Taking a look at the excerpt from Heart of Darkness, the author, Joseph Conrad may seem like he is a racist. It looks pretty clear upon simply reading the text and thinking that the words of the narrator are the words of the author. There is plenty of evidence that he is a racist, an example of which being that he describes black people huddled together on a boat as "black shadows of disease and starvation". Also, one could take that and say that he is using this character's voice as his own, a la Shakespeare in The Tempest. There is also a strong argument for the idea that Conrad could not be a racist.
Conrad sets Heart of Darkness in a specific time period where racism towards black people was not only not an issue, but encouraged as part of the slavery system instilled in this time period where the story is set. The narrator is a person who is seemingly a slave owner and as such, he would have a certain bias towards black people. Given that this is a work of fiction, Conrad may not be a racist, which is what I personally believe. It just may be a simple interpretation of how white people viewed black people in the times of slavery in America. I feel as if people who believe that Conrad is using this story to voice his own views could possibly be reading too much into this text or perhaps seeing something that I am not. As far as I can see, the excerpt from Heart of Darkness is simply an interpretive view of the rich white slave owners.
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