4.9: Comparing the Presentation of Cultures in Literary Texts
Question 16 • TX-English II B
Read the excerpt from "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” by Chinua Achebe.The Christian Science Monitor, a paper more enlightened than most, once carried an interesting article written by its Education Editor on the serious psychological and learning problems faced by little children who speak one language at home and then go to school where something else is spoken. It was a wide-ranging article taking in Spanish-speaking children in America, the children of migrant Italian workers in Germany, the quadrilingual phenomenon in Malaysia and so on. And all this while the article speaks unequivocally about language. But then out of the blue sky comes this:In London there is an enormous immigration of children who speak Indian or Nigerian dialects, or some other native language.I believe that the introduction of "dialects," which is technically erroneous in the context, is almost a reflex action caused by an instinctive desire of the writer to downgrade the discussion to the level of Africa and India. And this is quite comparable to Conrad's withholding of language from his rudimentary souls. Language is too grand for these chaps; let's give them dialects!
Answer
A
to provide an example of persistent racism
B
to describe the spread of multilingual speakers
C
to point out the failings of the Christian Science Monitor
D
to reveal problems in London’s schools
Explanation
Achebe contrasts the article’s accurate use of “language” for other multilingual children with its sudden description of Indian and Nigerian speech as “dialects.” He argues that this wording downgrades African and Indian languages, reflecting the same kind of racism he identifies in Conrad’s work. Thus, the example illustrates persistent racism, not simply multilingualism or school problems.
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