Comparing Achebe’s portrayal of Africa and the African people with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, it is possible to say that the main themes of these two works are different. Achebe describes Africans as people with their own culture and tradition, he speaks that being pagans in general, they managed to create the culture which they believe in. Their traditions are not barbarian, they revere religion, age, and women, they highly esteem marriage and children, they know the value of good and sin, and they are afraid of evil.
In general, Achebe describes African people as rather clever and friendly with their history and traditions, who know what value is and honor their customs. So, Achebe’s main idea is that Igbo are the deserving members of mankind and do not differ greatly from Western people. Conrad takes the other side of African understanding. The very title is symbolic. Taking Africa as “The Dark Continent”, Conrad describes it as the place of darkness, where only evil actions take place. Reading Heart of Darkness, the impression appears that Africa is the place where civilization is devoid and people have no history at all.
The inhabitants of Africa are described as monstrous, with grunting voices living in prehistoric conditions. The author managed to find so many ugly and abusive words to Africans that the question arises why he is so cruel to people and the country he just does not understand. Moreover, describing Africans, Conrad says that they are sinful, without paying attention to the fact that these people are highly religious, value family and traditions. The whole impression of the African people in the book is created by one person. Moreover, the main characters of the book just do not understand the peculiarity of African tradition; they think that if these traditions are different from their civilized one, they are sinful and do not deserve existence.