Ethnocentrism: With Whom Resides The Heart Of Darkness?

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Ethnocentrism

With Whom Resides the Heart of Darkness?

Antonio Arevalo

James Campbell High School

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Abstract

This paper discusses Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's most acclaimed novel, and attempts to determine what the "heart of darkness" that Conrad speaks of is. I found, through my interpretations, that the "heart of darkness" is the ethnocentrism that Europeans maintained in the age of colonialism. More specifically, this ethnocentrism brought about sweeping ignorance and failed to erect a bridge between the Europeans and the newly discovered African natives in the book.

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Critically lauded as one of the foremost novels of the twentieth century, Heart of Darkness has been deemed an ironic tale that contains an impressive contemplation on the relationship between 'civilization' and 'barbarity'.

Yet, as time passes and new perspectives are born, Heart of Darkness has come into scrutiny as of late. In his analysis of the novel, Peter Mwikisa, a professor from the University of Botswana, states that Robert Kimbough (as cited by Mwikisa, 2000) regards Chinua Achebe's piece on the Joseph Conrad novel, a biting take on Conrad's work, as a "new moment in Conrad criticism" (p.1). Achebe's commentary (as cited by Mwikisa, 2000), in particular, argues, "Conrad's image of Africa...nullifies...pretensions and compromises its artistic merit (p.1).

Which then begs the question: With new criticism and perspectives, what is the real "heart of darkness" that Conrad speaks of?

New articles suggest that perhaps, instead of the sinister recesses of the "Dark Continent", it resided within the purportedly illuminated civilization of Europe. In my eyes, the "heart of darkness" dwelt within the ethnocentric thought adapted by Europeans. It is their naпve idealism, devoid of any consideration for the values and thinking of African society, which brought about a sense of superiority over the supposedly savage peoples of Africa.

Many supporters of Conrad's novel, like Jeff Kenney in his essay, Exhuming Mistah Kurtz, argue that Conrad's novel was meant as an "anti-colonialist work" whose objective is to vilify the arrogant way of thought of the Europeans in the early twentieth

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century (n.d.)

More specifically, it is reflected in the lack of voice of the African denizens in the book. Achebe (1977) states that Conrad did not even "provide an alternative frame of reference by which we [the readers] may judge the actions and opinions of his characters (p. xlix). According to the Nigerian writer (1977), the Africans in Heart of Darkness only "exchanged short grunting phrases" and, in only two occasions, used English speech, the first due to impulses brought on by cannibalism and the second brought on by the death of Kurtz, hardly characteristics of a