Comparing and Contrasting Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart

Melisa Chan English linguistic process and Literature Instructor Van Andel - February 1, 2013 regard Africa From Two Sides Of A Coin. There atomic number 18nt many storys about the true search of Africa on view asshelves, especially not figments scripted by an author who k nows Africa best during the measure of its pre-colonial period. Things take coiffe Apart is a novel worth reading because its meat opener for those with not-very-positive stereotypes of the pure. In detail, it has been said that Things autumn Apart was scripted as a retort to another novel, The means of sliminess.This is because in the latter novel, Africa was viewed in a blasphemouser kindling comp atomic number 18d to the former novel. Thus, its natural that on that wind will be differences and similarities among the cardinal novels. However, assuming that Things radiate Apart macrocosm pen as a response to The meat of tincture is a fact there will be much differences than similarit ies among the 2 novels, especially in foothold of its author, point of view, and the perception of the novel towards Africa and how the Afri crowd outs tempered in the novels. One of the aspects in which the two novels catch more differences than similarities is the author.In terms of the author, The touchwood of Darkness was written by Joseph Conrad, a non-African. He wrote the novel in europium in 1902. This was during the Victorian Era low the rule of Queen Victoria. Apparently, in atomic number 63, the African continent was viewed as a grim continent. This is mayhap due to the fact that it was compared to Europe itself where everything is civilized and familiar to them whereas Africa was a couch of mystery and the unkn accept. On the other hand, Things sink Apart was written by Chinua Achebe, an African who wrote this novel much later than Joseph Conrad, which was sticker in 1958.This novel was written in Africa merely published in England, unconnected The Heart o f Darkness which was written and published in the same continent. In addition, it was written during the pre-colonial period before they gained independence. opposed Joseph Conrad who was a foreigner to Africa, Chinua Achebe knew his country as considerably as he knew himself, thus, he gave Africa and its plurality more life and made their personalities and shade equally as significant and vibrant as those around the world. Furthermore, there werent any use of comparison of the continent to other continents.The comparisons employ in Things travel by Apart were normal comparisons between individuals and topical anesthetic anesthetic villages. Another aspect in which we can compare and contrast the two novels is the point of view in which they were written. The Heart of Darkness was written in the first-person point of view, by Marlows eyeball. A rather rummy title of writing that Conrad used for The Heart of Darkness was that the novel was written as a double story with a first-person fib within a first-person narration.The frame- bank clerk is used to describe Marlows narration of his own story while the other first-person narrator is Marlow himself, depicting his adventure in the Congo. Un corresponding a typical first-person style, Marlows first-person narration is directed not towards the reader but to the men on the boat on the Thames. The frame-narrator on the other hand is narrating for the reader, the out audience. It get outmed alike Conrad was reading aloud Marlows travel log. Things Fall Apart on the other hand was written in the third-person point of view.Instead of writing through the eyes of an African, the story of Things Fall Apart was written through the authors eyes, as if hes writing his observations of Okonkwo and the Igbo quite a little. Things Fall Apart was written just like a typical story book which contained small interrelated stories, especially in the first part of the book. It was written in a way that render a prog ressive day-to-day basis of the pot of Okonkwos family and his village. Besides that, the perception and intervention of Africa and its inhabitants are very different between the two novels.In The Heart of Darkness, the Africans were depicted as savage Africans (excerpt motifs and themes). They were treated like animals and slaves. In fact, the African slaves were described as soulless, as if they were empty shells used to melt down for the Europeans, They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that thoroughgoing(a) deathlike indifference of unhappy savages. in time the Congo River was depicted as winding, dark and treacherous, compared to the Thames River which was depicted as a place of light, undecided and unclouded.In Things Fall Apart, however, Africa and its heap were depicted as full of vigor and life. The people of Umuofia were hardworking people who worked on their farms with heating and purpose. They also ease up a sense datum of pride and honor. F or example, the people of Umuofia will however attack another village yet if it was by the order of the Oracle or they will be punished. This can be proven by an extract from the novel never went to war unless its case was clear and just and was accepted as such by its Oraclethe Oracle had forbid Umuofia to wage a war.If the clan had disobeyed the Oracle, they would have been beatennever fighta fight of blame (12). Even the milieu butt againstmed to be alive. There were changes in weather, nation and harvesting seasons and even the season where the locusts came. When comparability and contrasting these two novels, a few similarities can be determine. First of all, they are similar in the way that they were written about Africa in the authors respective perspectives. They neither relied on remote sources nor let them influence their writing style and context of their writing.Another similarity is that they twain showed cause of the colonization of the Europeans on the loca l confederation though they were introduced at different time in each novel. Colonization effects include loss of the African purification and principles and also a change in lifestyle of the local community. The hierarchy of the local community was also disturbed. In both novels, Africans who were supposed to be highly regarded were profuse to mere followers or slaves. The similarities identified are somewhat superficial similarities because patronage having similar aspects, at a finisher look, these similarities also express differences.In conclusion, there are more differences than similarities between these two novels. This is perhaps as expected because these two novels were written by two different people of different nationalities, backgrounds and perspectives. Furthermore, they were written in two different time periods. We cannot and should not measure which of these two novels is better. We should see these two novels as equals in terms of information sources because by reading, understanding and comparing these two novels, we get going a better understanding of Africa from both sides of a coin.Thus, our perspective and knowledge of Africa is now broader and based on this, we can see Africa in a different light. Whether we see it in a better or worse light is entirely up to us to decide. However, at the very least, we have established the arguments about Africa to aid our judgment. kit and boodle Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New Delhi Allied Publishers, 2010. exclude from Joseph Conrads The Heart of Darkness. Date of devil 31 January 2013. Comparing and Contrasting the Novel, Heart of Darkness. 123HelpMe. com. 23 Feb 2013 . Ibo Religion in Things Fall Apart. Religion-Culture-and-Stories. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3. 0 License. Date of admission 30 January 2013. The artistic production of Narration in Heart of Darkness. Introduction to Heart of Darkness. Date of access 23 February 2013. http// home. roadrunner. com/jhartzog/heartofdarknessintro. html