Between Achebe and Watts: Two

Apposing Thematic Views Regarding

Conrad's Heart of Darkness

Informatics and Documentation

Submitted to Hasan Kazan

On 16 May, 2021

Malak Wehbe

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Table of Contents

1. Abstract..........................................................4

2. Discussion

2.1 Labels and Signifiers: A Technique to Marginalize or

Elevate Within a Debatable Angle.....................5

2.2 Attitudes Towards Portraits of women

In Heart of Darkness...........................................7

2.3 Ambiguity as an Intrinsic Feature..............7

2.4 A Mutual Admiration of

Conrad's Aesthetic Style.....................................7

2.5 The Origins of Aesthetic Images..................8

3. Conclusion

3.1 Deconstruction and structuralism

Features of the Fictional Text......................................................8

References……………………………………….............10

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List of figures

Figure 1..............................................4
Figure 2..............................................4
Figure 3 ………………………………..5
Figure 4 ………………………………..7
Figure 5………………………………...9

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Figure 1 Figure 2
(Biography.com) (academia. Edu)

1.Abstract

Between Watts and Achebe, art shapes different contradictory dimensions ;the former warns
critics and readers not to associate Conrad's intention in heart of darkness with racist
connotations and not to neglect the aesthetics ,whereas the latter stimulates the reader to
decipher the aesthetic style and the racist intentions behind and discover if the aim is to
destroy fellow humans (Unaegbu and Ani ,2017; Bloom,2008).

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2. Discussion

2.1 Labels and Signifiers : A Technique to Marginalize Or Alleviate Within

a Debatable Angle
"Homogeneous mass", "moribund shadows" , "grotesque masks" , "greenish gloom",
"shadows of starvation and disease"
To Achebe ,these words convey an extraordinary hostility toward the africans as if their
humanity were decided by the exploiting Eldorado Expedition members
or the color of the skin bound to existence and identity (Achebe,1977 / 1988). Besides, they
privileged themselves to determine the value of Africa's wilderness which seems negligible to
them stealing its resources including ivory and deforming its beauty (Achebe,1977 / 1988).

Figure 3 (Mattkish.com)

However, Watts ignored these labels and spots out the hatred inflicted on both Africans and
Europeans for Marlow marginalized the Europeans as well including Kurtz and the
expedition members as scoundrel and silly dreamers respectively (Bloom,2008;Unaegbu and
Ani ,2017).Not only Africa is labelled as gloom and dark but also London is as "one of the
darkest places" and he detests Paris: "the sepulchred city" ( Bloom,2008;Unaegbu and
Ani ,2017).

Marlow's hatred toward Europe cannot be ignored ,but it does not eclipse the eurocentric
oppositions between Europe as the centre of civilization, beauty and intellect and Africa as
its primitive , savage, ugly and ignorant antithesis which Achebe have discussed and Said
describes as cultural hegemony and an

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"unequal imperialist relation between centres and peripheries" (Bloom,2008; Bandia ,2006 ;
Achebe 1977 / 1988).

Furthermore, his hatred reflects his affiliation and loyalty to the expedition members and
Kurtz, especially when he creates the imbalance between the elegant and eloquent Europeans
and the grumbling of the half-naked natives,between the smooth and "woolly" hair, beauty
and ugliness,whiteness and blackness ( Achebe,1977 / 1988; Matt-kish.com).

Watts marginalized these details and underscores the aesthetic description of Africans'
vitality and energy during their dancing; they were described as"the healthiest and happiest "
, a " comfort to look at" and " need no excuse to be along the coast"(Bloom,2008). He points
out the majesty and beauty of Africa exposed by Conrad against the smallness of the
European intruders as "sluggish beetles on the lofty portico" and "buried in a cotton ball"
(Bloom,2008;Unaegbu and Ani ,2017).

But these expressions were contradicting wims to the portrayal of Congo river as a "snake" of
"suspicious ripples" and the africans as marginalized "shadows of starvation and disease" and
the jungle as a heart of darkness( Matt-kish .com)

The two contradicting images the narrator retrieved from his eidetic memory ,which imbibes
on his personal observation and participation in the original events, reflects his dilemma and
moral struggle (West, 2014;Bloom,2008).

Watts defends Conrad as an artist who is misunderstood by Achebe. His identification of

Heart of Darkness as a moral struggle and humanistic hope seems contradictory.
(Bloom,2008).

If Heart of Darkness is identified as a moral struggle ,it holds two opposing perspectives :the
ethical and nonethical, and the prejudiced subjectivity cannot be defended which Watts fell
into.

With dislocated subjectivity as Edward Said points, the narrator constructed his mental image
of Africa as a group of European colonies (Bloom,2008). Dislocated subjectivity nourishes
on the imbalanced power relation between Europe as a center and Africa as a periphery
whose humanity is rubbed (Bloom,2008; Bandia ,2006).

