“The Blood-Dimmed Tide” of Dionysian Impulse
“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while the worst /Are full of passionate intensity” (Yeats).
Historically, humans possess an abysmal track record regarding the results of cultural collision: genocide, slavery, the Crusades, imperialism. In the post-colonial world, the relative humanity of European and African cultures was drawn into question. Whose God is true? Is any culture more “human” or more “savage” than the other? From opposing cultural perspectives, Joseph Conrad, an aristocratic Pole, and Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian, exposed reversion to aggressive impulse as the archetypal human response to cultural conflict through symbolism and characterization in their novels. When cultures collide in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Apollonian rationality and empathy are abandoned as the characters succumb to Dionysian impulse, cruelty, and greed.
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow’s journey to the Inner Station in the Belgian colony of the Congo symbolizes the European traders’ metaphysical changes in behavior and motivation. As Marlow and the Europeans “penetrated deeper into the heart of darkness” (636) of the Nigerian jungle, the lack of European social parameters resulted in their abandonment of Apollonian rationality and surrender to Dionysian compulsions of greed and bloodthirst. Conrad’s imagery of white fog on the Congo River symbolizes the clouding of the Europeans’ judgement and sanity as they descend into the darkest part of the jungle and human psyche: “…white fog, very warm and clammy, and more blinding than the night” (714). The whiteness of the fog attributes the loss of Apollonian sanity to ivory; the profitable commodity inspires Dionysian impulses of greed, violence, and exploitation in the European traders. European men were “flung out” and drowned without a care (209), natives labored to dig useless holes (268), and luxury calico and beads were prioritized over necessary rivets (495). The ivory is used as justification for the Europeans’ exploitation of the natives and their very own men with inefficient, wasteful practices that mirror their Dionysian mentality.
Conrad’s characterization of Kurtz’s exemplifies Dionysian decay of the European traders: complete submission to greed and self-righteousness for the sake of capitalistic motives and material success. Before sacrificing his sanity and decency for the Inner Station ivory trade, Kurtz was of a modest background and possessed noble ideas. He hyperbolically professed that Europeans could “exert a power for good practically unbounded” (925). However, after spending years away from the social norms and morals of Europe, “the wilderness… had taken on him [Kurtz] a terrible vengeance for the fantastic invasion” (1075). Kurtz satiates his Dionysian materialistic lusts and celebrates his violent conquests with heads on stakes – all in the name of his new, more profitable Intended: ivory. As the novel progresses, Kurtz’s decayed morals, mind, and body are revealed – an antithesis to the awe-inciting hearsay about Kurtz’s remarkable, god-like influence and success over the Accountant, Russian trader, and natives. As Marlow and the Europeans travel back toward white civilization and escape the depths of the jungle, Kurtz’s soul is left in the darkness; “The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness… and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly, too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart” (1274). Kurtz’s death reveals Conrad’s cultural bias as a European; Kurtz’s surrender to his tragic Dionysian flaws are attributed to his exposure to the darkness and savagery of the African jungle and natives. Conrad clearly characterizes European society as Apollonian and morally civilized, while perpetuating the stereotype that African civilization is Dionysian, inferior, savage, and in need of enlightenment.
From an Afrocentric perspective, Achebe reveals a similar retreat to Dionysian impulse through the dialogue and characterization in Things Fall Apart. When the white missionaries impose their religion and government on Okonkwo’s village, they eventually forgo Apollonian attempts to understand or appreciate Umuofian culture and jump into an ignorant Dionysian rejection of the Nigerian religion and cultural traditions. The first white missionary, Mr. Brown, is characterized as restrained and empathetic: a true Apollonian. Brown engages in religious dialogue with Akunna. Achebe builds a calm tone through short, simple syntax and rational diction such as “example” and “because” (1804). Akunna and Brown also communicate with empathy through “I” and “we” statements such as “We worry” and “We are afraid” (1810); this syntax focuses on the beliefs of the speaker rather than blaming or invalidating the beliefs of the listener (“‘I’ Message, ‘I’ Statement.”). Brown’s ability to engage in Apollonian religious discussion rather than violent conversion temporarily maintained the initial peacefulness in the cultural collision, despite his underlying intentions to change their practices.
In contrast, the second missionary, Mr. Smith, embodies and unleashes the Dionysian practices of European imperialism on Umuofia: condemnation, aggression, and radicalization. A white missionary fumes “All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children. There is only one true God…” (1485). The white missionary, through a translator, rejects Umuofia’s spirituality because it doesn’t align with Western religion and social norms. Unfortunately, when cultures collide and do not share the same morals or expectations, one group will believe itself superior and attempt to erase the culture of the other, often without any attempt to contextualize or understand it. It is clear that the missionaries were attempting to dominate the African society by imposing governments and trade that align with European moral and economic values. The missionaries’ lack of understanding and Dionysian greed for wealth and dominance of the Umuofians opened the door for the violent silencing of an entire culture. Mr. Smith’s Dionysian reign even encouraged “over-zealous converts” to “flourish in full favour” (1855) and commit offenses that intended to intimidate and harm Umuofians. Dionysian misunderstanding and impulse were the architects of the near-apocalyptic end to Umuofia’s way of life.
Symbolism and characterization in Conrad and Achebe’s works of literary fiction both expose a warning to Western society: the darknesses of greed, impulse, and ignorance humans possess threaten to destroy our sanity, autonomy, and morality. Unfortunately, throughout history and today, the Dionysian forces observed in Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness are a reality of cultural collision today. The rejection and silencing of a people on the basis of ignorance, superiority, and prejudice has devolved into acts of violence and genocide (“Pyramid of Hate (En Español).”). Any devolution to Dionysian ignorance and immorality is the “blood-dimmed tide” that threatens to drown “the ceremony of innocence” (Yeats). In today’s world, it is especially crucial to heed Conrad and Achebe’s warning. Humans must cling to empathy, demand truth, and learn from cultural collision, rather than silence it.
Works Cited
- Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Books, 2018.
- Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness.” Gutenberg, Project Gutenberg, 1 Nov. 2018, www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/526/pg526.html.
- “‘I’ Message, ‘I’ Statement.” GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog, 14 Feb. 2018, www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/i-message.
- “Pyramid of Hate (En Español).” Anti-Defamation League, www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/pyramid-of-hate-en-espanol
- Yeats, William Butler. “The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming.
2019-4-4-1554420629