Although The Poisonwood Bible, Things Fall Apart, and Heart of Darkness all take place in the same setting that is basically where their similarities end. Of the three novels, Heart of Darkness most severely distorts the portrayal in terms of fairness and accuracy. In contrast, Things Fall Apart includes so many aspects of African culture and little mention of white culture. This creates a bias in the other direction because it is solely an African perspective (not a bad thing), but it is still a bias that should be noted. Right in the middle is The Poisonwood Bible. Although white perspectives are heavily present there are strong African characters who actually have names and interests and personalities.
Heart of Darkness is brutal in terms of its descriptions of Africans and the opinions the characters within the story hold towards the Africans. The white people, including Marlow, describe the Africans as more animal than human. None of the African characters have names never mind any characteristics that would make them complex and distinctly human. The Africans in Heart of Darkness are more a part of the savage uncivilized landscape than actually humans. This contrasts greatly with Things Fall Apart.
In Things Fall Apart, the main voices are African. Okonkwo is a overwhelmingly powerful voice (for good or for bad). He has values and opinions about how people should act especially as it it differs between men and women. African culture and religion is discussed at length and is not portrayed to be barbaric or somehow inferior as it is in Heart of Darkness.
The Poisonwood Bible has the most complex depiction of the African people. Due to the fact that the book is narrated by a bunch of white women, there is some unavoidable bias. The daughters have been raised by a father who shoves the stories of the bible down their throats. The youngest believed the story that the Africans were the tribes of Ham and were being punished because of the missteps of their ancestor. Contrastingly, the girls develop friendships with the Africans. They learn words in their language and hear stories about traditions in their culture. Although there is a level of misunderstanding, it is is no way the same as the misunderstanding the occurs in Heart of Darkness. In Heart of Darkness the misunderstanding occurs because the white characters refuse to learn and admit that the Africans are actually people. In The Poisonwood Bible, they are trying to understand it is simply a matter of breaking through the shell of habit.
The inclusion/symbolism of animals portrays intercultural relationships. It forges a bond between the culture of the white people and the culture of the Africans. Although there are many disconnects between the cultures, they can come together over the importance and significance of certain animals.
You do a wonderful job of describing all three books' narrators!
ReplyDeleteThese different perspectives are crucial to the point of view of the book, and you distinguish the voices well. This post would benefit from more direct explanation of how animals portray intercultural relationships; you touch upon the subject and allude to the differences, but a straightforward compare/contrast is lacking. Saying something about how the animals themselves are characterized would work, as the natural world is seen differently in each book, in which animals play a large role. Great job!
Your post is incredibly well organized. You have very strong transitions between each paragraph that helps with your contrasting of each novel. However, I would have liked more references to the novel to add more power to your statements. For example, you mention that there is a level of misunderstanding, but there is no gauge as to what this level is besides its relationship to the level in Heart of Darkness. Also, your argument for the relationship between animals could really benefit from references to the novel as otherwise it seems somewhat vague and unsupported. Very well-written post!
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