Blog # 2

It has been may years since Joseph Conrad wrote the novella Heart of Darkness, and even now writers are still writing critical responses to this piece of work. In these critical analysis’s the writers voice their opinions on how they feel about the book. Two well known writers that have critiqued this piece of work is J. Hill Miller and Chinua Achebe. With every critique comes different opinions some are positive and some are negative but we are all entitled to our own opinions.
    J. Hill Miller wrote a critical response titled “Should We Read ‘Heart of Darkness’?”. The main point of this critical response is clearly stated in the title: should we or shouldn’t we read the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The main point is the reiterated at the end of the article when he says “I return to my beginning. Should we, ought to read “Heart of Darkness”? each reader must decide for himself or herself” (Miller 474). Miller expresses his opinion on the book but still leaves it up to the reader to make their own opinion. He writes “ no one bears witness for the witness, and no one can read for you” (Miller 465). Miller isn’t telling us what to believe, he wants the readers   to read for themselves and make there own decisions.
    A strength that I particularly really liked in Miller’s article is Miller’s ability to argue that “Heart of Darkness” is a work of literature. He says: “‘Heart of Darkness’ is a literary work, not history, autobiography, travel writing, journalism, or any other genre” (Miller 465). Clearly he is saying that we cant look at this as if this is the feeling of what the author or that it is true but we need to look at it as a work of literature.  He says “A second way ‘Heart of Darkness’ presents itself as literature in the elaborate tissue of figures and other rhetorical devices that make up, so to speak, the texture of the text” (Miller 465). He then goes on to talk how about Conrad uses similes, irony, metaphors, and personification to write and make it a piece of literature not just a story.
    In Chinua Achebe’s article “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”, Achebe took a completely different view. His main point was that of racism throughout the book. He flat out says “The point of my observation should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” (Achebe 343). This leads to the major problem with this article that unlike Miller, Achebe does not just look at that book he takes the book and start to blame the author when in fact this is a work of nonfiction and there is no need to take it out on the author. He says “whatever Conrad’s problem were, you might say he is safely dead…Unfortunately his heart of darkness plagues us still” (Achebe 345). This is completely unnecessary to say. As a fellow author it is not right to say this type of thing and that though Achebe is African it does not give him the right to bash another authors writing to this extent and harshly come out accusing Conrad as being a racist and that fact that Achebe does this really turns off readers.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”. Armstrong 336-349.
Armstrong, Paul B. ed. Heart of Darkness. New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2006.
Miller, J. Hillis. “Should We Read ‘Heart of Darkness’?” Armstrong 463-474.