Running head: THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 1

Things Fall Apart Versus Heart of Darkness Project

Name

Institution
THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 2

Things Fall Apart Versus Heart of Darkness Project

Introduction

Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad, with Marlow as the main character, reflects

the 19th-century intrigues of Belgian colonization in Congo. Conrad's main weakness is

expressing the culture and lifestyle of Africans as a primitive and backward society. In the novel,

colonialism and everything good with it are portrayed from the perspective of Europeans, while

Africans are labeled racist and regressive elements. Africans are depicted as grotesque, defeated,

and primitive and manipulated through Mr. Kurtz, who is a shadowy character (Conrad, 1902).

Africans are dump and able to commit serious crimes with little wisdom to reject colonial rules.

However, Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe is a response to Conrad’s negative ideas

on African culture. Achebe shows the opposite view of Africans, as Conrad does. He uses

African literature, imagery, traditions, an African language, and customs to celebrate and identify

with Africans. Achebe uses the culture of Igbo to paint a picture of Africans as people with

prominence and dignity. Conrad depicts Africans and their culture as primitive, backward, and

non-existed without giving any value to African characterization in his novel, while Achebe

cherishes the tradition and values of Africa by applying all the pertains African culture and

African characterization to present the value attached to Africans.

Body Section 1

In the Heart of Darkness, Conrad portrays all African characters as a pool of unidentified

individuals. The image portrayed on Africans by Conrad is related to their inability to be

civilized and socialize decently. For instance, in the novel, a particular paragraph states that “I

made out, deep in the tangled gloom, naked breasts, arms, legs, and glaring eyes.” Conrad goes
THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 3

on to call African black figures, “black figures strolled listlessly, poured water on the glow”

(Conrad, 1902). In this case, the author is describing Africans as a bunch of idiots and flock of

animals that appears to be walking as a pool of black bodies and having an uncountable count of

limbs (Conrad, 1902). Conrad repeats the same utterances throughout his work by describing

Africans as large masses of black bodies that act like animals and whose conversation or

language is associated with grunting words as animals do. For instance, he describes the sounds

and voices of Africans like "grunting phrases," a "babble of uncouth sounds," and "sounds of

some satanic litany" (Conrad, 1902). Conrad also describes the African characters unfavorably

throughout the book by denying them a voice to defend their position in the story. He

dehumanizes and insubordinate their place in African culture, which is their homeland by

denying them a literary vessel to defend their place, especially during the inhumane period of

colonization. This means that Africans cannot express themselves because they cannot even

speak accurately, and they are also colonized, meaning they do not have any rights. This idea of

primitiveness is reinforced through the behaviors and actions of Marlow, who portrays Africans

as backward. Marlow, the main character in the Heart of Darkness, represents an evolutionary

belief that all that African are capable of is barbaric cultures, primitive and a people in their early

stages of evolution who are equated to the prehistoric past in Europe. In some passages, Marlow

confirms these characteristics when he stated that “the prehistoric man was cursing us, praying to

us, welcoming us – who could tell?” and “I don’t think a single one of them [the African

characters] had any clear idea of time, as we at the end of countless ages have. They still

belonged to the beginnings of time” (Conrad, 1902). Therefore, these statements are strong

enough to support the idea that Conrad portrayed Africans as primitive and non-civilized beings

with no identity.
THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 4

Body Section 2

Elsewhere, to draw a picture of a civilized and strong existing image and value of

Africans, Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart describes African people they way they are and

the importance of their culture. He describes Africa the way it is, with its capabilities,

advantages, and its flaws. In the novel, Achebe chose to start with Africa instead of European

history, as Conrad does in his novel. Achebe kills the view of Africans as primitive and

backward by describing the fascinating history and culture of the Igbo society and how they were

well organized. For instance, through the characterization of Okonkwo, Achebe describes

Africans as religious people who respect rules and have an identity to protect. The author uses

symbolic events such as Week of Peace, whereby Igbo's earth goddess, Ezeani, states that ‘we

live in peace with our fellows to honor our great goddess of the earth without whose blessing our

crops will not grow' (Achebe, 1958). The observance of this religious law describes the identity

and respect for the values of the Igbo people. It helps the reader to understand that Okonkwo

made a grave mistake of breaking peace on earth, and he was supposed to make amends with the

goddess. Breaking of the peace accord sheds light on the importance of African laws that define

a people. Achebe uses such cultural values as symbols of a civilized Africa with respect and

adherence to their identity.

Moreover, Achebe dedicates the novel to the people of African descent even before the

arrival of Europeans, a situation that deconstructs the myth that Africans had no identity, culture,

or history before European arrival as Conrad suggests otherwise. Achebe is focused on

comparing two different cultures with distinct cultural values to establish the notion that

Africans, just like Europeans, had all the leverages to be accorded respect and identity as

humans. In the novel, Achebe describes that Europeans were strangers to Africans, just like
THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 5

Africans were strangers to Europeans, a situation that proves that the difference was just in their

cultural values. Through Okonkwo, Achebe strives to describe why Africa is not the margin of

all bad things, while Europe is not the epicenter of good values, but the only culture is the

defining factor. When missionaries arrive in the village, Okonkwo refers to them as Albinos

since he had never heard of white people (Achebe, 1958). The characters of Umuofia also

confirm their lack of knowledge about the whites when, in some instances, Obierika states that

“Perhaps green men will come to our clan and shoot us” (Achebe, 1958). Achebe intentionally

chose the "green man" words for Obierika to show that Africans were clueless about the white

people. He seems to portray that lack of knowledge is mutual between African and European

culture, and they compete at the same level as opposed to Conrad's Heart of Darkness that

depicts African culture as non-existence while the European one was as dominant.

It is through the creation of stereotypes that Achebe exposes the failure of Europeans and

Africans themselves to recognize their place in Africa. He uses the stereotypes to expose the

ignorance of Europeans; for instance, "the Commissioner did not understand what Obierika

meant." The white commissioner continues to say that “One of the most infuriating habits of

these people (Africans] was their love of superfluous words and thoughts” (Achebe, 1958).

Similarly, Africans fail to understand the language of Europeans; for instance, they did not

understand the language spoken by missionaries "at the end of it, Okonkwo was fully convinced

that the man was mad. He shrugged his shoulders and went away to tap his afternoon palm-wine"

(Achebe, 1958). Achebe, therefore, uses the clash between cultures to deconstruct notions that

Africa was primitive while Europe was not. It is this reasoning that Africa, through Igbo’s

culture, is seen as civilized and stable with strong cultural values and customs.

Conclusion
THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 6

In conclusion, the novel, Heart of Darkness, represents voiceless African characters with

no rights and identity of their own, which can be interpreted as people lacking humanity. It is

from this statement that Chinua Achebe, through “Things Fall Apart," uses his literary advantage

to negate the statements of the portrayal of Africans by Conrad. Achebe only portrays Africans

as silent creatures with a firm belief in their culture (in this case, Igbo), to create an identity and

draw their inspiration. By stating the obvious, Achebe shows how Africans had a lot of ideals

and stories about their history and culture that was ignored by the whites. Therefore, as Conrad's

painted Africans as homeless, he ignored the history and culture that defined them, which is a

tool that Achebe used to deconstruct negative ideas about blacks.

THINGS FALL APART VERSUS HEART OF DARKNESS PROJECT 7

References

Chinua, A. (1958). Things fall apart. London: Heinemann.

Joseph, C. (1902). “Heart of Darkness.” 1899.