Achebe Vs. Conrad (or Achebe Vs. Me)

Warning: This is a very English-teachery kind of post, so for those of you who thought talking about literature in school was akin to torture, move on, my friends, move on.

I am reading Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. I really like the story and the cadence of the language. The metaphorical, almost lyrical, story telling is enchanting.

But I should tell you that I procrastinated reading this book for a very long time because Achebe once gave a very famous speech in which he called Joseph Conrad a racist because of what he wrote in Heart of Darkness.

Now, I am not the biggest fan of Heart of Darkness (although I celebrate its literary value), but I have to say that anyone who calls Conrad a racist is completely missing the point of Conrad's book.

Back up: Why does Achebe call Conrad racist? I can see why, I guess. The story is about a man who travels into the heart of Africa via the Congo to retrieve a man lost to civilization. I can see why superficially someone might know the plot and think, "Conrad likens Africa to man's heart of darkness. He is calling the Africans evil; therefore, Conrad equals racist."

The fallacy in this syllogism is that Conrad isn't calling Africans evil. What he is really saying is that all men (humans) have within them the ability to act in evil ways. But at an even closer reading, we see that the story's theme rests here: the true barbarians are not the natives whom we call "barbarians," but rather the white European colonialists who conquer, rape, murder, enslave and mutilate other human beings all for greed. "The horror! The horror!" that Kurtz malents is not the horrors of the Africans, but the horrors of the white settlers.

I feel oddly defensive of Conrad and his story.

And my defensiveness of Conrad kept me from reading Achebe's book for a long time (seven years to be exact). As I expected, however, I am enjoying the book except that if Achebe can call Conrad a racist, then I can call Achebe a sexist. The narrator speaks about how the main character deserved to be able to beat his wife because, after all, she wasn't home in time to make dinner, but it was the Week of Peace, so he had to be punished. Later, we learn that the main character is proud because he can see that his son will be able to control his wives. There are a few other tidbits here and there.

I would never call Conrad a racist, and I am aware that Achebe isn't the speaker here, but rather the narrator. But if he can read so superficially, a part of me wants to do the same to him.

But I won't. Well, I guess I just did. But I will enjoy the last few pages of his book that I haven't been able to put down.