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Racial Identity And Sexual Orientation

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The statement “racial identity and sexual orientation entrap and define us” is limiting in that it ‘pidgeon holes’ a great variety of ‘types’ into simplified categories. This essay will explore ‘racial identity’ and sexual orientation’ and exemplify meaning through the use of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Christos Tsiolkas’ Loaded. Although they hail from different times and cultures, the characters Marlow and Ari display similarities in behaviours in as such they put themselves in perilous situations and surround themselves with untrustworthy ‘associates’.
One reason why I do not agree with the statement “racial identity and sexual orientation entrap and define us” is an individual’s self-image and circumstance. For example, Marlow lived in the days of Imperialism. Instead of seeing themselves as interlopers in a new country the Europeans’ felt a sense of entitlement. He does not relate to the stereotype and describes the men he works with as
“[…] not much account really. They were no colonists; their administration was merely a squeeze, and nothing more, I suspect. They were conquerors, and for that you only want brute force – nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others” (Conrad 10).
Marlow is a migrant to Africa; he is the ‘other’ however it is the African’s that are portrayed to the reader as the ‘other’ through Marlow’s observations of the stations and river. Initially, Marlow’s accounts

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