important, at least to fundamentalize my analysis in order not to deviate from the familiar path. The New Encyclopedia Britanica points out that morality is
… a standard of human behavior determined either subjuctively or
objectively and based on what is considered ethically right or wrong.
Vol.8:11
The meaning of the phrase ethically wrong is something to say that is precribed by God and will be punished by Him, or that is condemned by a certain
community. Ethically right is of course, the opposite of the ethically wrong. I am going to discuss some important aspects which deal with the subjec
matter of the thesis – racial discrimination,. They are, loyalty, honesty, and hospitality. There are, of course, some other aspects which can be discussed, such
as kindness, oppresion, slavery, etc., but I believe that it will be sufficient if I only discuss these three aspects.
3.1 Loyalty
According to Collins English Dictionary, the adjective loyal means 1. having or showing continuing allegiance; 2. faithful to ones country, government,
etc. The noun loyalty means the state or qulity of being loyal. These meanings are quite sufficient for me to support my analysis of the blacks loyalty to their
master, the narrator of the novel, who is the white man, without getting rid of some other quotations. The narrator is the main character of the novel because he
firmly establishes the importance of the tale machinary. I may say that besides a
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narrator, he is also an observer since he observes his surroundings during his long journey into the dense jungle in Liberia. He deeply observes and studies human
behavior, He scrutinizes his carriers and his servants, and most of them are the African.
The prologue of the novel tells us that before going to Liberia the narrator has made some preparations to make his journey run well. He realized
that he is going to leave his country, England, to explore a wild country where no white men have every come before the depth of the hinterland of Liberia the
Negro Republic of West Africa. It is a land of cannibalism and witchcraft. Unfotunately, he and his cousin, Barbara, cannot find any reliable map to guide
them to reach their last mission, Monrovia, We know this when the narrator meets Daddy in Freetown. The latter has been in Monrovia and know every native in
that town.
Have you ever been in Africa before ? Have you ever been on trek? What on
earth made you choose to go there ? … Had we any idea of whatwe were up
against? Had we any reliable maps? No, I said. There werent any to be got.
Had we any boys? No…. When we crossed the border, how were we going
to sleep? In native huts. Greene, 1980 : 49-50
The narrator is beginning to learn the itinerary or the route to Liberia. He picks out three boys as his servants and twenty five carriers who will carry his
personal possessions or belongings. All of them are black. He now comes to his
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true journey although he has no reliable maps. He has to come to grips with the country he is traveling through. He has to become a leader, dealing with all kinds
of difficulties and unexpected events. Along with his account of the journey, the narrator finds estimable deeds among his carriers and servants – loyalty.
It is significant enough to mention, I assume, that when the narrator makes a long journey to Liberia, the country is still under European colony with
its savagery methods and oppressions. The white men believe that the country is in a turbulant situation with the natives brutality. They think that they are more
superior than the black so that most of them exploit the black people for their benefit. The take eveything from the land and exploit the natives so that the land
becomes a mess.
It was… a British colony, an Outpost of the Empire. An intense seediness. All
shabbiness an English responsibility. English had planted this town.
Everything ugly… was European. Greene, 1980:37-8
It is interesting to note that during his journey the narrator never finds any brutality or uncivilized deeds from his carriers, but the praiseworthy ones.
They even do their best to their master. We can get his information from Barbaras diary :
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Graham, from the beginning treated them exactly as if they were white men
from our own country. He talked to them quite naturally and they liked him. They
knew where they were with him, and apart from their everlasting cries Too
far, They did everything he wanted them to do. His method of conversation
was far from simple, and he used long, complicated phrases. I do not believe
that the men ever understood him, but after a while they began to get some dim
idea of what he was driving to lie around him, and joke and laugh, while he would
smile kindly upon them. Greene, 1980:539-40
The narrators attitude toward the carriers affects them in the way they serve him and his cousin, Barbara along the journey. He never laughs at them,
despises them or patronizes them. He thinks that the natives should be loved and admired. Besides that, he realizes that he will never accomplish his mission
wihtout them. He imagines that if he fires them, he will be able to hire new carriers.
Very often the narrator and his team get some problem since they do not know where to go. For example, when they want to go to the next stop,
Bamakama, he decides to take the shortest way through Jboiay in order not to waste time. Unfortunatelly, they arrives at a different village whose name they
never know. Barbara writes in her dictionary :
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He is convinced that the carriers are leading us out of our way, so that we
shall not be able to reach Bmakama to night. I am angry. Graham is angry. And
the carriers are all furious, too. Greene, 1980:542
This makes the narrator suspicious of his carriers. He emotionally decides to fire all of them and to let them go home. He thinks that the situation is
a sign from the carriers to ask a raise they are arguing to one another and the narrator name them the mutineers. But a few moments later the situation is under
control. Although the narrator is angry at them, the carriers do not want to leave him. Barbaras diary tells us about it :
Tell them they can go home; Ill give them their pay, but they wont get any
dash. Ill take new carriers here. …………………………………………
………………………………………… ……
There was a moments pause, and sudden sheepish grims spread over the faces of
our men. That was going too far. They did not want to leave us… smiling and
laughing they forgot the whole argument and were as friendly as over.
