as well with the "mirror mirror".
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