Heart of Darkness - Racism

The essay I chose further explained how Heart of Darkness could be perceived as a racist work. It was written in the spring of 1990 by Robert Hampson and makes many good points that all support the racism concept. Hampson’s first point was the difference in languages throughout the novella. Marlow recounts the story in English but we’re obliged to think that French is the medium for their conversations. Russian and African languages appear in ways that make them seem less significant than the French and English. For example, the author states that African languages are only present as sounds and Russian annotations are not decipherable. Africans constantly are being placed with a negative connotation in ways that aren’t exactly blatant. Another point is the whole darkness idea. The heart of darkness is definitely supposed to make us feel that there is an evil, grim feeling attached to it. This idea suggests that dark is bad, black is bad, further reinforcing the racist theory. Finally, Hampson points out the difference between Kurtz’s African mistress and his “intended” European fiance. The African woman is described as savage and the European woman is mature and faithful to her husband. I think the author set this essay up very well. His ideas were clearly stated and in a well-organized manner. There is definitely some bias in this essay but I believe it’s necessary for the idea that is being presented. I really didn’t consider Heart of Darkness to be a racist novella after reading it but now that I’ve read this essay, I can see how it could be placed in the category. I don’t necessarily agree because just like anything else, this text could have easily been over-analyzed. I agree that parts of it are definitely demonizing different nationalities but in the scheme of things, I think Joseph Conrad was trying to reveal bigger concepts than being racist.