Wallace concludes his invigorating and captivating (sorry for the sarcasm, it's late and I'm bored) article 'Are Humans One Race or Many?' that "we are fully entitled to maintain the common origin of all mankind." (224) Throughout the piece he uses the typical examples of natural selection and survival of the fittest to support his theory that at one time, humankind may have been made up of "several distinct races of man" (223) but that the development of the brain, language and feelings led to an "homogeneous race." (223) He states that natural selection becomes less of the deciding factor to human preservation and logic, emotions, and intellect has taken over for survival. With that said, I'm going to start rambling on about my opinions of racial issues in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."
I'm torn as to whether I believe that Conrad thought that the natives to the Congo were a separate race or not. He was certainly a man of his time and found the African's to be simple and less advanced. He refer's to them as savages and describes them the way I would describe an alien or something else completely foreign. Scientifically speaking, humans are the same, yet culturally there are many demographics, colors of skin, and behaviors that are unique to each continent. Perhaps that is how he viewed them. With their dark skin, crude weapons and bare feet he could have seen them simply as a less civilized group rather than a inferior race. I can't really conclude my opinion of Conrad's writing on this issue, maybe if I read it a few more times...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Well, you're off the hook because you certainly don't have to figure out if Conrad thought the natives he encountered were or were not of his race. Whew! But you can (and did) figure out if there are instances in which the language that Wallace uses would (or does) have a place in Marlow's narrative -- and you've done that. Marlow does refer to natives as savages, and it does sound like he considers them something completely foreign, or at least not something that could be in any way similar to himself.
ReplyDeleteIt is always hard to define the differences between race and culture. I didn't read Wallace's essay, but it seems from your description that he is stating the same things that allowed us to develop culture (i.e. language, sympathetic feelings) have evolved us into a single race. I have never thought of it that way.
ReplyDeleteModern science has helped us understand more about the development of "race". Now, the vast majority of scientists recognize that all humans evolved from a common ancestor...in Africa! Maybe if c19 Europeans would have known this they would have been less apt to disregard the "African Race". I doubt it though. To me, what it boils down to is people argue about cultural differences and use race as an easy and lazy way to identify those that are culturally different, and especially, exploitable.