Reading “The Great Forgetting” in King Leopold’s Ghost by Hochschild we learn about what was done by Leopold in order to make it almost impossible to remember the events, which took place during his rule of Congo for Belgians and Europeans by spending a week burning his Congo papers before he died. This is why Hochschild writes that The Congo is an example of “the politics of forgetting” (Hochschild, 294) and the “forgetting” of those times is not passive, but an “active deed” (Hochschild, 295). The regime that Congo had under the rule of Leopold was a harsh authoritarian rule and that is one of the main reasons why it was hard for this territory to develop economically and culturally especially comparing to other colonies. Thank to such historians as Jules Marchal, who spent most of his life on research about Leopold’s Congo, we now have information about the crimes committed by the King to all those humans. In this chapter Hochschild reminds us that it is important not to forget countries like Congo and  remember what humanity is and protest against racism and inequality.

Tintin in the Congo is the second volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Herge. It’s a story about Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy who travel to the Belgian Congo, where native Congolese happily greet them. The book portrays the Congolese as infantile, lazy and stupid, it is about racism and it can be perceived as Belgian view of Congolese people in 1930-1940s. And as Hergé defended himself, he was mostly working from the opinions and writings of his society.

This comic book is easy to read, the scenes are quick and simple, and that means that what the reader is always focusing on is the absurd level of racism, which is proven on each page through many examples. Once he gets to Congo, Tintin decides he and Snowy need someone to help them during their travels: a servant. They find Coco, who is black, and we basically see him as a slave, who calls Tintin his “Master”, fails to prevent the car from beings stolen or a white man not to escape; all this due to his inferiority and lack of intelligence. Another scene conveying racism and stereotypes is where Tintin tells Congolese children in school how and what they should learn about their motherland, Belgium, which highlights the fact that their country is not free and is ruled by another one.

Another explicit example is the maltreatment of animals by Tintin. He hunts many of them: several antelopes, ape, crocodile, elephant, buffalo. Even though it is shown in a comedian way and in form of self-defense, it’s actually cruel killing of them, like the one where he does it solely to wear ape’s skin or putting a rifle inside a crocodile’s mouth. At one point a lion attacks Tintin, knocking him unconscious. He asks the Africans to help him, but they are too cowardly, and all run away. Snowy, however, is brave enough to fight the lion and defeats it. It portrays racism again making it consistent in the book, since the dog is also white. Such scenes reflect the popularity of big-game hunting among whites and affluent visitors in Sub-Saharan Africa during the 1930s.

At the end of the book looking at just one image we can see that the Congolese finally speak in sentences, and what they say is all about Tintin; they are basically worshiping him. They hope he will come back the following year and think that “in Belgium all whites like Tintin”. This is all a perfect depiction of paternalistic conception of colonialism.

I think that one solution for the book “Tintin in the Congo” should be to be banned and taken out of circulation, because it doesn’t educate children and some adults on the real history, it actually does the opposite. It shows black African people as half-human monkey people, a white man worshipping his dog as a god and promoting racism. It is vital that kids learn and explore the history of slavery and racism, but in the proper context and through true information. Another solution is to move the book to the section for adults and mark it with some information warning the reader what it’s content is actually about.

Citation:

H., Lonsdale-Cooper, L., & Turner, M. R. (2016). Tintin in the Congo. Tournai: Casterman.

Hochschlid, A. (1998). King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Mariner Book