Prejudice in Heart of Darkness: Racism is a Relative Term Essay

face of Darkness Racism is a Relative TermRacism is a relative term. While many people argue that Conrads novel, life of Darkness, contains the musical composition of racism, they tend to ignore the fact that this novel was written around the believe of the century. During this time catch it was authentic practice to think of a discolor man as savage because that was how the popular culture viewed the African American race. If someone called a black man savage today, that someone would be considered a racist. Of course, this turn of the century view of blacks is inexcusable but it was the accepted norm of the time. The problem is that mod critics tend to apply modern thought to all novels, including those written in a specific time period with beliefs different from today. These critics do not incorporate the context of the novel and manifestly rage forward with a directed, ignorant viewpoint, arguing from a much civilized stance. The interpretation of a racist has chang ed a great deal since the early 1900s, and we must consider this when analyzing any piece of literature. The problem arises when modern thinkers assume that we must continue to build on our ever-expanding knowledge sooner of looking into the past and trying to relate to the accepted views of the time. To try to checker racist tendencies in a text we need to know the definition of racism. The definition we use today is as follows A racist apprehends that th... ...), stock ticker of Darkness. London. Penguin Popular Classics (1994). Nationalencyklopedin 15 PAS-ROJ (1994), Engstrm, Christer (red.). Hgans. Bokfrlaget Bra Bcker. Works Consulted Cox, C. B. Conrad Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and Under Western Eyes. London Macmillan Education Ltd., 1987. Guetti, James. Heart of Darkness and the Failure of the Imagination, Sewanee surveil LXXIII, No. 3 (Summer 1965), pp. 488-502. Ed. C. B. Cox. Watts, Cedric. A Preface to Conrad. Essex Longman Group UK Limited, 1993. Notes 1 Nationa lencyklopedin 15 PAS-ROJ (1994), p. 431 2 Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness (1902), p. 7 3 Conrad, Joseph, (1902), p.25 4 ibid, p. 73 5 ibid, p. 51