Sunday, September 12, 2010
class discussion
In class all I kept hearing was racism and the title of the book which is "The heart of Darkness". At one point many of my classmates tried to figure out what the title meant. I believe that the title means something deep like when I think of dark I think of rude, cruel, scary, mean and etc. When things are happy it usually has bright colors like a smiley face that has yellow and white or flowers that are pink, orange or green. Imagine your boyfriend or girlfriend buying you a flower that was black , I wouldnt be too thrilled. In this case in the book the "darkness" refers the "darkest" side of a human being. In the book the colonist and traders represent the darkness. When people begin to do bad things its because they either learned from someone and they adapt from it or someone hurt them and they began to lose all hope and act a different way. When everyones born they are pure with a loving heart and they start to sin once they learn things. The colonist and traders once had a good heart until the darkness took over. This all reminds me of the bible. The devil can always get a hold of you some how some way and people dont even notice it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Contrary to what Tasha said, I think Heart of Darkness though containing words and descriptions that are racist cannot be labeled fully against the Africans not a complete attack on them. I think however what was racist was the subject of insanity. As we touched on in class Mr. Kurtz was labeled as insane but why? Was is because of what seemingly was an unnatural fascination and like for the natives? It when the narrator finds that Kurtz spends days with these men and women that he diagnoses Kurtz with madness. I think Kurtz represents the better thinking and learn when it comes to learning about a new culture. As oppose the the Britain who made all who were not them second class
ReplyDeleteI agree Phedorah, I should of been more clear. Partically in this book racism is not only directed to the African Americans. Like you said Mr.Kutz was looked at as a crazy person just because he was different then the rest and didnt follow everyone disliking the natives. The British lowering others because they were notlike them, but the way the Conrads potray the African Americans is unbearable. Myself being African American it hurt me a little bit more. In the book Africa was the darkness.
ReplyDelete