Heart of darkness6/28/2023 He uses Marlow’s inner voice and thoughts to portray the beliefs people held of Africans at the time, Marlow often speaks of the European men as dignified and civilised people in comparison to the Africans which he sees as “nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation”. Conrad’s depiction of his society at the time is reflective in Heart of Darkness. Hawkins believes despite Conrad creating a racist and bigoted character in his own image, he doesn’t necessarily believe the views Marlow holds and intact Conrad challenges these ideas. Readers and scholars such as Hunt Hawkins somewhat disagree with Achebe’s contention that Conrad himself is a racist. However what Achebe fails to mention in his critical review is that Conrad provides Marlow with moments of confusion, as his beliefs of the Africans are often challenged and proved wrong. One of these readers is the African, post-colonial scholar, Chinua Achebe, who is deeply offended by Conrad’s text on what he sees as an invasion, because Conrad did not give the Africans in the novel a voice.
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