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J. Hillis Miller Controversy

Decent Essays

Although the controversy-inducing novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad displays strong tones of racism and dehumanization of an entire race, it is a story that forces readers to alter their perspectives on the beliefs and preconceived norms of society. Referred to as a ‘minor work’ by critics of his time, by the 1960’s, Conrad’s novella had risen to become a standard reading in many high schools and colleges. Many modern critics, including Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe and American literary critic J. Hillis Miller, have regarded this novel as either deserving of close intellectual reading or a novel that should not even be read at all. Heart of Darkness should be taught in the 21st century, as a part of the Western literary canon, not …show more content…

Hillis Miller. He describes the novella’s controversy, writing, “Heart of Darkness has often received a heavy sentence from its critics. It has been condemned, often in angry terms, as racist or sexist, sometimes in the same essay as both” (Miller). Miller continues on to suggest that literature is inherently complex, so we cannot take literally every word that is uttered, nor can we necessarily ascribe the beliefs of the characters to Conrad himself. Although Heart of Darkness is arguably racist, sexist, Eurocentric, and dehumanizing, we should not apply these same morals to the author. Also, regardless of if Joseph Conrad was racist or sexist, we should not cast aside a book purely upon this reasoning. Ernest Hemingway, arguably a notorious male chauvinist, is still read in modern day. People and their ideals are reflections of their times and thus may hold the prejudices of their day. We cannot expect authors of the past to hold the same moral values as we do. Miller acknowledges the morally incorrect tones of the novel, but declares that it should not be read “as straightforwardly endorsing Eurocentric racist and sexist ideologies” (Miller). He continues on to say

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