Thus, it is the same subjectivity that reconstructs a phantasm of fragmented and sudden
events retrieved from his eidetic memory in recalling them ( West,2014). For instance , the
hypnotic fog in which Marlow and his mates are buried in, the neurotic and rivets-killing
long journey ending with witnessing Kurtz
as an image of death carved out from ivory, "pitiful Jupiter " and his creeping on all fours to
a strange ritual where Marlow hallucinates of the devil's horns are fragmented ,sudden ,
unexplained and oneiric (Sepčić, The Dream Universe of Conrad's Heart of Darkness).

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Figure 4 (Mattkish.com)

Defending this subjectivity scholarly as destruction of Marlow and Kurtz psychology in

Africa which is a chosen setting, its intention to dehumanize Africa is excluded (Achebe
1977 / 1988).

Repelled from the sublimizing defence , Achebe sheered out the feelings and attitudes of the
narrator,Marlow, toward Africa, which stimulates the reader to look at Africa as impenetrable
and damp heart of darkness and watch its natives as prehistoric beings through the racist eyes
of the colonizers (Achebe ,1977 / 1988 ).

Watts neglects the racist connotations for Conrad had written reports about the Belgian
company's crimes and depicted the sufferings of the natives instead of concealing them in his
Heart of Darkness in page 19:
"They were dying slowly -- it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not
criminals, they were nothing earthly now -- nothing but black shadows of disease and
starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom."(Matt-kish. com; Bloom,2008).

Still the desire to marginalize Africa and its natives persists, which made him unable to
control himself even when it reaches to marginalize his fellows for their "acrobatic"
movements who commanded him to " Try to be civil" and described his experience as absurd
and his paradoxical views : a new and objective perspective Conrad had embedded according
to Watts
( Bloom,2008).

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Achebe noticed Conrad's condemnation of the colonization , but it is limited since he does
not conclude that Africans should set themselves free instead he labels them as savage
cannibals and prehistoric beings supplementing their land :
" 'Catch 'im,' he snapped, with a bloodshot widening of his eyes and a flash of sharp teeth --
'catch 'im. Give 'im to us.' 'To you, eh?' I asked; 'what would you do with them?' 'Eat 'im!' he
said curtly " (Achebe ,1997 /1988 ; matt-kish.com).

2.2 Attitudes Towards Portraits of women in Heart of Darkness

Discarding these portrayals , Watts chides Achebe for neglecting sexism in Heart of
Darkness which degrades women as "far from truth " and inferior including his aunt who
helped him to get a job from the expedition and Kurtz’s beloved who sees that her name as
Kurtz’s dying words is more credible and satisfying to her more than
his real dying words: “the horror ,the horror! "
(Bloom, 2008)

Watts' conclusion contradicts Achebe's stance regarding the dehumanization of Kurtz’s

fiancée as wild-eyed and Kurtz's intended despite that Conrad described her as magnificent
signifying her beauty as well (Achebe, 1977/1988).

Similarly, Conrad refers to the boat as she in which he views her as his only possession just
as Kurtz describes the ivory as his intended. They both associate the femaleness with
submission and wilderness and inferiority (Achebe, 1977/1988).

2.3 Ambiguity as an Intrinsic Feature

Ambiguity, which Watts labels as intrinsic factor, is shaped by the sceptical boldness of the
tormented Marlow due to the absence of boundaries between irrational hate and irrational
love which is witnessed by Achebe in the colonizer's black-and-dark obsessed self (Bloom,
2008; Achebe, 1977/ 1988).Also, the ambiguity is evident in the effacement of boundaries
between Africa and Europe, between nature and culture, between the ''light'' and the
‘‘darkness’’ (Bloom, 2008).

2.4 A Mutual Admiration of Conrad's Aesthetic Style

Besides these disagreements regarding art and intention, both Achebe and Watts share an
admiration of Conrad's aesthetic style especially when describing the majesty of the
wilderness whose trees barred the expedition's way or the river as a lofty portico
(Achebe,1977/1988;Bloom,2008).

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2.5 The Origins of Aesthetic Images
These images are
detailed and subjective which suggest a fusion between eidetic memory: a source of Conrad's
experience as a sailor and iconic memory: a repertoire of his personal observation in addition
to his imagination which enhances referential and emotive use to create a verisimilitude (illus
ion of reality) and symbolic dimensions. (West, 2014).

