A Response to a Response

For today’s post, I will discuss an essay by one of my favorite authors Chinua Achebe. While Achebe is most known for his novel Things Fall Apart, today I will take a closer look at his response to Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness. Despite my adoration for Achebe and his work, I will put that to the side to form an unbiased response to his response.

Before I begin discussing my own response, I think it is important to explain the place Achebe’s criticism is coming from. Achebe was a Nigerian-born author who spent years teaching and lecturing in the U.S. Although he wrote a number of books throughout the course of his life, he is regularly remembered for Things Fall Apart. A major element of his work was highlighting the pitfalls of imperialism, especially its damage on Africa life. So, it is without question that he would be critical of other works that are proclaimed to be illuminative of imperialism’s evils. 

Additionally, I think it is important to note that Achebe does not from a place of malice in his criticism of Conrad. He actually applauds Conrad’s work in the beginning of his essay: 

Conrad, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the great stylists of modern fiction and a good storyteller to bargain. His [novella] therefore falls automatically into a different class-permanent literature-read and taught and constantly evaluated by critics.

I think this is important to note because Achebe’s criticism is coming much more from a place of respect than a place of disdain. He has no bone to pick with Conrad; he only wants Africa to have the respect Conrad has garnered over the years. 

With this being said, I agree with many of the claims Achebe makes in his argumentative piece and I can clearly see where his criticism comes from. A lot of Conrad’s language does come off as demeaning towards the Congolese and there is a point about Conrad’s casting of the region as the antithesis of Europe and thus of civilization.

[There is a trend] in Western psychology to set Africa up as a foil to Europe...Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as ‘the other world’, the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization.

I think this analysis particularly rings true in Conrad’s description of the setting; much of the explanation of what Marlow sees casts the Congo as a place which is all together otherworldly.  It is concerning that he depicts Africa as the complete opposite of Europe. However, I think Conrad uses an array of criticism towards European imperialists as well. Kurtz’s horrific treatment of the Congolese is most evident of this. While this does not excuse the demeaning manor in which Conrad discusses the Congo and the people who live there, it is worth to note that his novella is still critical of European imperialism. Could his criticism have been stronger or more poignant: without a doubt. Could Conrad have been more conscious of the way he demeaned Africa: obviously. So while Heart of Darkness does possess a startling amount of subtle and obvious racism, it is also relatively critical of imperialism.  

Love You Forever

Wuthering Heights is a seminal classic in Gothic literature.  In her isolated home in the English countryside, Emily Bronte crafted a novel rich with insight about love, death, betrayal, and sacrifice.

Throughout the novel, the relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine captures all of these topics. The love the two characters express for each other is ever-present in Wuthering Heights, looming over the story like a storm cloud. At times as volatile as a storm cloud, their relationship encapsulates many of Bronte's  ideas about love and betrayal.

Perhaps among the most prominent themes about love and betrayal is the idea of true love being eternal. From the time they are children to the time they are adults, Catherine and Heathcliff possess a deep, yearning love for each other. While Catherine did marry Edgar Linton (for reasons that could constitute a post of their own), she continued loving Heathcliff.

" So [Heathcliff] shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."

Catherine's love for Heathcliff is meaningful and far deeper than what she claims to feel for Linton (again, a complicated matter). Heathcliff and Catherine's souls are cut from the same cloth; they share an unparalleled connection to one another. The reasons Catherine loves Heathcliff are far less superficial than appearance. They are joined to each other for reasons more complex than beauty; they connect to each other because of who they are on the inside. Their souls are the same which draws them close to each other.

"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

Although they cannot be together, Catherine knows that Heathcliff and her are practically made for each other. They are one in the same; Catherine is Heathcliff and Heathcliff is Catherine. Even after Catherine dies, Heathcliff continues loving her: the connection to one another is continuous and never dies. For years after Catherine dies, Heathcliff visits her graveside, even going so far as removing her body from the ground. Even in her death, Catherine is with Heathcliff. Her ghost visits him until his own death and once Heathcliff eventually dies, their ghosts join together. They might not have been able to be together in life, but they can in death. Bronte's use of their love helps showcases the eternal existence of true love.

Yet I was a fool to fancy for a moment that she valued Edgar Linton's attachment more than mine. If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn't love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.

Heathcliff knows that his love for Catherine and her love for him is greater than any other person's affections for them. They are meant to be together-their souls are made from the same material after all-and the feelings they possess are stronger than anything Edgar Linton could muster. This is why Heathcliff's greatest comfort is seeing Catherine's ghost: even in death they can be united and express their undying bond. The love the pair have for each other does not end when they die.

Love continued, even prospered, after Catherine died due to childbirth. Because they could not be together in life, Catherine and Heathcliff could finally find solace. Their love could not be contained to the confines of life. It was immortal. They were able to have the life they longed for after they were not longer alive.