Comparison of Conrad’s and Achebe’s Presentation of Africans

Conrads Heart of swarthiness and Achebes Things F each Apart, some(prenominal)(prenominal) take place in the ticker of Africa and center around the conception of colonialism held by the European powers in nineteenth century. The differences between the 2 advancedfangleds be ironic totallyy as app bent as b overleap and discolour. As we begin to think approximately why Conrad and Achebe eat up employ so disparate tones on such a similar subject, we feel deal we be solving a secret plot.While reading Heart of Darkness we feel as if we be led through and through a never ending, dark, damp, gloomy and stinky corridor and the novel ends in an atmosphere which is darker, gloomier and filled with hostile people or possibly creatures. After reading Achebes Things Fall Apart, immediately our minds revert to a nearby region in Africa, to Umuofia, and we begin to think whether Nigeria is on the equal continent as congo, and if these dark creatures staring at the boat fro m the riverbank, are really related to Obierika, or even to the never smiling Okonkwo, who are in our minds sharing palm-wine and breaking kola seeds.Conrads and Achebes different approach to the themes of voice of Afri thunder mugs, presentation of colonizers and the effects of colonialism distinguish the two working from each other. The voice and presence of Africans differ intelligibly in two works because Conrad is looking through the perspective of the colonizer and Achebe, from that of the colonise. As declared in the introduction, Conrad has been dreaming of seeing the dark continent since childhood and has managed to go to Congo with the ambition to explore it.Marlow, vertical like Conrad, has always had the inte slumber in maps and he decides to go to this journey after seeing Congos map on a shop window. As Marlow feel outs when he is telling his story, It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery- a etiolated patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had compel a place of darkness, (p 22) we can realize that the mysterious trim back he was expecting to see didnt end up being enjoyable and stir him. We know that whenConrad first travelled to Congo, he was actually shocked with what he saw scarcely although he was surprised and horrified, he thought all the savage acts of white men as a part of globe and a necessity to keep this colony functioning. The way he refers to natives as black things, criminals or unhappy savages with no indication of pain in his feelings video displays that, as a civilise European who is a stranger to this new land, he convinces himself very easily to the idea that the Africans should be treated as savages.When he sees a young African reclining against a tree with drop eyes, waiting for his death, it is not his condition that strikes him the about simply he is more than interested in where he might have found the white thread tied around his neck. Also when he admits to himself that the accoun tant had verily accomplished something difficult (p 37) by teaching a native muliebrity to do the station tasks, we once again understand that he doesnt see them as of his equal and in some sense opine them as primitive beings with no intellect.Even if Conrad, as a source who has become a citizen of Great Britain, one of the leader countries of colonialism, regards all the atrocities in Congo as dark memories, he does not help the African voice to be heard and does not provide any fall taboo for an African to express himself properly, except a natives words, Mistah Kurtz, he dead (p 112) On the other hand, Achebe is no stranger to this land. He is in occurrence one of the dark mysterious figures, watching Marlows boat, sailing up the river. Naturally he has a very different story to tell.In Heart of Darkness, we are given a surreal encounter about the Africans. On the contrary, Achebes success, is presenting them as human beings, with names, no different in characters and in feelings than other people living in any part of the world. Although their springer might sometimes seem inexplicable to us, such as the prophet ordinationing Ikemefuna to be killed for no reason and villagers following his order, they still tend the same feelings any person would. After Ikemefunas death, Okonkwo who has loved him like his induce child, cannot taste anything for two days because of his sorrow.Similarly, after Okonkwo is exiled from the clan, Okonkwos friends terminate Okonkwos barn and hut as part of a tradition with no hatred in their hearts. But later on Obierika, Okonkwos best friend who was among those people, questions his friends punishment. Even though the Africans presented in Things Fall Apart identify themselves with their culture and have to follow the rules come down by their ancestors, they always show the reactions expected from any person. These people set by the same concerns, affections and flaws as every human being whereas Conrad, chooses to present them as primitive creatures or rather dark threats.As the boat sails on the river in Heart of Darkness, we are reminded of Jules Vernes Journey to the Center of the Earth where in similar dark surroundings, the scientists encounter extinct creatures whereas in Things Fall Apart, we get a chance to observe the richness of the Ibo culture and look at Africans from an objective point of view. The comparison of how the colonizers are presented in two novels portrays clearly the recurring opposition between refining and wilderness. This time, Conrad, openly displays the dim intentions of the colonizers, their greed more openly than Achebe.When the reader is told about how experienced divisor Kurtz is in collecting ivory, how cruelly the Africans are used as grasp force and are forced to work until they become exhausted, wear out and starve to death, it is seen that the so-called civilizing mission of the colonizers is actually destroying the Africans. We understand clearl y that the colonizers are after wealth, which in fact does not belong to them. Moreover, in both works, at that place is the irony about the colonizers, who are supposed to be representing civilization but instead acting way more primitively than the colonized Africans who are considered as savages.In Heart of Darkness, Mr. Kurtz who is admired and even worship by the Europeans, is collecting the heads of the natives and performing very brutal actions to acquire his ivory. association Doctors comment stating that any change the men sustain in