Thesis
In Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, stereotypical characterizations are built off of prejudice and observation. Meanwhile Chinua Achebe’s use of dialogue, as well as alternate communication create a portrait of characters in a Nigerian society that is thriving in comparison to the silent, primitive culture described in Hearth of Darkness.
Heart of Darkness interactions – information must come as the result of observation and interpretation because it is through Marlow.
(ACCAUD, JOSIANE)- external source
Example- manager of the central station
Although this is not an example of the society it does show that the information that Marlow is basing his story off of is not through interaction. It is often through assumption and interpretation
Example Brick maker
Marlow has the ability to uncover more than just what the brick maker tells him. Whether or not what he assumes is true or false it does show that he relies on his own observation as a tool of understanding.
If Marlow’s understanding comes through eaves dropping and assumption then when he must make unfamiliar observation or he does not hear anything then his ideas must be based on prior knowledge, or prejudice.
Language explaining cultural ideals in Heart of Darkness is clearly flawed
on women- “It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It’s too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over.” (1.28)
In this instance he claims that women are naive. This example shows that his societal views are flawed
3. Language breakdown poses a problem understanding in H.o.d
“Otherwise there was only an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy – a smile – not a smile – I remember it, but I can’t explain. It was unconscious, this smile was, though just after he had said something it got intensified for an instant. It came at the end of his speeches like a seal applied on the words to make the meaning of the commonest phrase appear absolutely inscrutable.” (1.52)
The manager’s talk is as meaningless as his expressions and only the mysterious smile gives his words any meaning.
“Suppose he [Kurtz] began to shout? Though he could hardly stand, there was still plenty of vigour in his voice.” (3.28)
Marlow recognizes that Kurtz’s voice, the only strong thing about him, can still be a vehicle of communication. So it poses a danger to him.
I heard him [Kurtz] mutter, ‘Live rightly, die, die . . .’ I listened. There was nothing more. Was he rehearsing some speech in his sleep, or was it a fragment of a phrase from some newspaper article? He had been writing for the papers and meant to do so again, ‘for the furthering of my ideas. It’s a duty.'” (3.39)
In his dying stages, Kurtz’s words become incomprehensible to Marlow. He does not know whether Kurtz’s meditations on life and death are meant for himself or for the public.
Language is seen as a threat. But then Marlow sees that Kurtz really has nothing behind his language. Its not what you say…necessarily its what is behind what you say. Kurtz was so eloquent but his eloquence allowed him to avoid confrontation of problems (horrors horrors). Language in Heart of Darkness to gloss over important things. The overemphasis on writing and language cause the characters to avoid thinking about what’s behind what is said. There is more to understanding than just language but Marlow does not seem to realize this until the end.
4. What heart of darkness says about the Congo…with the understanding of language what it means. Heart of Darkness creates a limited image of Africa because of the value of language and clear communication/literacy. Which is shown through conversation interaction of it’s characters.
“There were many blank spaces on the earth… But there was one yet- the biggest, the most blank, so to speak – that I had a hankering after”
“My aunt talked about, weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways…”
“I had no idea of the conditions, he [the harlequin] said: these heads were the heads of rebels. I shocked him excessively by laughing. Rebels! What would be the next definition I was to hear? There had been enemies, criminals, workers—and these were rebels. Those rebellious heads looked very subdued to me on their sticks.” (3.6)
“In front of the first rank, along the river, three men, plastered with bright red earth from head to foot, strutted to and fro restlessly. When we came abreast again, they faced the river, stamped their feet, nodded their horned heads, swayed their scarlet bodies; they shook towards the fierce river-demon a bunch of black feathers, a mangy skin with a pendant tail—something that looked like a dried gourd; they shouted periodically together strings of amazing words that resembled no sounds of human language; and the deep murmurs of the crowd, interrupted suddenly, were like the responses of some satanic litany.” (3.30)
The men view the native Africans as “savages” because their language is so different that it sounds like a “satanic litany.”
“‘What a row the brute makes!’ said the indefatigable man with the moustaches, appearing near us. ‘Serve him right. Transgression—punishment—bang! Pitiless, pitiless. That’s the only way. This will prevent all conflagrations for the future. I was just telling the manager…'” (1.60)
“It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention” — and this one about Kurtz’s Report to the Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs — “It gave me the notion of an exotic Immensity ruled by an august Benevolence” — thus demonstrate Marlow’s inability to fully articulate the exact meaning of what he saw in the Congo
(Obscurity)
Marlow’s language sometimes becomes hazy and fails to tell more about the subjects that his language is trying to clarify.
