Focus on racial and social issues and their impact on human destinies in two colonial novels of

the early 20th century from your reading list.

 Your essay should be 500-700 words long and should be coherent and organized (should
not be a plan/ scheme)
 Express your own ideas and be creative.
 Stick to the topic. Summaries are not required.
 Your essays will evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Contents (statements, arguments, evidence): 40%
- Coherence, organization of ideas: 20%
- Grammar accuracy and vocabulary: 30%

The two major novels that have to deal with the idea of racial and social issues of the early 20th
century are Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness and E.M. Foster’s novel Passage to India.
The two novels manage to illustrate the idea of the connection between society and the
community and how the idea of racism manages to break the harmony between the white
community and the black community.

The first novel pursues the idea of slavery, of mistreating the black community. Conrad describes
how blacks were forced by the white community to work until they could no longer, considering
them only slaves. Conrad describes how society masks the way the black community is treated
and how the death of some black people does not affect them either. He writes at a time when the
black community, Africans, were very little considered a welcome community in the white-
controlled world. The character and narrator of the novel Marlow is illustrated the most racist
character, illustrating racist prejudices against the Africans. Conrad is writing at a time where it
was acceptable to view Africans as the other, and by introducing the words “savage. He also uses
these images to make it more realistic, illustrating the novel’s themes of darkness, and fear of the
unknown, because the title of the novel illustrates the idea that the community of English has a
heart of darkness, a perspective on how the Africans were considered a barely human body
without intelligence, something that wasn’t illustrated back then. Although Conrad wants to
illustrates with the character Marlow that he is concern with the heart of humankind, and the
souls of individuals, but the text show out the idea of racism and imperialism. Conrad shows how
the racism issue is determined by the English community and how they can’t see more of the
African community.

The second novel also pursues the idea of racism, but in a more pleasant way. Foster describes
how the white community in India manages to create a connection with the black community.
Foster focuses heavily on describing and understanding Indian culture, showing that race and
culture are two different aspects that cannot be altogether avoided, no matter a person’s
individual intentions. Forster shows the importance of interpersonal human interaction and
friendship, but he also recognizes the influence of larger social forces, the English community
and the Indian community. In this novel, the emphasis was not only on the way the Indian
community is seen, but also on the role of the English community in India. Foster illustrates that
the English community was well regarded in India, leading to some minor conflicts between the
Indian Aziz and the two English women Mrs. Moore and Mrs. Adela Quested. The relationship
between Aziz and Mrs. Moore illustrates that belonging to different communities, make the
relationship between the two impossible to fulfill. Here the idea of racism starts from the Indian
community, because they do not accept the fact that the English community makes its presence
felt in their country and they are appreciated.

The two novels follow the same idea, but in different ways. The problem of racism is debated by
many authors, but Foster and Conrad manage to present very well the distinction between the
English, Indian and African community.