of “An Image of A Achebe’s Critique on Conrad’s Depiction of Africa
In brief, Chinua Achebe’s “An Image of Africa” accuses Conrad of conforming to the
Western societies’ dehumanization of Africans to reinstate Europe’s notions of
civilization. Born in 1857, Conrad lived during a period in which white supremacy
defined race relations across the globe, and had no qualms about maintaining the
ideology in his work. Unfortunately, white promotion demanded African subjugation.
Terming it the projection of Africa as “the other world,” Achebe found that Conrad’s
novel presents the continent as “the antithesis of Europe and…of civilization” (15). In
other words, to present Europe as progressive, Conrad did not hesitate to use the
African Continent as a yardstick against which he could measure the same. For
instance, whereas the River Thames in Europe was “tranquil” and had “ages of good
service done to the race that peopled its banks,” the River Congo in Africa embodied
“the earliest beginning of the world” (Achebe 15). Through the presented contrasts, as
Achebe insisted, Conrad sought to show Africa as a region that was still at the origins of
humanity, dark, barely human, and uncivilized. However, Europe was peaceful and light
because of its progression.
