Practice Test

Question 1 • 26-27 ERWC A/B 9800E 9801E

Which excerpt is historical evidence that supports Achebe’s claim about why Heart of Darkness is popular despite its racist elements?

Answer

“For did not that erudite British historian and Regius Professor at Oxford, Hugh Trevor Roper, also pronounce that African history did not exist?”

“Travelers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves. But even those not blinkered, like Conrad, with xenophobia, can be astonishingly blind.”

“We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed inheritance.”

“A few weeks later I received two very touching letters from high school children in Yonkers, New York, who —bless their teacher—had just read Things Fall Apart .”

Explanation

Achebe argues that Heart of Darkness remains popular partly because its racist view of Africa fits ideas that were widely accepted in the West. The reference to historian Hugh Trevor-Roper claiming that African history did not exist is historical evidence that such dismissive views had influential support, helping explain the novel’s appeal despite its racism.

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