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.