Nyowe.

One of the most upsetting things for me in HoD was Nwoye and his pathetic relationship with his father. It was so sad to see a father with such little love and compassion towards his son. The only thing Okonkwo cared about was structure, being strong, and being his own idea of success. I don't believe that Nwoye was any less of a man then his father, I don't believe that he was lazy or anything else. I think that Okonwo's standards for his son were incredibly high, and he was made to jump through all of these hoops just for a chance of some recognition from his father which he very rarely got. Even the glimmer of hope that he had from the kid from the other village was killed in an instant. Poor Nwoye eventually had to find the love and the nourishment that he needed from another family which he found in the white man's church. Okonkwo thought that this was a disgrace, but in all actuality it was his own lack and selfishness that drove his son away from him.

Should we read Heart of Darkness?

On the topic of whether or not we should read Heart of Darkness, it’s kind of complicated. If we’re reading it just as a story it’s not such a big deal because we can imagine it being fiction and take it or leave it as we please. But, if we read it as a piece of literature and scour every nick and cranny of the book we can pick it to pieces and ultimately form our own opinions whether bad or good about the book. Really it can be seen both ways. I feel that although there are a lot of literary critics who think that Joseph Conrad is a racist, there are a lot of things to consider when thinking about whether or not we should continue to read this book (Armstrong 238). When we look into Conrad’s life we see that he actually did sail through the Congo, but we cannot think of his story as an exact reenactment of history and what had happened there. Marlow is not Conrad, and his work is a piece of fiction even if some of what is in the story was based off real life. When we begin to read the story as just that, a piece of fiction, it seems a little less threatening. Also, a good thing to point out is the fact that even though Marlow is calling the natives of Africa “savages” and other things of that nature, it was common for white people to use such language when referring to people other than themselves. It wasn’t considered “racism” because these people weren’t thought of to be in a class as like themselves and racism wasn’t even a word in those days. I think that it’s ok to read Heart of Darkness but it’s important that we know the whole story and how Conrad himself fits into it. It’s also important to know what was correct and incorrect at that time, because of course if we were in Africa today calling the natives “Negroes” and other names, we would be considered horrible and a racist, but back in that day, that wasn’t the case.

Galton and Heart of Darkness

In Francis Galton’s essay, “The Comparative Worth of Different Races”, he basically gives a grading scale to a bunch of different races. He says that “The ablest race…is unquestionably the ancient Greek” (Galton 227). According to Galton, anyone not from that category is on a lower scale, the lowest being Australians. He talks about how most “negroes” are half-witted and that they make stupid mistakes that are childish and simple (Galton, 226). He bases his ideas off of books he’s read that were written by white Americans who portray this idea. He even states that he has no information of the idiocy among “negroes”, but he felt the need to share all of his opinions anyways (Galton 227). The idea that “negroes” are of a lesser worth than white people is supported in the short novel Heart of Darkness, because of many different instances. For one thing, Conrad repeatedly refers to the people of Africa as “savages”. The Webster Dictionary defines a savage as “not domesticated or under human control or lacking the restraints normal to civilized human beings. By Conrad using the term “savages” to describe the African people, he is implying that they are of a lesser worth than himself to say the least. He is implying that they aren’t even human, that they are closer to animals than they would be to his own race.