Heart of darkness
From KstructIB
by Joseph Conrad
Various notes by Daniel Conway taken (often directly) from various critical articals. I am by no means the author of these notes or ideas.
Contents |
[edit] Narration
Marlow, and also an un-named person who Marlow is telling the story to (frame narrator)
projection of the consciousness of an individual protagonist
[edit] Plot
postcolonial parable (the intrusion and colonization of minds with ideas)
journey of Marlow toward the center of the Self and the center of the Earth the story of a night sea journey of exploration and self disovery of its narrator, Marlow, who is able to see himself and civilization more clearly against the dark backdrop of the center of the earth
journey is a decent into the earth, followed by a return to the light
the archetypal myth dramatized in literature: the story of an essentially solitary journey involving a profound change in the voyager
[edit] Importance of setting
retelling on ship on Thames about the jorney into Congo(?)
[edit] Character development
importance of Kurtz darkening of Marlow and Kurtz
[edit] Literary devices/symbolism
Thames connects England to the Congo economically and also through shared humanity
light/dark imagery (reversed at times)
images of modernity (and it's breakdown) contrast with images of the primitive 19th cen. images of Africa
1. Africa a place of physical darkness rainforests of the Congo slithering, shining blackness Kurtz's darkness
2. paganism
3. disease
4. insanity
5. Africans seen as primitive, savage, and primordial cannibals
6. sexuality
Kurtz is the dark shadow of European imperialism
time moves backwards as they go futher into the continent
"shadow" used to describe Kurtz
Kurtz is the shadow of Marlow, but of Europe and its imperialism
Marlow symbolizes the uncorrupted me that travel to foreign lands to help the uncivilized become cultured--doesn't have courage or power to stop abuses manager is hte epitome of the neg. effects of Imperialism--good health symbolizes the everlastingness of Europeans who invaded Africa and their ability to continually come to Africa and rape it of its natural resources
Kurtz symbolizes Europe (his mother and father were half-French and half Europe. His terminal illness represents the eventual death of imperialism due to its inability to adapt and respect the culture and peoples of the invaded country.
Kurtz painting symbolizes the blind and foolish ivory company forging it's way into the jungle and enlightening the savage natives w/o realizing the detramental effect they have on Africa--it also shows K's understanding of his role and position in the continent.
red=English territories abroad
yellow=beligium's sphere of inf.
black/white=good/evil
white invaders have black souls
black natives have white souls
marlow's predecessor killed over two black hens
white women weaving black cotton
black women w/ white cotton
starving boy with white rope around his neck=white men choking people of Africa
[edit] Relationships between characters
Kurtz is Marlow's alter-ego
Kurtz and Marlow both seduced by unkown/undiscovered Africa
the female savage is a description of the feminine nature of the soul of man, a reflection of the wilderness (she is the wilderness)
Marlow creates an image of Kurtz possibly in the image of the man he himself would have liked to be
he thinks that Kurtz can tell him things about himself which he does not know uses ambigous language when talking to the intended
[edit] Universality
imagery universally known in west--assumed to be taken from Africa
[edit] Major themes
imperialism, colonization, humanity
truth
