Achebe's Objection

From the very beginning of this article, Achebe points out the viewpoint of many students on African traditions. In a discussion with a student, Achebe notices that the student is happy to have learned about the different customs and superstitions of an African tribe. Achebe responds by stating that although the African tribe had distinct customs, the student was failing to acknowledge that his culture also contained odd customs and superstitions. Achebe states that one does not need to look outside their own culture to make apparent the difference is customs since they exist within one’s culture. Achebe objects Heart of Darkness, due to the language and depiction of Africans. Since the story was written by a white male, we see a lot of racist remarks, which Achebe believes it is because of the Eurocentric view adopted across the world. Africa is portrayed to be a continent in which the inhabitants live in tribes, they are not recognized as humans, and they have different dialects rather than languages. Rather than describing the African encounters as encounters with human beings, Heart of Darkness often talks about the Africans as if they belonged to another species. Also, the author would compare the Africans to animals: “He was there below men, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind legs” (5). Achebe objects Heart of Darkness because of the language and portrayal of Africans, which are inadvertently racist. The depiction of Africans in Heart of Darkness is similar to the way the Vietnamese are depicted in Apocalypse Now. In Apocalypse Now, we see the Vietnamese civilians often in relation to the wilderness. The American soldiers describe the Vietnamese as backwards and primitive people, just as the Africans are described in Heart of Darkness. We see the Vietnamese portrayed as people of the wilderness in the scene where Willard and his men approach an area filled with semi-naked Vietnamese on canoes.