Apocalypse Now relates to this novel in the same ways. The Vietnamese are never given a chance to speak. They are very harshly judged by the English men who encroach upon them. When the Vietnamese fight for their land they are considered savages. They're lives as people mean nothing. The only perspective taken is from the English, which is biased, inaccurate, and inhumane. It is as if the authors do not want to consider how the presence of the English can negatively affect those in foreign countries. Conrad seems to believe that the only way is the English way and the only people that matter are the English and Achebe's critique wakes up the readers and shows them how to view others work critically and with a global perspective.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Not Real Art
Achebe, an established author and professor has several problems with the short novel Heart of Darkness that stem from the very blatant and obvious racism in this book. He disagrees with views that believe this is one of the best short novels written on the grounds that this book dehumanizes the people of the Congo. Achebe feels passionately that anything that takes away the humanity of a people group should not even be considered as art, let alone praised and taught in schools across the nation. In Heart of Darkness Africans are never given a voice. They are all insulted by Conrad's portrayal of them, not allowing them to have 'evolved' enough to use language and instead communicate by grunts. What is even more ridiculous is how when the Congolese do finally speak, they use the English language. Heart of Darkness is even more repulsive in the fact that whenever the Congolese are mentioned they are described as being ugly, hideous, and frenzied. There is no real representation of these people.
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I agree! Both adaptations seem to glorify western worlds or lands and put down other cultures for their failure. Apocalypse Now I think is even worse at this since it pretty much dehumanizes the Vietnamese people to a certain extent. They are either seen as helpless victims of explosions and the violence of war or “Charlie” the mysterious enemy hiding in the jungle. No dialogue or real characterization is provided for them leading the audience to believe they stand as just a random mass of people. Conrad is no different with his descriptions of the people of the Congo as “ugly” and “prehistoric.”
ReplyDeleteI love how you drew on the fact that Conrad is completely ignorant that the Congolese would possess their own language before they would speak the English language. Conrad without a doubt does this on purpose. He views the natives as savages not worthy of their own language, so somehow the Western Savior has taught them to speak grammatically incorrect English. This is another stab at the Congolese's learning abilities. Conrad is basically saying that even if they didn't have their own language and were taught English by some outside source, they still would not be intelligent enough to speak it properly. Conrad's views are biased, bigoted, and merely a reflection of his own prejudiced opinion on the Congolese.
ReplyDeleteIt seems depressing that in a modern screen adaptation, those who aren't Western still aren't given a voice. Though we may call Conrad a racist given the evidence that Achebe has compiled, how can we consider the screenwriter and director of Apocalypse Now? Certainly not as bad as Conrad but still somewhat accountable for the poor or lacking representation of the Vietnamese.
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