In his famous critical essay “A Picture of Africa” (1975), Chinua Achebe takes a strong stance against Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. He claims that Conrad was racist and that his news is the product of his racism. A following quote which is good to show Achebe's opinion on Conrad is as follows: The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, that Joseph Conrad was a total racist. If this simple truth is overlooked in critiques of his work, it is because white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely unnoticed. (A Picture of Africa, Achebe, 1975) Achebe comments on Conrad's work as a hidden product of racism because the reviews for Heart of Darkness mask racism and that is now the way we [critics and readers] see the news. Achebe's contempt for the short story goes beyond Conrad's words; this significantly goes to the point: the short story is not further criticized in light of Conrad's racism. There may be some truth to Achebe's comment because I did not read Heart of Darkness as a racist text. Personally, I saw the disintegration of colonialism. As Achebe suggests, “Am I a product of white racism? » To answer the question above, I am not a product of white racism because I personally do not see it as a racist text. When I read Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the language alluded to racism not from Conrad's perspective, but from that of Marlow, the protagonist, and other major and minor characters. This is why I cannot subscribe to Achebe's accusations against Conrad and his work, because Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a product of its times. Achebe begins his argument by comparing the two rivers: the Thames and the Congo. He writes: The middle of paper... which exists within. Obviously, Achebe thinks that Conrad is racist and that his work is the product of his racism; however, I disagree with this statement. I am familiar with Conrad's use of the English language to describe Africans. It is undeniable that Africans also have no voice. However, Achebe does not accept that this short story is a product of its times. Imperialism empowers colonizers to think they are better than the colonized because the colonizers view the country of the colonized as bad. However, in reality, Conrad illustrates the horrors of imperialism and gives readers the opportunity to make an informed decision. If we base our information on the last scene, Marlow may eventually succumb to darkness by hiding the horrors of the Congo, but overall this story reveals the horrors of imperialism in the Congo..