Congo is internal (p 27), is a foreshadowing to the transition Kurtz goes through in the jungle. Wilderness has changed him he is no longer a process of a civilized society having lived together with the natives in wilderness. Also, when the Manager claims that Kurtzs methods are unsound (p 101), we start questioning the accuracy of the Managers own methods.The company responsible for extracting ivory is operating under a hierarchy, with numerous business principles so since Kurtz is a part of this chain of mountains, it can be argued that the methods of the colonizers are also as unsound as Kurtzs. When Marlow agrees with the Manager and says that he sees no method at all in Kurtzs actions, we can understand how Kurtz, as a colonizer has separated himself from civilized methods. Therefore, there is the contrast in between his reputation as a rare agent among colonizers, and his denial to play the game by the rules of a civilized society.On the other hand, the colonizers in Achebes Things Fall Apart, are given a more humane approach. They, like the natives are described as characterless people whom you can meet on the street, in your everyday life. Their most apparent feature are their arrogance and in fact their lack of knowledge and understanding. Achebe also emphasizes the irony about Africans turning out to be more civilized than the colonizers in many ways.When there is a opponent between missionaries and Af ricans caused by Mr.Smith, the new intolerant leader of the church, Ajofias words, We cannot direct the matter in his hands because he does not understand our customs, just as we do not understand his. We say he is silly because he does not know our ways, and perhaps he says we are erroneous because we do not know his, (p191) show that in fact the villagers are wiser, more mature and more civilized in way of idea than the colonizers. Africans can accept to be abuse in certain points, whereas the colonizers fail anything outside their own agenda.Even if Heart of Darkness gives us a better opinion about the cruel and uncivilized characters of the colonizers, Achebe also portrays the dying of African villages so dramatically that in planetary, we can say that both works demonstrate the corrupted souls of the colonizers effectively. The destructive effects of colonialism are presented both by Achebe and Conrad, but Conrad does not bring up the criticism of colonizing a country, whereas Achebe underlines its tragic results clearly.At the time Heart of Darkness was published, there were many people in the world who thought that there was nothing wrong with colonialism and in fact it was the right move to take for a sizeable country. It was believed by many that the natives were nothing but savages. Therefore, what Conrad says about colonialism, is well before of his time, but still the argument of whether he had to go along with the idea of seeing natives as dark savages , is of course questionable. From the beginning of the novel, Conrad shows the suffering caused by colonization through Marlows observations.We see natives each having an iron dog collar on their neck, all connected together by chains, empty paths that were used to belong to villages in which the population had cleared out. All these unpleasant images show the devastating results of colonialism but since Marlow, who experiences these brutalities with his own eyes, does not reach to the con clusion that all these are a result of human greed, it is not possible to say that Conrads Heart of Darkness is a direct critique of colonialism. thus far Achebe, having lived in a colonized country, knows what it feels like to have lived under the tender of others. He intentionally emphasizes the presence of a government, besides the church and shows that the white man, does not only want to convert the natives to Christianity or take outside their ivory and gold but also wants to rule them. Achebe does not veer to show how Okonkwos own people, although they might not be from his own clan, have joined the colonizers and are serving them as their messengers.When the messengers tell the villagers that they should profits a fine of two hundred and fifty cowries to release the several(prenominal) arrested men from the clan including Okonkwo, they plan to keep the fifty cowries for themselves and give the rest to the district commissioner who had initially decided on the fine as two hundred cowries. As it is seen, colonialism has not only caused the suffering of many Africans but also it created such a corruption that the people of the same land ended up betraying and fighting against each other.Even if both writers have based their story on the terrible outcomes of colonization, Achebe, as a translator of the African voice emphasizes the moral tragedy that leads to the formation of a chain of never-ending treasons between Africans. Colonization may work for the benefits of the colonizers, but for those who are being colonized, it gives only suffering, death, loss of identities, in short destruction and humiliation. The general attitude displayed by the colonizers, in justifying their actions, is their claims of bringing civilization to savages, faith and order to cannibals, technology or health care to the poor or ignorant.The fact that Heart of Darkness, begins on the river Thames, right in the heart of London, the river described as calm and beautiful, and moves into Congo river, its waters rough, full of dangers, dark, threatening, offering nothing but unexpected and unknown menaces, shows us the exact mentality of the colonizers, as they view Europe and Africa. It is a clear account of how they believe that, their civilization is superior, self-aggrandising them the right to expand their interests to wherever they see fit. A boat shimmy on the Congo River, according to them, is a measuring device which forget reveal how primitive the Africans are.The further you travel, the degree of primitivism rises. Just as Thames River is the antithesis of Congo River or Africa, with Conrad, Achebes characters show that the Africans are not subhuman or part of a different species, but are members of the human work with their flaws and virtues. Achebes last words in Things Fall Apart are The ataraxis of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger, the name of the commissioners book, is the very cliche colonial powers live by. It is in fact the m ost tragic ending to these woeful stories of shattered lives, erased cultures and a whole continent torn apart, by colonialism.