Greene, 1980:543
We can learn two things from this incident: first, it shows the loyalty of the carriers. Although the narrator fulminated against them, the carriers do not
want to leave him and his cousin in accomplishing their mission. Secondly, The
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carriers fell responsible to protect their masters, for they are the natives who know about the area.
The carriers loyalty to their master can also be seen in Part Two of the novel. It takes a lot of time to go from Pandemai to Duogobmal since there is a
long distance between them. The carriers, therefore, suggest that they stop continuing their trek before the next morning, but the narrator inssists on going
on. When the missonary tells him that Duogobmal is more than a days journey, the narrator does not listen to him. He even says that a black man likes to
exaggerate. He believes that the place is only five fours away. Like a proverbial mad dog of an Englishman, he leads his men on, stalking ahead of the carriers. He
does not listen to the carriers who say that they will not be able to get to that place before night. He calls his servant, Alferd, a liar.
Alferd suggested it would be a good thing to spend the night with the chief.
He would be offended otherwise. Duogobmai was too far, too far… He
asked the man about it. They shook their heads. He said that it was more than a
days march from Pandemai. But I couldnt speak the language, and Babu,
whom I trusted, couldnt speak any English, and Alferd, I believe, to be a
liar. Greene, 1980:177
Throughout the next eight-hour journey, with the narrator traveling fast ahead, the carriers follow slowly with Alferd telling them that it is too far to reach
Duogobmai. Unfortunately, it turns out that Alferd is right, without knowing it,
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the narrator is traveling to the wrong village. The day is to be an exhausting trial of wills among him, Alferd, and the carriers:
There hours went by and there was no sign of Duogobmai… I want stubbornly
on to where the forest began again. A man followed me, he had a few words of
English. He said we would never reach Duogobmai before dark, I had been
walking now for more than sight hours. Greene, 1980:123
Realizing the fact that they have gotten lost because of his being stubborn, the narrator wonders whether his carriers have abondoned him. He
begins to doubt the carrierss loyalty. The reason is that the has been told by a white wonderer that a black man likes to tell a lie and to get a white man get lost.
But the fact is that the narrator himself, walks too fast to be followed by carriers. And he gets lost. Actually he is scared when he gets lost in the dense jungle. He is
also afraid whether he can carry out his mission or not if he gets lost the jungle.
We were in the forest now… I wondered whether they would stay the journey; if
they left us, I hadnt the money to reach the coast. Would I have the nerve, I
wondered, if it came to showdown, to refuse to pay them or would we go
tamely back with them to Bolahun? Greene, 1980:120
However, what the narrator is afraid of does not come true. The carriers still walk on and try to catch him up. It seems that they still follow him. When he
is found by them, he begin to realize that one of the curious things about a black
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servant is the way in which he shows his loyalty, and there is no trait of cowardice in their loyalty, The narrator has a good sense not to fire his boys. He even
depends on them for any comfort that can be wrung out of the country. It is they who are always ready to put up his tent, to make his bed, and to serve him. The
narrator himself ezpresses sincerely about his boys loyalty:
I am not praising them for that. One ought not to be able to but loyalty… I
walked straight off out of the village with any two spare men and left the
carriers behind. I was paying them three shillings a week and that sum paid, not
only for an eight-hours day or more of heavy carrying, but for their loyalty…
There was no trait of cowardice in their loyalty, no admission that the richer is
the better man. They did sell their loyalty, but it was a frank sale, loyalty
was worth so many bags of rice, so much palm oil. They didnt pretend an
affection they didint feel. Love was quite one-
sided as it ought to be. Greene, 1980:122-3
The most importan point of the quotation above is that the black mens loyalty cannot be measured by a sum of money. It is dealing with something
abstract, a praiseworthy action. The narrator himself admits that they perform such a kind of sincere action. They are highly motivated by their own traits to do
something good to other people.
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It seems that the natives sincerely manifest their loyalty to their masters. It is a constant source of action and of interest.
It is also a moral action which is praiseworthy. The black people perform their loyalty because they are motivated by obligation to serve their masters. They
do not have any pretentious feeling among them when they do their duty. Their devotion to their duty by showing their loyalty to their masters is more or less
paralel with Immanuel Kans view on a good character, viewed from the moral point of view. Kant point out that
….. a character is made good by just one thing, by being conscientious, which is
being ready to do one duty as sees it, and for no other reason than just that it is
ones duty. Brant, 1989 27-8
Along with kant has pointed out above, we can say that the natives loyalty in serving their masters indicated that they are morally good. Although
they are uncivilized men, they are remarkable men, they can also be called as honorable men.
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3.2 Hospitality
