Saturday, February 12, 2011
Race, Gender, & Colonialism
This essay brought up some interesting points pertaining to the novel that I most definitely would not have recognized prior to reading this. One of the more interesting points ties in both gender and race. Throughout the novella, white women are described as frail and obedient, especially Kurtz's wife. They don't have much power, and men clearly look down upon them. But in relation to the "savage" woman, she is viewed with "beauty, leadership, and ferocity" as well as "wild, gorgeous, and proud." These traits do not embody white women in the least. I found it interesting that a so-called "savage" would be fearless to white men and revered by men in her tribe. The point is also brought up that Marlow refers to people using stereotypes out of fear, especially of their power. I think Marlow fears power, and that is why he is so intrigued by Kurtz. I think he also fears him a little bit, and his fear sparks his curiosity. This holds true in life. I absolutely hate scary movies, but if one is playing and I'm in the room, I won't be able to hold myself back from sneaking peaks at the television occasionally and then I become paralyzed by the fear. I can't look away, even though I so desperately want to. Marlow is afraid of Kurtz, but at the same time is so intrigued and wants to know more about him and his life. In reference to colonialism, the essay states "cannibalism serves as the metaphor for the absolute violation of boundaries between one human being and another, the physical equivalent of the cultural absorption or ingestion by the Other that the colonizers fear." What I got from that, is that this novel is based a lot around fear as well as good vs. evil. We recognize evil as bad, and if the natives are partaking in that out of fear, we can assume that they are evil. But we also could believe Kurtz to be evil as well, so there is no distinguishable line stating whether Conrad believes the natives or white men to be evil or good. I think that's what make this novella so interesting and such a good novella because there is no bias towards anyone.
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I really really like what Hillary said about how both the natives and Kurtz are seen as evil. I completely agree that we assume that both of them are evil but they are looked upon completely different. Kurtz is somewhat idolized by Marlow while the natives aren't. I think this is a really good thought that there really is no line drawn between what makes what evil. Also, we brought this up in our socratics that there is no definate on what is evil and what's not. I think this might be Conrad's point that he is trying to prove that we can never truly understand what things such as eveil and good are because they are different to everyone and are ever changing. I also agree with her statement about power and how Marlow fears it. I think that's why he got himself out of the jungle because if he became powerful he wouldn't know how to deal with it. He sees Kurtz with his power and how he turned out and that scares him.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very interesting how the article compared the white women with the African women. Generally European cultures, women are thought to be the weaker sex that needs to protected. However, women have a much different status in African society. They are expected to work just as much as men, and certain African tribes have a matriarchal form of government.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Hillary on her thoughts about fear vs. curiosity. Some things or people simply draw us in. Even though we know it may not be a good idea, we simply cannot resist investigating more. I think this is just human nature.