Essay --

Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart, and Learning to Bow are three works which give insights on indigenous societies and cultural conflicts. Heart of Darkness and Learning to Bow both provide insights on indigenous societies from the eyes of outsiders from completely different cultures. Things Fall Apart is different than the other two readings in the sense that it is written from the perspective of an indigenous person. All three works clearly provide â€Å"An insightful perspective of indigenous society; a penetrating analysis of culture conflicts.† Heart of Darkness is written from the perspective of a European sailor named Marlow who travels to Africa and ends up working for the Company, which is a trading company in Africa. Soon after arriving in Africa, Marlow notices a group of enslaved Africans walking in a single file line. He notices how malnourished they are and says â€Å"I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron color on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking.† (Conrad 10) It does not take long for Marlow to realize how horribly Africans are being treated at the hands of Europeans, the Company in particular. He noticed the face of a young slave near his hand when he was observing his surroundings and gave him a biscuit. Right after seeing these malnourished and mistreated natives, Marlow meets the company’s chief accountant, a man who was so well dressed and groomed that Marlow thought he was a vision at first. Unlike the natives, who wear rags, the chief accountant has â€Å"a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots... ... effects of imperialism on natives and white men in Africa. The Company has enslaved many natives and one of its officials, Kurtz, goes insane because he is in the jungle by himself with no moral compass to guide him and after the natives start to view him as a demigod, he starts to believe it. Learning to Bow is a journey into Japanese culture from the eyes of an American who ends up teaching the Japanese a lot about his own culture. Throughout his time in Japan, he is faced with what he calls the â€Å"widespread myth of Japanese uniqueness† and encounters many Japanese who believe that he can’t understand their culture because he isn’t one of them. This reading is unlike the others because it takes place in Asia, not Africa. Things Fall Apart is an insight into indigenous African culture from an insider and shows how diverse and complex Africa is.