A doubt anyone can completely ignore racial issues. America is not as racist as it was in 1963, but there's still enough to go around. However, I understand Elena's mother and Eugene's mother better than I do Chinua Achebe's anger at Joseph Conrad. Conrad wrote his book in a very racist time. Achebe acknowledges that we all grow up within a culture whether we recognize it or not. He says of a student that "... The life of his own tribesmen in Yonkers, New York, is full of odd customs and superstitions...." (p. 107) He is offended that others do not recognize the richness of the Nigerian culture he grew up in. In all fairness to the student, how could the student know? It is not the student's fault that African history was left out of the young man's history classes. Perhaps Achebe doesn't realize that when he wrote...
Eugene's mother was afraid he would take Elena seriously. Both attitudes show prejudice. I know that even in 2005 both mothers would be right or wrong, depending on the individuals involved. Reading Achebe's essay shows us just how deep the prejudice is we have had to overcome. Seeing how racist people could be when Conrad wrote his novel, the reactions of the mothers in Ortiz-Comer's story seem both mild and historically, understandable.
("Heart of Darkens") Clearly, the novel the Heart of Darkness is highlighting how the underling amounts of racism in the Belgian Congo were deep. As the Europeans believed that they had the right to exploit the area for its natural resources. This would have an impact upon how they would treat the native Africans, with them being seen as a tool that could be exploited or savages that need to
Too, though, Africa is not only dark and mysterious, it is a lonely place for a westerner. The climate is far from comforting, the mode of transportation strange and unwieldy, and certainly, the lack of stability in government and economics both made it easy for many British to become wealthy, as well as to hoard resentment towards such a place. If we also think of the insects, constantly buzzing, spreading
Exile Literary Characters in Exile Exile can be the self-imposed banishment from one's home or given as a form of punishment. The end result of exile is solitude. Exile affords those in it for infinite reflection of themselves, their choices, and their lives in general. Three prominent literary characters experience exile as part of the overall narrative and in that, reveal a great deal about themselves to themselves as well as to
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