Achebe's Objection to Heart of Darkness

Chinua Achebe's main objection with Heart of Darkness is how Africa is portrayed throughout the novel. This in conjunction with the rash, negative externalities of colonialism forced Achebe to begin his critique. The result of Heart of Darkness was successful propaganda for the support of colonialism. For this novel to be propaganda, one must find exaggerated details, slander, etc, and this is exactly where Achebe's critique begins. 

Conrad, the white European protagonist of Heart of Darkness, projects many racist ideals about the people living in Africa. Conrad feels superior to Africans in many ways, but for starters, he feels superior simply based off different skin color. This angers Achebe--as it is blatant racism and completely misrepresents the African population. Additionally, the people of Africa are just represented as "black" or "savages," their country or ethnicity is never mentioned. Heart of Darkness sums up the entire continent under the conditions that everyone who inhabits the continent is lesser than everyone outside Africa. 

This idea is what Apocalypse Now was satirizing about the Vietnam war. In the film, the people of Vietnam barely have any voice or chance to express their opinion, and according to the name of the war, it was their war--the "Vietnam" war. Additionally, Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now travel up a river and go deeper into the lands of the respective country/continent. During these journeys, the men completely marginalize the native people in both Vietnam and Africa. This is a theme throughout both Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness..