Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as "the other world," the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where a man's vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality. The book opens on the River Thames, tranquil, resting peacefully "at the decline of day after ages of good service done to the race that peopled its banks." But the actual story takes place on the River Congo, the very antithesis of the Thames. The River Congo is quite decidedly not a River Emeritus. It has rendered no service and enjoys no old-age pension. We are told that "going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginning of the world."
Is Conrad saying then that these two rivers are very different, one good, the other bad? Yes, but that is not the real point. What actually worries Conrad is the lurking hint of kinship, of common ancestry. For the Thames, too, "has been one of the dark places of the earth." It conquered its darkness, of course, and is now at peace. But if it were to visit its primordial relative, the Congo, it would run the terrible risk of hearing grotesque, suggestive echoes of its own forgotten darkness, and of falling victim to an avenging recrudescence of the mindless frenzy of the first beginnings.
...I realized that no easy optimism was possible. And there is something totally wrong in offering bribes to the West in return for its good opinion of Africa. Ultimately, the abandonment of unwholesome thoughts must be its own and only reward. Although I have used the word willful a few times in this talk to characterize the West's view of Africa it may well be that what is happening at this stage is more akin to reflex action than calculated malice. Which does not make the situation more, but less, hopeful."
Chinua Achebe’s criticism on Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness, explains not the characters struggle of two separate identities but the continent of Africa. The novel depicts Africa as “the other world,” and Conrad gives fine detail about Africa that society wouldn’t recognize as. Something that is far more important is the story of Conrad’s savages. If we were inclined to other sources, we might know that the savages had other occupations rather than merging together in an evil forest or materializing Marlow and his crew. If the West got rid of old prejudices and began to look at Africa in a new perspective, Western culture may look at the “savages” as just people. They can view the African people as highly gifted people and that they have much success in their enterprise with life and society.
The African “savages” had no choice which identity they wanted to be view as. Stereotypes of other cultures determined their identity. They struggled to tell other cultures who they really are because the stereotypes of the African savages has a grip and pervasiveness on Western society.
"The view that Conrad takes on Imperialism and Colonization is the separation of European cultures to African culture in order to bring to light the indistinguishable likeness of both cultures in personal characteristics. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad uses the imperalism of Africa in order to show the reader how both cultures are similar in the intrinsic view of men.
...With Marlow, Conrad takes the reader through a transformation. Without Conrad's blatant racism, the reader would not be able to undergo a change in thought. Achebe fails to recognize Conrad's racism as a vehicle for change. Without Conrad's racism there would not be a parallel between the Africans and Europeans which allows the reader to understand the underlying meaning of equality. It is a shared stance that Conrad was a racist but one cannot forget that Conrad's racism was the important vehicle for understanding the underlying meaning of the story. Therefore we cannot forget the importance of Conrad's use of racism in this novel."
Samuel Seward talks about the two separate identites of the Africans. This criticism is similar to the criticism by Achebe but Seward talks more in depth about racism also. The beginning of the novel, Africa is viewed with "savages." The Europeans first impression of them is people who are lower in social class than they are. We see through Marlow how the Europeans treat the savages but we also see the racism towards the Africans. The racism continues until Kurtz realizes that there is nothing different between the savages and the Europeans. Everyone is created equal and should be treated as equal. There is no difference between the savages and the Europeans.
Racism plays a big role in their struggle between two identities. The savages struggle between two identities because they are viewed only by what the Europeans see. Their identity is based on judgement. Their outer identity is affected by the stereotypes but their inner identity is no different than that of an European.
http://www.helium.com/items/1330880-the-use-of-racism-in-heart-of-darkness
Racism plays a big role in their struggle between two identities. The savages struggle between two identities because they are viewed only by what the Europeans see. Their identity is based on judgement. Their outer identity is affected by the stereotypes but their inner identity is no different than that of an European.
http://www.helium.com/items/1330880-the-use-of-racism-in-heart-of-darkness
"The most obvious reference to Gatsby representing a Christ figure is when narrator Nick Carraway states about Gatsby:
He was a son of God-a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that-and he must be about His Father's Business... (104).
He was a son of God-a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that-and he must be about His Father's Business... (104).
The character of Gatsby is also seen as a religious entity when Nick describes Gatsby's appearance in the yard the first night Nick sees him:
Something in his leisurely movements and the secure postion of his feet
upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to
determine what share was his of our local heavens (25).
Something in his leisurely movements and the secure postion of his feet
upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to
determine what share was his of our local heavens (25).
A somewhat less obvious, yet direct statement about Gatsby as Christ-like can be found in the recounting of the evening between Daisy and Gatsby in the past:
[Gatsby] knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God (117)."
[Gatsby] knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God (117)."
Jay Gatsby is viewed almost like a Christ figure in the novel The Great Gatsby. The narrator, Nick Carraway, describes Gatsby as a religious entity by his appearance in the yard the first night Nick sees him. Nick explains to Gatsby that he has “an extraordinary gift of hope…” this is directly related to Christianity in the Bible. Hope is one of the three virtues in Christianity. The Christ-like figure of Gatsby is his outer identity but his inner identity is different.
Gatsby is actually not a very moral person. There are several references of Gatsby’s materialism but also his pursuit of a married woman, Daisy. Coveting on his neighbor’s wife does not place him to be a religious figure. Nick finds serious flaws with Gatsby and later Nick ponders if there was actually something sinister about him. This is Gatsby’s true inner identity. The first appearance of Gatsby may seem like he is a very powerful and respected man, but in the end, many flaws prevent him to be a great man.
