Is Conrad a Racist?

            In our day and age, when the word "nigger" is used in reference to an African person, most people are shocked and offended. In fact, I feel strange simply typing the word. However, one hundred years ago, it was as common as the word "and". When reading The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad the opinions of Conrad's racism always surface. Although, as with the use of the word "nigger", we must take into consideration the time period and setting that Conrad was living in. Nineteenth century Europe already had its roots deep into imperialism and it would be odd if Conrad had opposing views of the place he lived. Achebe did have strong points portraying racism in Conrad's writing, however there are examples and reasons that prove Conrad should not be dismissed as a racist.
             Many of the European countries in the late nineteenth century had imperialistic goals of exploring and settling Africa. They also believed that Africa had very little settled land and the land that was inhabited was inhabited by uneducated and "uncivilized" (by their definition) African cultures. Yes, nowadays we know they were wrong to think that, but this was the idea back then. Conrad could not help to have some of these thoughts ingrained in his head. Just as the few examples we see of Native Americans today are warriors shooting arrows and wearing headdresses, so were the depictions of African savages. However, despite the common thoughts and ideas of his time, Conrad still proved to show anti-racist views. Also I would believe that intelligent readers of this book would realize the difference in times and forgive the subtle racism.
             Conrad had an objective enough point of view to give positive pictures of African culture. Marlow was clearly shaken after the death of his helmsman and took pity on him by throwing him overboard. .
             " The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.