Short Summary of Literary Criticism

"Heart of Darkness and Racism"
By Hunt Hawkins

This article responds to a series of statements and comments made by Chinua Achebe (a modern scholar).

-Achebe has repeatedly called Conrad a racist
-thinks he's racist because of the focus on racism and the portrayal of the Africans, while simultaneously not including them in the story

However, the author disagrees.

-Conrad doesn't talk about Africans because of his ignorance about their culture––Congo
-He's staunchly anti-imprerialist––Belgians
-His discussion was concomitant with the birth of evolution as a theory
-He shows the hypocrisy of the "civilizing mission"and how it's a "sham"
-Shows that evolution leads to evolutionary regression for Europeans––Kurtz
-Conrad didn't recognize the link between imperialism and racism
-Blames Kurtz for making the Africans "evil"
-Marlow doesn't exploit the Africans
-Racism inherent at this time
-At least Conrad isn't "extreme[ly] racist"