When Marlow meets the Company’s chief accountant, it is the most description we have received of a character thus far. Furthermore, it is the most description we have received of any character in Africa, and the character is white. This says a lot about the environment in which Heart of Darkness takes place, but it also says a lot about the accountant’s outer prejudices, Marlow’s inner prejudices, and the ignorance of Europeans in Africa.
By dressing in the manner depicted, the accountant has no subtlety about where he stands compared to the natives of Africa. His clothing is clean, fine, and likely expensive. In addition, the penholder behind his ear shows a sort of educated, pretentious individual. The fact that he wears no hat also says a lot: there is a great deal of etiquette rules around hats, and being outside without even wearing one may show a complete disrespect and unwillingness to be polite around the natives. Therefore, without even speaking, the accountant has already proven to be one of the most prejudiced characters in the book.
If the accountant is a physical manifestation of a macroaggression, then Marlow would be that of a microaggression: not harmful, but still problematic. He worships this man before he had even heard him speak. By contrast, he has looked the natives in the eye and seen into their inner suffering, and he has even seen some die right then and there, but the well-dressed white man is who he is fixated on. In a well-dressed white man, he sees a saint and a miracle. With all his respect directed towards the accountant, he has none left for the natives. No matter how much he may disagree with how they are treated, he has no respect for them.
While one may be more harmful than the other, they are both completely ignorant about their surroundings. By dressing to the nines in the middle of the jungle, the accountant shows that he has no common sense. By being surrounded by hardworking individuals and choosing to find respect in the clean man doing nothing, Marlow also shows a lack of common sense. Together, they make a good pair: idiocy and white privilege.
I was drawn to your post by the title, and your post itself is just as scathing! I love your criticism of the characters. You go really in-depth about what exactly shows their micro- and macroagressions, which might otherwise go unnoticed. I love your description of the white man's prejudices and ignorance, and I think that you are completely right about all of it. One thing that might make your argument stronger would be to pull more quotations from the passage to support your arguments. For example, you could take some of Marlow's language about the white man to show how he worshipped him immediately. All in all, I think that this is a really insightful look into the unspoken racism that is present in the novella.
ReplyDeleteThis a really great post. I hadn't even considered the implications of the accountant's dress, only Marlow's reaction to it. Your analysis is thorough and precise, though, as Olivia said, it could use a bit more textual support. This post made me think a lot about the more subtle mannerisms of the European's in The Congo and their implications. Great job, Mazie!
ReplyDeleteThis is really well written! The post is well organized and sophisticated. Perhaps you could have used more direct quotes, but I love how insightful this is. The way the Accountant is dressed not only shows that he is impolite, it is also extremely impractical if he actually has to do anything outside or in nature. Overall, I LOVE this post!
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