Conrad-Racist writer or Satire slinger?

Achebe definitely makes a convincing case for Conrad’s racism. Of course, we shouldn’t ignore the time difference. Achebe makes his claim in 1977; at least that’s when the piece was published, while Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” was published in 1899. That’s 78 years. It may not seem like a lot, but many things change in eight decades. Conrad may have been a racist, but he also may not have known any better. It doesn’t excuse him, but it does make us hold off the angry mob. Our founding fathers owned slaves, does that make them racist? Conrad may try to get off on the fact that he was ignorant and that he didn’t know any better. The argument could even be made that its fiction and the narrator isn’t even Conrad. That argument mentioned by Achebe, who says “But if Conrad's intention is to draw a cordon sanitaire between himself and the moral and psychological malaise of his narrator his care seems to me totally wasted because he neglects to hint however subtly or tentatively at an alternative frame of reference by which we may judge the actions and opinions of his character” Could Conrad be using Marlow as a scapegoat so he could speak his racist thoughts without persecution?

We would have to look at the work itself, I will begin with the excerpts giving to me by Achebe in his piece. “No they were not inhuman. Well, you know that was the worst of it -- this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped and spun and made horrid faces, but what thrilled you, was just the thought of their humanity -- like yours.” It seems like Conrad is saying that the real shock of the savages was how they looked like humans. Of course the outrage which stems from this except is that the “savages” are human, there shouldn’t be anything thrilling or shocking about it. They look like humans because they are. On one side we have Conrad’s gross use of terms that showcases African in a negative light, for example, he refers to them as savages even though they have clans and cultures.

Another quote from "Heart of Darkness reads "The man seemed young -- almost a boy -- but you know with them it's hard to tell" while some people may see this quote as racist, i don't see the problem with it. is the word "them" offensive all of a sudden? this could be an example of Conrad's blatant ignorance. He just doesn't know. Have you ever seen someone who looked older or younger than they actually were? I've seen kids that are 13 that can pass for 17.

Yet can we truly ignore Conrad’s time period. I know its only 78 years, but consider how long it took for African-Americans to actually get civil rights after slavery was abolished. I guess we may never know the true intentions of Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”. But based on what Achebe said, I would be inclined to think that Conrad was a racist.