lighthod The Nigger in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

The Nigger and The Heart of tincture The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad was written in 1898 and 1899 and published in 1902. So, although it wasnt surprising that the raillery physical exertiond to describe a black person was spade, it was insulting rightful(prenominal) the same. Throughout the short story I had to remind myself of the time power point it was written. Joseph Conrad is nothing short of a genius. His writing technique is eloquent, and surreal and but after having completed The Heart of Darkness, I couldnt help tinge a little insulted by the oft used word nigger. My feelings give me to do a little research on this word nigger. I checked three dictionaries (1) the Oxford Concise Dictionary, (2) the Websters Ninth New collegial Dictionary, and (3) The American Heritage Dictionary. They all had in common one explanation, a member of any dark-skinned race. In addition, they all said it was offensive. Websters went one further and said a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons. Now this last definition was closer to what my parents had told me the meaning of the word nigger was, an ignorant person. I tend to like my parents definition much better than all the rest combined The word nigger is actually derived from the Latin word niger which means black. Okay, so were get closer to understanding now. So why all the controversy surround this word? I even cast to wonder if The Heart of Darkness was written by a black author would I have been equally or less offended? This word nigger was belatedly the cause of a controversy between two very heavy(p) directors, Spike downwind (black) and Quentin Tarantino (white), in regards to Tarantinos new movie Jackie Brown. Lee felt Tarantino used the word nigger too many generation in his movie and considered it a racist act. Im not sure, but I believe Lee too has overused the word in his movies and yet he publicly cries foul when Tarantino does the same thing. What makes blacks s o offended by whites using the word nigger when they use if themselves? The main indicate touted is because some blacks use it (and I mean use it often) as a term of endearment. Then there are some blacks (usually the upper crust) who use the word as an insult, as in Webster, as a verbal description of a low class black person.