Introducing Heart of Darkness

Quickwrite: take a few minutes to ponder the following questions What restraints prevent man from yielding to his dark compulsions?

How is man changed by his journey?  You  Marlow and Kurtz

Content and Stylistic Elements  Frame Story  What’s the premise?  From the intro, “It’s about our capacity for idealism, as well as our capacity for deterioration; our desire for brotherhood and our propensity to solitary crime…Marlow’s journey up the Congo is a journey into the heart of man’s darkness”  Though few pages, it’s at time uncomfortably “wordy…At times it seems Conrad and Marlow seem to want to erect a screen of words between themselves and the horror of a half-remembered experience…”

Content and Stylistic Elements  “…it’s about personal strength and integrity and a psychological study” in which “our best chance for survival, moral survival, lies in frankly recognizing the infinite capacity for reversion and crime that slumber in all our unconscious minds.”  No chapters, only sections and long narrations. Lots of subtext, but not so much as Austen  Look at mood, tone, SETTING, symbolism, and imagery

Historical Context  This was written around 1890, and it’s a semi- autobiographical account of Joseph Conrad’s own travels up the Congo and his hiking through the jungles of Kinshasa. What he and his narrator Marlow saw reveals much.  Both Conrad and Marlow reveal the unconscious prejudices of their times, so examine Marlow’s attitude towards the Africans closely.  Age of Imperialism. “White Man’s Burden”

It’s all about the journey  Marlow has returned from his (archetypal) journey, so this implies that…?  He has changed.  Therefore, as you read listen for the two voices of the narrator:  the naïve one who hasn’t yet faced the darkness  The one who speaks with undertones of knowledge and hindsight

Homework Focus Question:  This is due on the day the reading over Part I is due, which is __________  Make a list of 5-7 purposes the opening scene serves with regards to mood, characterization, setting, tone, theme(s)/ideas established  So, start on the first page and continue through the beginning of Marlow’s narration, until you get to where he “breaks off” speaking. It’s about 4 pages’ worth, before the flashback.

Early Modernism & Impressionistic Writing