PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA

MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

MOHAMED KHEIDER UNIVERSITY-BISKRA
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEVISION OF ENGLISH

The Image of Africa and Africans in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Sabmitted by: Supervised by:

KHADRAOUI Sabrina Boulegroune Adel
Motivation:
• The misrepresentation of the Orient occupies a large space in colonial
discourse.

• In particular, Africa and Africans were one of the misunderstood

objects in colonial literature.

• As an African, I find it necessary to put the portrayal of Africa and

Africans by an African wtiter in cotrast to their portrayal by a British
writer. Discussing two different points of views enables the reader to
construct a more objective idea about the subject
Statement of the Problem:

• Africa provided a backdrop for events in both literary works Joseph

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1898) and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall

Apart (1958). Yet, the manner by which Africa and Africans are

portrayed in the two works through the styles of the authors is open

to debate.
Research questions:
• How is the image of Africa and Africans constructed through Joseph
Conrad’s style in Heart of Darkness (1898) ?

• How is the image of Africa and Africans constructed through Chinua

Achebe’s style in Things Fall Apart (1958)?

• In what way does the image of Africa and Africans in Joseph Conrad’s
Heart of Darkness converge and/or diverge with the image of Africa
and Africans in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958)?
Methodology:

• The research problem in this study will be tackled through a scientific

methodology. It relies on mixed research method in which data will be
collected from a number of books and reliable research papers. A
stylistic analysis will be used to examine samples of certain language
patterns in the texts of the literary works. Postcolonial theory will be
used for the interpretation of using the particular styles of the authors.
 Findings:
• Conrad in Heart of Darkness (1898) has a prejudiced view of the world of
Africa. The portrayal of Africa and Africans is negative his work. Africa, as
opposed to Europe, has the image of an inferior continent with no spacial
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 wich
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 arriving 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 istance, 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 ancesters controle 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.
Limitations: The obstacles
encountered
• Ignorence to the way a thesis should be written when started the
research.

• Avoiding plagiarism was difficult due to the absence of full

comprehension to the details of how to report somebody else’s ideas.
Recommendation:

• 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.