"Dumb blondes", "Smart Asians", "Loud-mouthed Italians", all stereotypes that exist in today's society. Stereotypes are exaggerated, over-simplified generalizations that are often times hurtful. They are also very hard to overcome especially since they are drilled into the minds of our youth. Both Achebe's and Conrad's novels are seen as great respected world literature works; however, they come from two completely different sides of the spectrum. Conrad's Heart of Darkness depicts Africans in a highly stereotypical manner. Africans are described as being savages. While on the other hand, Achebe's Things Fall Apart does the complete opposite. He attempts to shine a light on the ways of his people; he shows that native Africans are just like everybody else. Conrad uses stereotypes to portray Africans as barbarians who are hardly human, while Achebe works to refute these stereotypes by delving into African culture and roots to show how human and civilized that they actually are.
             Although Conrad's novel is seen as a great work, upon reading it, his many biases become extremely evident. For example, it is very clear that neither Conrad nor Marlow (the protagonist) think very highly of women by the manner in which he describes them. However, Conrad's prejudice towards the natives is far more obnoxious. A native is never once (other than Kurtz's "mistress") singled out and given a specific description that is unique to them, instead, stereotypes are used to describe the natives as a whole instead of as individuals. " '...looking at me very fierce... naked breast, arms, legs glaring eyes... humans limbs in movement... the helmsman... his eyes rolled... his mouth foamed'"(Conrad, 41). Here, the natives among the trees are all more or less described as one person; there is nothing specific to distinguish one from another. They are all half ...