5. Things Fall Apart – Igbo culture does not use language the way Conrad does
Ceremonies and music…alternate forms of expression are valued over conversation
(Culture in Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart)
Drums-
The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. (44)
The drums bring the tribesmen together for war and the wrestling ceremonies, and they sound when a male member has died. More specifically, they symbolize the war-like past for Okonkwo, his strength and vigor. But, as he the culture has strayed away from war, the drums have beaten less frequently. This bothers Okonkwo to no end: domestic life does not suit his past aggressive warrior tendencies. The drums, then, are reminders of Okonkwo’s glory days passing him by. His pulse beats less and less as the novel progresses, until, by the end, it stops.
“Unoka could hear his mind’s ear the blood- stirring and intricate rhythms of the ekwe and the edu and the often, and he could hear his own flute weaving in and out of them, decorating them with a colorful and plaintive tune. The total effect was gay and brisk, but if one picked out the flute as it went up and down and then broke up into short snatches, one saw that there was sorrow and grief there.”
Language breaks down before that quote…he can’t bear the sight of blood so he thinks about music. He changes the subject to a commonality in the culture.
“It was the ewe talking to the clan. One of the things every man learned was the language of the hollowed-out instrument. Dum! Dum! Dum! boomed the cannon at intervals. The first cock had not crowed, and the umuofia was still swallowed up in sleep and silence when the ewe began to talk, and the cannon shattered the silence. Men stirred on their bamboo beds and listen anxiously. Somebody was dead. iT BEGAN BY NAMING THE CLAN…”
5. Things fall apart- food
Palm wine and kola nuts are offered to guests during ceremonies. during the uri (wedding ceremony):
The host presents kola nuts to the in-laws and proclaims friendship between the two families.
Two pots of wine arrive from the in-laws for the women to use in cooking. The ground in front of the hut is swept clean. The in-laws arrive, each with a pot of wine on their head.
So, kola nuts symbolize the hospitality and hierarchy of the tribe. The guest-host relationship is sacred to the Igbo. Their culture is based on social propriety.
The hosts must defer to the guests; females must defer to males; and the young must defer to the young. When the culture stops breaking kola nuts, it must signify the breaking apart of the culture itself, hence the title, Things Fall Apart.
The use of food as a means of communication in Things fall apart creates a clear image of an African culture. Language is still present as will be shown by the next point but it is not the key to understanding. When language breaks down there are other means of understanding and not assumption like in Heart of Darkness.
One day a neighbor called Okoye came in to see him…He immediately rose and shook hands with Okoye, who then unrolled the goatskin which he carried under his arm, and sat down. Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut, some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk.
“I have kola,” he announced when he sat down, and passed the disc over to his guest.
“Thank you. He who brings kola brings life. But I think you ought to break it,” replied Okoye, passing back the disc.
“No, it is for you, I think,” and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. Okoye, meanwhile, took the lump of chalk, drew some lines on the floor, and then painted his big toe.
As he broke the kola, Unoka prayed to their ancestors for life and health, and for protection against their enemies. When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning the yams, about the next ancestral feast and about the impending war with the village of Mbaino. (1.7-10)
5. Things Fall Apart looks at the complexity of the Igbo tradition through dialogue- Heart of darkness never really has much dialogue with the people in congo. Using igbo words he is able to tell about the culture in a way that english would not.
Satanic Litany vs. Chi, for example, represents a significant, complex Igbo concept that Achebe repeatedly refers to by illustrating the concept in various contexts throughout the story. Achebe translates chi as personal god when he first mentions Unoka’s bad fortune. As the book progresses, it gradually picks up other nuances
“Charting the constellation past and present in things fall apart”
Igbo proverbs
The Igbo culture is fundamentally an oral one — that is, “Among the Igbo, the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten”
speech patterns
Chapter 13 (go-di-di-go-go-di-go); the call repeated several times to unite a gathering followed by its group response, first described in Chapter 2 (Umuofia kwenu. . .Yaa!); the agonized call of the priestess seeking Ezinma in Chapter 11 (Agbala do-o-o-o!); the repetitious pattern of questions and answers in the isa-ifi marriage ritual in Chapter14; the long narrated tale of Tortoise in Chapter 11; and the excerpts from songs in several chapters.
The english language alone fails to tell about the african culture. Things Fall Apart incorporates Igbo language, proverbs, speech patterns, food, and music are able to introduce the author to a culture that is shown as thriving and complex with its own intricacies. It is clear that the igbo culture, and african culture is not primitive or savage but rather it is just different. Heart of Darkness relies on flawed observation, and assumption and the english that fails to capture what the characters see in the congo. Even then what they say is flawed because of their values.