An Ongoing Sorrow

     Ever since I can remember, I have always avoided the subject of racism. Talking about it often made me feel uncomfortable in ways that I find myself unable to clearly define or explain. However, I will make an effort to by presenting one silly example. Often, when I'm watching a movie, I tend to skip ahead when I can make an obvious prediction of the ending from the plot, one that will hurt my favorite character or simply hurt me when the characteristics of the actors change, characteristics that made me like them! Of course through that example, my point is not well taken when it comes to racism for its victims were no actors from a movie, it only explains how I shut myself from the outcome of a situation that seem unpleasant (which is awfully wrong and definitely something that I'm trying to change about myself).
     Racism unlike any movie is ongoing,which makes me strongly despise it abd because I cannot seem to find ways to get rid of it, it makes me feel useless. The sufferings and death of numerous Africans caused by racism makes the topic so sensitive that I become distant every time the subject comes around. It is not because I am carefree of that matter, on the contrary, the fact that it still exists and still costs others' lives is sorrowful and often implants a fear I cannot seem to shake off.
A couple days ago, my classmates and I finished reading Heart of Darkness, a novella by Joseph Conrad; and in all honesty, I did not fully grasp a great understanding of Conrad's work. Many times, in different passages I have wondered if his assertions of the Congo River or the native Africans were true. After all, Conrad was not African, meaning his views and understandings of the Africans and their rituals are biased for his background differs from theirs. Although the question was raised about Conrad's work being racist, it never truly came in mind as I read his novella, until I read Chinua Achebe's essay which addressed Heart of Darkness and Conrad’s use of diction and adjectival insistence.
     Throughout Conrad's entire novella, he constantly describes the natives as savages or kinships and as Conrad's protagonist watched them dying, he viewed them as “nothing earthly...but black shadows of disease and starvation.” It is understandable that Conrad's physical journey differed from his usual kind of environment, so of course his overly repeated impression of the natives came rather blunt and racist then truthful.
     Chinua Achebe's belief that European critics often misunderstand African Literature and culture, through Conrad's Heart of Darkness, his belief is proven right. For if Conrad knew and understood the African culture and rituals, he would not have written a novella in which vulgar prejudices insult “a section of mankind which suffered untold agonies” and even though after his death (Conrad's), that section of humankind still faces those prejudices in many different ways in numerous places around the world.

All For The Things That Are Dear To Us

     Suffering comes to all of us, in ways that vary, of course. We often believe that the way we handle different kinds of suffering define us, meaning the actions we take due to the obstacle faced creates our destiny. After all, our choices determine the events that will occur later in our lives.

     In Wuthering Heights, a gothic novel recently read in class written by Emily Brontë, all characters within the novel experienced some kind of lost leading to their suffering. From the very beginning of the novel, Heathcliff is brought to a new home, revealing the loss of his own family and later the rejection felt from his newfound home. Later in Brontë's novel, characters such as Catherine and Heathcliff endure sufferings through their love for one another. Catherine was stuck between two lovers, her love for Edgar was described as “the foliage in the woods(60)” that will evolve over time. On the other hand, her endearment towards Heathcliff which “resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary,(60)” certainly, Catherine knew which of the two she was the most fond of, but Heathcliff's background and the idea of him never being able to fully take care of her financially helped her make up her mind. Although choosing Edgar meant she could never have a chance with Heathcliff, she chose Edgar who could help her afford a luxurious lifestyle. Edgar experienced suffering as his wife passed away leaving behind Cathy, giving him no heir (meaning his territories will be usurped by Heathcliff). Heathcliff's suffering, I believe was the most intriguing (as weird as it sounds) his endearment to Catherine transformed him into a character hated by almost everyone who surrounded him. As evil Heathcliff seems, his love for Catherine was so profound that he wished she would haunt him as “the murdered do haunt their murderers.(124)” Heathcliff among other characters died from their suffering, revealing how suffering indeed plays a significant role in everyone's life whether in literature or in real life.

     I will certainly not go more in depth on that matter, (I know you wish, but I won't! I refuse to). Wuthering Heights is one of the most intriguing and compelling novels I have ever read. Although I will not lie, at first I had a hard time keeping track of who the narrator is or different concepts used within the novel and why they are important. I have actually recommended this novel to a friend of mine in Florida and so far she loves it!

     Many would argue that understanding this novel can be tricky, so feel free to get help from the audio version (to keep track of who's the narrator or what is going on). Try to keep in mind that good readers/writers are not only the ones who read a work of literature and get it the first time, good writers are as well among the ones who find obstacles and get help from friends, through different types of research to grasp a clear understanding of a work of literature!