Role Of African American In Heart Of Darkness

Submitted By jennahrycyk
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Jenna Hrycyk

Part One: Major Essay

African Americans have been looked down upon in the Hollywood world when it comes to making movies that they play a role in. I agree with the perspective that the critic is giving in that African Americans are playing more of a background role and that they are underdeveloped characters.

In the reading Heart of Darkness, Marlow was at first not too fond of the Africans that he was being exposed to, he saw them as savages and devilish. He said that they were treated as slaves and not even considered people. This part of the reading definitely took me back to the perspective that the critic is giving about African Americans because of the abuse that they went through. When Marlow was going up the river he realized that the white man is not what all they are talked up to be. His perspective changes and he seems to be making a connection with the Africans and their way of life. The perspective that Marlow began to gain throughout his journey had a positive effect on the critic because he realized that the African way of life is really not all that bad.

The role of African Americans in the movie The Ghost and the Darkness takes place in Tsavo, which in the African language means ‘place of slaughter.’ The fear that the lions put in the people in Kenya were a strong reason why the Africans had such a hard time trusting anyone that came into their territory. The movie was very violent and happened to take place in an African dominated area. The lions showed the fear that the people had in anyone that was an outsider. It was almost like the closer the lions got to the people the more aggressive they became and all they wanted to do was kill them. It is the comparison of what it would be like if their country was invaded by war and people that wanted them all dead. It was almost like they were defenseless when it came to fighting the lions and it was impossible to stop the animals. The lions came in and attacked mostly at night, which instilled a fear in the people of Tsavo thinking that this is what could happen if they are not careful in protecting their land. The lion represented a metaphysical object in the film to put into perspective what it would be like if they were under attack. It instilled this fear in the people that they could not fight off what was about to happen next.

The relation of the writers critique and how it relates to the theme of Western Colonialism is very strong. In the film The Ghost and the Darkness the
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