martes, 30 de septiembre de 2014
Conrad and Achebe...
"Our true nationality is mankind" H. G. Wells
As a society, we have got similar ideas, point of views, traditions and customs; they vary from country to country, and they show how people used to behave and think about. The importance of literature is this simply idea: to show how the society has behaved and thought of other societies and the way the saw themselves.
In the case of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, shows a perspective about the Africans by the Europeans; where the use of the words like "negro", "white", "irrational", "savages", and "beast"; also, Conrand did not give them a voice. In this case, we can notice how Conrad expresses this idea of superiority with this simple actions that develop the theme; the racism that a society develops to show a perspective about the Africans that was accepted by the society and nobody said anything against it.
On the other hand, Achebe writes about the society, how do the african tribes really are, explaining their actions rather than demonstrating their superiority. In this case, his way of showing it, is to explicate the traditions and behavior; he, first, examplifies the tradition or behavior, and then he explains it. An important fact of this, is that even thought that some of these are considered archaic and show the instincs, Achebe shows the human nature that they have.
If we compare both stories, the main difference would be the way to see the Africans; but this idea cannot be really compared because the historical context that Conrad and Achebe lived are a centrury apart from eachother and the way people saw their country and the other countries. Therefore, we can conclude that this is the importance of african literature: to show how a country developed by the influence of others, and that this country would not be the same without it.
In conclusion the influence of other countries, shows the globalization that each country develops through the years and the relationships between them. The importance of literature is shown by how how did the society saw these relationships and how did their country or tribe changed because of this.
lunes, 8 de septiembre de 2014
Black or white
"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."
- George Gordon Byron
As we read in "Heart of Darkness", the use of words like "neger", "others", "white", "slave" and so on, denotes the racism felt by Conrad and showed in his character Marlow about the Africans and Europeans. The use of these might make you think that this author is racist, or maybe the context which he lived taught him that. In my point of view, he uses them to make a comparison between both cultures, and he uses, aldo, metaphores to express it in different ways.
As a first thought about this book, is that the writer is a racist guy who hated the africans. In this case, this idea is correct, but it is clearly influenced by the social context in which Conrad lived, because around 1800, in Europe, the need to conquer a place was kept as a main thought, and the people they meet in these places, were "savages". In other words, they were considered an inferior race; this idea was influenced by the other believes that europeans had. In this case, along the story, we can notice that the main character, Marlow, was rude to them and also was egocentric; but as the story goes on, he starts to change a bit his way of seeing the africans. Conrad used these words to express a way of thinking in the 1800, but also, he tried to show, how this thoughts start to change in people who kept in touch with them.
On the other hand, he uses light and dark as a metaphore of neger and white, which changes though out Marlow's point of view. In this case, we can notice it, because Conrad uses "light" and "dark" a lot in his sentences and these are located when Marlow, start to change his point of view about them. For example when he was told to go to Congo, they describe this place like a "dark place" that represents the unknown, just like the Africans were to Marlow, but as the sotry goes on, this perspective changes. Also, it is important to take into consideration that the use of these words, was made refering to a group, not just someone, so, this ideas change little by little until the moment ( I think) he would accept them as human beings, just like in the part where someone dies in the boat and Marlow prefers to throw him away, rather than use him as food.
In conclusion, the words that Conrad uses, have a reason of beeing there, because, we must remember that literature main purpose is to express a way of thinking and it can be considered a primary source of information which shows the point of view, organization and ideas of a society.
- George Gordon Byron
As we read in "Heart of Darkness", the use of words like "neger", "others", "white", "slave" and so on, denotes the racism felt by Conrad and showed in his character Marlow about the Africans and Europeans. The use of these might make you think that this author is racist, or maybe the context which he lived taught him that. In my point of view, he uses them to make a comparison between both cultures, and he uses, aldo, metaphores to express it in different ways.
As a first thought about this book, is that the writer is a racist guy who hated the africans. In this case, this idea is correct, but it is clearly influenced by the social context in which Conrad lived, because around 1800, in Europe, the need to conquer a place was kept as a main thought, and the people they meet in these places, were "savages". In other words, they were considered an inferior race; this idea was influenced by the other believes that europeans had. In this case, along the story, we can notice that the main character, Marlow, was rude to them and also was egocentric; but as the story goes on, he starts to change a bit his way of seeing the africans. Conrad used these words to express a way of thinking in the 1800, but also, he tried to show, how this thoughts start to change in people who kept in touch with them.
On the other hand, he uses light and dark as a metaphore of neger and white, which changes though out Marlow's point of view. In this case, we can notice it, because Conrad uses "light" and "dark" a lot in his sentences and these are located when Marlow, start to change his point of view about them. For example when he was told to go to Congo, they describe this place like a "dark place" that represents the unknown, just like the Africans were to Marlow, but as the sotry goes on, this perspective changes. Also, it is important to take into consideration that the use of these words, was made refering to a group, not just someone, so, this ideas change little by little until the moment ( I think) he would accept them as human beings, just like in the part where someone dies in the boat and Marlow prefers to throw him away, rather than use him as food.
In conclusion, the words that Conrad uses, have a reason of beeing there, because, we must remember that literature main purpose is to express a way of thinking and it can be considered a primary source of information which shows the point of view, organization and ideas of a society.
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