STEREOTYPING

Living my whole life in a situation where Colombia was thought to be a country less important than others like the US, I can completely relate to what Chimamanda claims in her story. Of course in a lower degree to what happened to her, I can see how when other people think of Colombia, they look at Hollywood’s version of it; being bombed, drowned in poverty and a lot of drugs. And the thing that impacted me about Chimamanda´s story is when she says that stereotypes are not a fake image of a society, they´re just very incomplete stories of what that society is really like. And that the sad part of it all is that after a stereotype is introduced and repeated a couple of time, it becomes the identity of a society. Like for example the image of a society like Mexico seen as a dry country filled with rebels, bad insurance and a large border dividing it to the United States. But when someone like Chimamanda visits Mexico for the first time, she feels shame in what image she thought she would have to encounter, because the fact is Mexico is a very beautiful country with amazing people and experiences. It´s just that the stereotype has completely drowned it into being what it is in a large part of society’s minds. 

All that Can be Said Without Truly Saying Anything

One thing I have learned during the many years I’ve spent on art is that there is a big thing most people miss when trying to make something perfect. It´s a simple mistake commonly seen in amateurs; looking at the perfection of the overall picture. The problem is that people become obsessed with detail but don´t really focus on what´s not mentioned in a story.  And when it comes to a novel as important as Heart of Darkness that is full of what is left unsaid, the story is very difficult to grasp if one is constantly looking for details. A very clear and accurate example of this is the main character of the novel, Marlow. Since the beginning of the novel, readers can infer that he is not a very reliable character because he focuses in things that most people don´t even consider important like the darkness in a sunset or the feeling of loss when night comes. This makes characters look at their lives as a whole; like the dreams they had but never pursued. Looking at the picture of whatever your mind is painting as a whole, whether it is the way Marlow describes things or actually painting a picture, the important thing is to see how much of the details are expressed by what is not said.

One thing that is truly vital to look at when reading the novel is noticing the fact that the main character is not the one narrating the story. The reason I say that it´s a significant thing to look at, is because the fact that the identity of the character is unknown, indicates to the reader that things in the story are mysterious and unknown from the beginning. Showing how much of a mystery and in a way how much of a fright was the whole trip to the heart of africa. I can instantly find hidden messages in the reason to the unknown narrator, and think of it as art in a very interesting way. When someone is standing in front of a painting, the first thing they see is how much information they are presented with. Like what is there to interpret, what is the main message the artist is trying to portray, and most importantly, who is telling the story that´s in the painting. For example when I look at this image by Vik Muniz, I come across many things that make me evolve certain feelings inside of me. I not only see a woman that does not look like she owns a million dollars, but also I see the subliminal message of the artwork which is the fact that she is made of trash. Instantly I feel sorry for her, I relate her situation with what might be going on in certain places of the world like Brazil, and I ask myself what Muniz meant by making this artwork. 

Hidden messages have proven themselves to be very important when it comes to literature. Especially novels like these, where the time period in itself was filled with secrets and hidden identities. and once again, that´s what art has come to be about. the amazing talent artists have to leave things unsaid and doors open just a crack for people to interpret what hidden objects lie within the artwork.