Discussion of Hunt Hawkins "Heart of Darkness and Racism"

Hunt Hawkins disagrees with Achebe’s concern over the racist qualities of “Heart of Darkness” and instead praises its outcry against human atrocity. His argument could be much stronger if he chose, so I do not understand why there is so much unclear waffling between ideas. Aside from that, I find it fairly convincing that Conrad’s supposed racism was mostly just the prevailing opinion of the day and most of what he was concerned with was destruction of the morality of whites when exposed to such primitive surroundings. Conrad repeatedly discusses the sham of the whites’ intention to better the natives and, as Hunt points out, there are several examples of abuse that cause Marlow concern such as the natives under the dark tree near the beginning and the native shot dead in the middle of the road. He also alludes to the false sense of morality that whites have with the description of how women live in a crystal world that is unrealistic and with his description of how Kurtz’s morality fell apart with the absence of any sort of civilization or police. I disagree with Hawkins when he claims that the evil is brought to the natives by Kurtz. I will acknowledge, however, that the natives have an integrity of mind, body, and soul that Conrad admires. The primary point for Conrad is not that Kurtz corrupted the natives, but that the practice of imperialism is flawed in several ways. Conrad laughs slightly at the hubris of whites who assume that they are gods in front of the Africans, when in truth they are “empty.” I would argue that the Africans are equally empty, but they have no façade of civilization to fill, so they can live their lives with primitive energy. This type of primitive lifestyle, according to Hawkins, has some sort of appeal, which causes Imperialism to be even more dangerous as it can ruin Western advanced civilization as it did Kurtz. The reason the primeval and Satanic way of live has an appeal is because all of mankind inherently hates the influence of God unless the Spirit chooses to show them that its paths lead to death. Thus, by leaving all structure and possibility for accountability, it is a false paradise of fickle freedom.