Commented [U1]: Do not underline the title.

General Conclusion

This study was an attempt to make a comparison between two very significant literary works,

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1898).

These were two works of a considerable impact on their readers in terms of what values they

hold. Heart of Darkness (1898) is about the journey of its protagonist, Marlow, to the heart of

Africa while Things Fall Apart (1958) narrates the rise and the downfall of its main character

Okonkwo in a traditional African community.

Africa provided a backdrop for events in both literary works, yet the image of Africa and its Commented [U2]: Indent the paragraphs.

inhabitants that stick in the mind of the reader after reading the two stories is not the same.

Therefore, this study’s basic aims were to describe the image of Africa and Africans in both

stories and to find the points where they diverge and/or converge concerning this portrayal.

To achieve the already set goal, the postcolonial theory is used next to a stylistic study. The

result is that there are many points of divergence, and no specific point where the writers

views converge.

Conrad in Heart of Darkness (1898) has a jaundiced view of the world of Africa. The Commented [U3]: Copied and pasted !!!!!

portrayal of Africa and Africans is negative his work. Africa, as opposed to Europe, has the

image of an inferior continent with no spatial or temporal identity. The Africans, on the other

hand, were not better than the land on which they live. They were subhumans who were

called savages, ants, enemies, criminals, and more than that, a speechless race whose female

is suitable for the satisfaction of the white man’s basic instincts.

Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart (1958) had an objective attitude towards the world of

Africa. The society of Umuofia in the novel represents the African society in general. It is a

community which enjoys a deep and ancient philosophy that is voiced in its proverbs. The
Igbo philosophy reflects an old cultural heritage, thus, the African man has not received

culture from the arrival of the white man, but rather, his culture is deeply rooted in his land. In

addition to that, the language occupied an important role in communication. For instance, if

somebody’s speech is empty of proverbs, his speech is meaningless. Thus, the Africans are

people who speak a sophisticated language. This society, however, live according to a

traditional system where the rules of the ancesters control and shape the individual and the

community’s lives all together. Moreover, in terms of male-female relationships, it is

characterized with a male dominance. The internal flaws of this community have led to their

downfall when encountered with another culture, the European culture.

The portrayal of Africa and Africans in Heart of Darkness (1898) and Things Fall

Apart (1958) by Achebe and Conrad was different. Conrad’s depiction is based on a common

European stereotype. Culture as an former to human thought and behaviour, had a remarkable

influence on Conrad’s view towards the people he met during his travels to the Congo. It

shaped his attitude towards what he saw and experienced in Africa. Chinua Achebe as an

African writer had a very objective view towards his people and their culture. Depicting a

vivid picture of the Igbo society at the end of the nineteenth century, he made sure that the

reader understands what is positive and what is negative about those people. He, as a writer,

provided the picture with open-mindedness.

At last, this modest study is still far from perfection because it has not covered other

angles of the subject. It was very frightful to uncover the way Joseph Conrad sees Africa and

the Africans. Thus, there could be a study over the reasons behind such behavior. As a matter

of example a systematic study of relationships between the cultural context of human

development and the behaviors that become established during their growing up.