Question

Read the excerpt from "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” by Chinua Achebe.

The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, namely that Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist. That this simple truth is glossed over in criticisms of his work is due to the fact that white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unremarked. Students of Heart of Darkness will often tell you that Conrad is concerned not so much with Africa as with the deterioration of one European mind caused by solitude and sickness. They will point out to you that Conrad is, if anything, less charitable to the Europeans in the story than he is to the natives, that the point of the story is to ridicule Europe's civilizing mission in Africa. A Conrad student informed me in Scotland that Africa is merely a setting for the disintegration of the mind of Mr. Kurtz.

What is Achebe’s purpose in this passage?

to argue that, although Conrad is racist, he should be admired for treating Europeans less favorably
to advocate for modern historians to reevaluate Europe’s “civilizing” mission in Africa
to point out and condemn literary critics who have long misinterpreted Conrad’s work as racist
to suggest that the racist attitudes in Conrad’s work are ignored because of literary critics’ bias

Answer 1

to suggest that the racist attitudes in Conrad’s work are ignored because of literary critics’ bias

Explanation: Achebe argues that Conrad’s racism is real but glossed over—critics minimize it by claiming the story is about a European’s mental decline—so he’s criticizing that bias which causes the racism to be ignored.