Heart of Darkness vs Things Fall Apart Essay

Heart of Darkness and Things driblet Apart show a variety of ways of depicting Africa in literature. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad shows the continent of Africa by means of the conventional perspective of the European sailors, who had a tendency to depict the aborigines of the land as savages, and in response to that matter, Chinua Achebe wrote Things F every(prenominal) Apart through the non-stereotypical depicting perspective of the intrinsics of the land to show Africans, not as savages or primitives, entirely as members of a traditionalistic society.European preconception is presented in a verifiable way in Heart of Darkness. The of import character of Heart of Darkness or protagonist, Marlow, is a sailor who travels through Africa and describes the natives that he comes in contact with as savages. Marlow comp atomic number 18s these different individuals to animals of some ad hoc nature or moreover to the wilderness of the jungle, respectively. There was a point in this novel where Marlows vision came in contact with a pit in the ground.He noticed that it was a pit made for the natives to go and appease in peace or in other words die. Marlow describes those natives that were there stating, Black shapes crouched, lay, sat in the midst of the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth in all attitudes of pain, abandonment, and desperation they were nothing earthly now, nothing and 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 descriptive portrayal shows the natives as shadows and nothing more than mere black shapes and not as individuals or men who be simply just last. These men are no longer men, they contribute been unfinished of all their characteristics which makes them hu military man to dehumanizing characteristics where none can tell the difference of one dying man to another. None of the dying men ar e described by oneself, which makes it difficult for the reader to see where one man ends to where the individual begins. This creates an effect where these individuals escort like eometric shapes and symbols of some sort.These depictions in which Marlow stated originates from a very stereotypical saying. The saying is that all Africans are made the same and one can not tell the difference between them even if much effort is applied. Similarly, there was an African man who was crawling to the river in order to quench his thirst. The way he was crawling in frequent is very dehumanizing. To make the matter worse and more dramatic, he crawled on his hands and knees which is animal-like and very degrading.The man is described to be on all fours just to get a drink, but when looking towards the European side, there is no way in Heaven that theyd be described like that. None. On the other hand, the European people would drink from a tap or maybe boil water from a well of some sort in or der to have a refreshing drink. The natives are compared to animals of the wild when Marlow begins describing one of the workers on the ship. Marlow states, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat walking on his hind legs (Conrad 36).This worker simply shows that the savages who are the Africans have a possibility of being tamed because, He ought to have been clapping his hands and stamping his feet on the bank (Conrad 37). One can see that this man has been stripped of being a human being. He is now an animal, a dog, maybe, who is being trained to do some type of trick. From Marlows point of view he is still an animal and none the less, this man is pretending to be a civilized being. Marlow doesnt stop there though. He continues to downgrade this European man by describing him to be just like the natives on the land.All in all, this is stereotypical. Furthermore, Marlow keeps his ball rolling by depicting the African natives as prehi storic and simplex. He states, The prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us who could tell? we glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a mad house (Conrad 35). In the mind of Marlow, the natives are so primitive that they are in an tantrum denied of having a language. Marlow sits there and begins to wonder who could tell? instead of making an effort to understand what the natives were saying out of their mouth.What can actually be inferred from this quote is that, the natives were probably jumping up and down like a bunch of kindergarten students at recess or something similar to that. One cant really be sure, but in all Marlow didnt even try to grasp what the native Africans were saying probably because he felt that they were savages, or maybe their able mindset wasnt as great and average to the Europeans, or the native Africans didnt have anything reasonable to say.Joseph Conrad with respect and similarity to Marlow, may have elect to not include a specific language probably because he was influenced by the European stereotypes of Africans. What can be inferred from this is that, the removal of a language suggests that the native Africans have nothing that is sophisticated enough to say that would be reasonable or important to add to the plot of the novel. In Heart of Darkness, the native Africans are very underdeveloped, just like a third world country would be, in order to have a control of language.Though, there are moments in which there is language which supports the native savage (Africans) at which this is the time a reader might even hear an African speak. Joseph Conrad uses a specific technique when he writes. He uses a limited exposure to the native Africans voices which tries to ignore anything that might bring stereotype about. In response to Joseph Conrad and the Europeans and their use of stereotypical depiction of Africans, Chinua Achebe, the aut hor of Things Fall apart portrayed Africans in a humanizing and traditional society.The Igbo tribe goes against the European stereotype in Things Fall Apart. The main character or protagonist Okonkwo does not agree nor does he disagree with the European belief that is shown in the novel. He is described in the novel to be, a man of action, a man of war (Achebe 8). Okonkwo is a very honorable man in the Umofia village, even though he has a very displeasing streak which is of violent nature. With Okonkwos strength and inability to be feminine, he is afraid of anything that is of feminine nature. His whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of misadventure and of weakness.It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy, he resented his fathers failure and weakness. And so Okonkwo was govern by one passion to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness (Achebe 10). What can be inferred from this quote is that, this is probably why Okonkwo was invariably in need of something that was filled with action but he still didnt fashion idleness. With the combination of these two aspects, Okonkwo can not care the outcome.Instead when violence is applied to this equation, Okonkwo is as good as can be. With this being said, this further supports the European stereotype as savage-like. When looking deeply into the lucubrate that Things Fall Apart display, one can notice the contrasting aspects between Umofia and Okonkwo. Okonkwo doesnt have any respect for his wives. As an Igbo man, Okonkwo man-handles his wives and children without holding back. Noticing the tone at this point in the novel, one can see that it is very much common for Igbo men in general to beat the ripe bananas out of their wives and children, but at a certain time.Okonkwo man-handled his wife during Umofias Week of Peace. Beating your wives and children in order for them to have respect f or you is one thing, but when one disobeys the traditional setting of the clans week of peace then drastic problems do arise. Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess. It was unheard-of to beat somebody during the sacred week (Achebe 19). Since Okonkwo felt as if he was the man on top of all and that he could do as it pleased him so, problems arose between himself and Umofia.The feminine force is his wife. And with that being noted, Okonkwo could not remove himself from his violent streak for even a week. Just a week but when comparing this to the perspective of Heart of Darkness this form and lack of self-control goes to the Europeans motive that Africans are savages. Towards the end of the novel, Okonkwo commits suicide by hanging himself. When the partition Commissioner look at Okonkwos lifeless body, he states In the book which he planned to write The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would m ake fire reading.He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger (Achebe 117). What can be inferred from the title of the book is that the District Commissioner is prejudiced about the native Africans. In Heart of Darkness, Africans are also described as primitive, which shows that the Europeans stereotype is so vast that it is able to be used in two very separate and different works.All in all, in Heart of Darkness the Europeans notions was that all Africans are the same they are primitive, savages, and inhuman. In contrast to that stereotype, Things Fall Apart showed a traditional society, where the members are not inhuman. Unsatisfactorily, Okonkwo who is the protagonist of Things Fall Apart was not an effective representation of a civilized individual of a traditional society. But, he was an exceptional member of the society. And even though the stereotype of Africans has not been destroyed, it empowers the European beliefs.