3. Conclusion

3.1 Deconstruction and structuralism Features of the Fictional Text

To conclude, Kurtz's dying words point out not only the nonsense of corruption as Watts and
Sepčić imply and obsession and racism as Achebe emphasizes, but also the horror of
indeterminacy in which Marlow and Kurtz trapped into resulting indecisiveness and
helplessness ,when Europe became" one of the darkest places of earth" to Marlow ,when
Kurtz creeped on all fours to a strange ritual ,when Europe lost its essence due to control and
imposing its culture onto others as Spivak quips (Bloom,2008; Achebe,1977/ 1988; Bandia,
2006; Collins and Mayblin,1996/2012).
In other words, an effacement of the boundaries between Africa and Europe is achieved .

Figure 5…(Mattkish.com)

Whether Conrad's intention is to ignite the prejudice or not , it cannot rule the text for it is
banished despite the dislocated subjectivity overwhelms his writing and reestablishes his
dream universe,which is characterized by ambiguity , hallucinations and unexplained sudden

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fragmented memories( Sepčić,The Dream Universe of Conrad's Heart of darkness ; Collins
and Mayblin,1996/2012).

Some structuralist features overtake the fictional text for example the parallels between the
Congolese natives and Congo's forests" greenish gloom" and they need no excuse to be along
the coast unlike their excuse which is "civilizing" , contrasts between the Congo river as
suspicious snake and Thames as pure and clear, contrasts between the crawling shadow with
a woolly head and the elegant white dressed man with a smooth hair and contrasts between
nature as inferior and culture as superior in which the former is attributed to Congo and the
latter to Britain (Barry , 2002)

But soon these structuralist patterns are deconstructed when the boundaries are
erased and every two opposing polarities are fused (Collins and Mayblin,1996/2012).

References:

Unaegbu, Jeff and Ani, Jude. Nwabueze, Emeka (ed.) . “A Conceptualized Critique
of Achebe’s ‘An Image of Africa: Racism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness "
Chinua Achebe and the Convolutions of Immortality: Re-assessing the Writer in
Relation to New Realities ,2017,pp:309-320. Enugu: CNC Publications.
researchgate.net,
retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
334138434_A_CONTEXTUALIZED_CRITIQUE_OF_ACHEBE'S_AN_IMAGE_OF_
AFRICA_RACISM_IN_CONRAD'S_'HEART_OF_DARKNESS'

E.West,Donna. "Deixis am Phantasma " in Deictic Imaginings :Semiosis and work at

play. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg,2014,pp:51-58 ,60. Retrieved from
https://www.pdfdrive.com/deictic-imaginings-semiosis-at-work-and-at-play-
e157934883.html

F.Bandia,Paul." The Impact of Postmodern Discourse on the History of

Translation".Charting the Future of Translation History, Georges L. Bastin and Paul
F.Bandia (eds), University of Ottawa Press, 2006,pp:45-58 . Retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ckpfkh.6

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Harold Bloom (ed)."Two Visions in Heart of Darkness" in Bloom's Modern Critical
Interpretations: Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.Infobase Publishing and Bloom's
Literary Criticism:NewYork,2008,p:5-17. Retrieved from
https://www.pdfdrive.com/joseph-conrads-heart-of-darkness-blooms-modern-critical-
interpretations-e183683935.html

Harold Bloom(ed). "Heart of Darkness" in Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations:

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Infobase Publishing and Bloom's Literary
Criticism:NewYork,2008, p:19-36. Retrieved from
https://www.pdfdrive.com/joseph-conrads-heart-of-darkness-blooms-modern-critical-
interpretations-e183683935.html

Sepčić,Višnja. "The Dream Universe of Conrad's Heart of Darkness".studia romanica,

p: 129-151. Retrieved from
http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/196806

Collins,Jeff and Mayblin,Bill. “Oppositions” and "The Horror of Indeterminacy" in

Introducing Derrida. London: Icon books, 1996/2012. Retrieved from
https://www.pdfdrive.com/introducing-derrida-a-graphic-guide-e194590600.html

Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' ".
Massachusetts Review ,18, 1977. pp:
251-261. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness, An Authoritative Text, background and Sources
Criticism. 1961. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough, London: W. W Norton and Co., 1988.

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory : An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory.

New York: Manchester University Press ,2002.

Matt-kish. Heart of Darkness. Retrieved from

www.matt-kish.com/heart-of-darkness

Biography editors. " Chinua Achebe Biography”. Biography.com , 16 November 2017,

Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/writer/chinua-achebe

''Watts_ University of Sussex ". Retrieved from academia.edu

Heart of Darkness, page 19". Matt-kish. com, 23 September, 2012. Retrieved from
https://www.matt-kish.com/heart-of-darkness

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"Heart of Darkness, page 3". Matt-kish.com, 25 August, 2012. Retrieved from
https://www.matt-kish.com/heart-of-darkness

"Heart of Darkness, page 86". Mattkish.com , 27 December, 2012. Retrieved from

https://www.matt-kish.com/heart-of-darkness

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