Prejudice and Racism in Heart of Darkness, A Grain of Wheat, and A smal

The Literary Response to racism in Heart of Darkness, A Grain of Wheat, and A humiliated home base Racism and prejudice can be regarded as both social and individual phenomena, developed and manifested at all levels of society from government form _or_ system of government through organizational structures, inter- conclave and interpersonal interactions to intra-personal attitudes and feelings. Media and literature react to these perceptions and have taken part in shaping the attitudes and feelings of society. The fables Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiongo, and Jamaica Kincaids essay A small place represent a literary response to the insidious beak of racism in colonial and postcolonial history. Racism has typically been reflected by geomorphologic inequalities rooted in history and been perpetuated over time. The belief that one group was inferior to another was essential in order to justify the surgical procedure of dispossessing in digenous groups of their land during colonization. The colonial powers instituted and maintained differentials between different ethnical and cultural groups by parceling out admission to education or employment, and by restricting access to law and medical care. These inequalities consequently served to underline difference rather than similarity among the colonized and the colonizer, thus reinforcing stereotypes of superiority or inferiority. The policies and practices were aimed to reflect a belief that the dominant culture is the normal one, which served as a standard by which all else could be judged. Ngugi wa Thiongo is an African post-colonialist writer who portrays his experience of colonial racism from a natives view. In his novel A Grain of Wheat, he picture... ...o. 7 The Post Colonial Studies reader Editors Bill Ashcroft Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin. Publisher Routledge New York, 1999 DiBeta, Karen A Grain of Wheat Dispelling the colossal Myth http//www.tcnj.edul mccaule/emposit.htm Accessed June 29, 2001 Human Rights Watch Leave No One to discriminate the Story. Genocide in Ruanda.Doc. 171-1 http//www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno1 Accessed June 19, 2001 Eurofic European Forum for International Cooperation. Platform of the European Commission on Development and Cooperation, 115 Rue Stepin, Brussels, Belgium http//www.oneworld.org/eurostep Accessed June 21, 2001 Omoregie, F.K Rodney, Cabral and Ngugi as Guides to African Postcolonial Literature English Department, University of Botswana http//landow.stg.brown.edu/post/africa/omoregie11.htmlmungoshi1 Accessed June 28, 2001