White Man’s Burden(ed) by Others: Reading Chinua Achebe and Analysing Rudyard Kipling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24113/ijellh.v11i2.11438Keywords:
Post-Colonialism, Racism, Suppression, Conflict, Subjugation, Humanism.Abstract
The chosen article by Chinua Achebe brought a hugely different angle of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness i.e., the racist angle. He mentioned the keyways a text becomes so oblivious that readers ‘normalize’ the racist angle of the novella. In Conrad’s critically acclaimed works, there is covert racism that Achebe pointed out to the global audience. Even as a reader from ‘Orient’ it took me some time to absorb the obvious fact staring right into the face of every reader. Achebe presents the very understanding of African culture, and it is absolute mockery by a renowned writer like Joseph Conrad. The major question here then arises is, what is culture?
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Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” The Massachusetts Review, vol. 57, no. 1, 2016, pp. 14–27, https://doi.org/10.1353/mar.2016.0003.
The primary text for this assignment as it has a spectacularly distinct approach on Heart of Darkness. The work is often quoted as liberating and a breeze for natives condition. However, the subtle racism laced throughout the text e.g calling the narrator as wanderer of prehistoric earth or, the mistress reaction compared to his fiancée on Kurtz death. The emphasis on blackness to make it sound almost superfluous, shows the intent of the author. Using this article, I analysed the reading of another overt racist writer, Rudyard Kipling.
“Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction.” Routledge & CRC Press, www.routledge.com/Cultural-Theory-and-Popular-Culture-An-Introduction/Storey/p/book/9780367820602.
This book on theory presents deep understanding of ideology, culture, and its misinterpretation by authors. It gave concise definitions with the understanding that can deconstruct various books.
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 2014.
This is the work Achebe has based his entire article on. Conrad was a Polish writer who was not well-versed in English, yet he made particularly important symbolic references in form of Thames and Congo River. It almost feels like the author wrote for inclusivity. This leads to questioning of his identity and integrity, something which should be investigated. These authors are quoted for their landmark success as non-English native authors. They should be well-researched because it the influence is massive.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks. Penguin Books, 1952.
Franz Fanon gives a vivid account of racism encountered by coloured people and how they never get adjusted in any setting. I studied this piece in my Module ‘Critical Theory Today’ where the professor discussed how racism was prevalent in two stages. One by the colonial masters and the others between peers. This raises question whether writers faced this dilemma as well!
Rudyard Kipling. “Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling | Poetry Foundation.” Poetry Foundation, 2020, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46783/gunga-din.
The post colonialist writers broadly characterised the writing in: Ambiguity, Hybridity. It is the effect of colonialisation which makes the reader and writers give a close reading with these perspectives. Kipling as a writer gives ambiguous statements which marks the significant question: Did authors suffer from identity crisis, and they were forced to write for White Supremacists to have an impact? If so, why are these texts still read, so they not present racism equally?
Kipling, Rudyard. Rudyard Kipling: Something of Myself and Other Autobiographical Writings. Cambridge University Press, 1991.
The poem shows conflicted emotions of a White Man just like Mr. Kurtz who made the natives sound like villians but he realised his mistake in the last days of his life. He screams the words “The Horror! The Horror!” which change the understanding of entire text. Similarly, Kipling’s narrator has no affinity for the bhisti, but still admires him for saving his life.
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