...Following the completion of his quest, the knight collapsed of exhaustion onto the dewy mountain grass. Yet, it was long before he came to his senses once again. In addition, when the knight finally became clear-headed he gazed at the surrounding area. He noticed that he was no longer on the Summit of Truth, but floating in a strange abyssal plain. This bewildered the knight. As he was gathering his thoughts a voice, Sam, feeling obligated to contribute to his counterpart’s ponderings, said, “It appears as if we are standing upon a sea of pure darkness”. “What is a sea of pure darkness? And how am I standing upon it?” replied the knight as he craned his neck to see farther. Granted, his efforts were in vain; it was pitch black wherever his eyes happened to glance....
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...1 Discuss the relation between narrative style and mo ral judgement in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The relation between narrative style and moral judg ement in literature is an issue in aesthetic philosophy that stretches back to Plato. ‘Narrative style’, I define as those formal literary aspects employed by the writer, in order to construct a narrative that is unique. By ‘moral judgement’, I refer to the messag e conveyed by a given text when referring to objects beyond itself. The above quest ion presupposes a relation between narrative style and moral judgement, and as such, part of my analysis will be to determine whether such a presupposition is wa rranted. Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness has been celebrated for its detailed examination o f European values and conduct. Ian Watt argues that ‘ Heart of Darkness embodies more thoroughly than any previous fiction the postu re of uncertainty and doubt.’ 1 But is this reading accurate? And if so, what stylistic devices does Conrad use in order to convey this position of ‘uncertainty’? Heart of Darkness uses an oblique narrative style, that is to say, t hat an unnamed narrator relates the narrative as it is in turn rel ated to him by Marlow, Conrad’s main protagonist in the novella. It is thus we can be to ld that for Marlow: ‘the meaning of an episode was not inside like a ke rnel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as...
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...Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. N.p.: n.p., 1899. Print. Pedot, Richard. "Heart of Darkness" De Joseph Conrad: Le Sceau De L'inhumain. Paris: Éd. Du Temps, 2003. Print. Barringer, T. J., and Tom Flynn. Colonialism and the Object: Empire, Material Culture, and the Museum. London: Routledge, 1998. Print. Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Knopf, 1993. Print. Zins, H. S. Joseph Conrad and British Critics of Colonialism. Vol. 12. N.p.: n.p., 1998. Print. BBC Company. Melvyn Bragg, n.d. Radio. Phillips, Caryl, and Renée Schatteman. Conversations with Caryl Phillips. Jackson: U of Mississippi, 2009. Print. Phillips, Caryl, and Chinua Achebe. "Was Joseph Conrad Really a Racist?"Philosophia Africana 10.1 (2007): 59-66. Web. Farn, Regelind. Colonial and Postcolonial Rewritings of "Heart of Darkness": A Century of Dialogue with Joseph Conrad. N.p.: n.p., 2005. Print Goonetilleke, D.C.R.A. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness: A Routledge Study Guide. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print Linfords, Bernth, ed. Conversations with Chinua Achebe (Literary Conversations). N.p.: n.p., 1997. Print. Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" Massachusetts Review. 18. 1977. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness, An Authoritative Text, background and Sources Criticism. 1961. 3rd ed. Ed. Robert Kimbrough, London: W. W Norton and Co., 1988, pp.251-261 Achebe, Chinua. Thing Fall Apart. N.p.: n.p., 1958. Print. Singh, Francis B. "The Colonialistic Bias Aspects of...
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...Joseph Conrad grew up in the Polish Ukraine, Polish Ukraine is a huge, fertile plain between the counties of Poland and Russia. Polish Ukrainewas a divided nation, that held four languages, four religions, and various of different social classes. Many of the families inethis area were Polish-speaking inhabitants, including Conrad's family. They belonged to the szlachta, a hereditary class in the aristocracy on the social hierarchy, combining qualities of gentry and nobility. Despite the areas poor state, residence in the had political power. Conrad's father, Apollo Korzeniowski, studied for six years at St. Petersburg University. Conrad’s father left before he had the chance to earn his degree Conrad's mother Eva Bobrowska, was thirteen years younger than Apollo. She was the only daughter in a family of six sons. After Eva met Apollo in the year 1847, Eva was was in love with Apollo's poetic personality and loyalty. On the other hand, he admired her lively imagination. Eva's family disagreed with the dating situation, the two were married in 1856 After the two couples got married, Apollo did not conduct much time for his wife. His main focus was his literature and political activities, which brought income into the house. He wrote many plays and social satires. Apollo works wasn’t known as much, but he had a huge influence on his song Conrad. Joseph Conrad is an Innovator in British Literature. His literature is influenced by his experiences in traveling to foreign...
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...One would not read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf to learn about Germans’ anti Semitic views in the 20th Century, or to learn about how the Jews “bastardized the white race” (Hitler 56). Surprisingly, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is still taught in high schools in 2016 even though the likes of Wilson Follett in 1915 have noted that the novel “Contained an implicit moral injunction to the white man: keep racial purity” (Adelman). Students would learn about the state of colonialist Europe at the end of the 19th Century equally from history books as they do from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Until racism is completely eradicated from our society today, it is not acceptable to propagate any form of literature or art which supports it. Similar to sexism, racism is...
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...LITR211 16 February 2014 Heart of Darkness Criticism Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a novella that despite its short length constructs a tale that is as dense and complex as the undergrowth of the jungle through which the main character travels. The tale, which begins as a frame narrative on the Thames in London, chronicles Charlie Marlow’s descent from Belgium into the heart of Africa in search of Kurtz, the infamous chief of the inner station. As Marlow travels through Africa, we are treated to a wildly different view of Africa then we typically see in popular culture, with the book portraying the harsh realities of Colonialism while also creating an atmosphere of dread and horror. This atmosphere is incredibly critical to the way in which we view the story, which has been criticized both as a racist text and as the first truly critical account of Imperialism. The journey culminates at the inner station where Marlow meets the legendary Kurtz, a character so complex that critics are still analyzing his purpose in the story. Heart of Darkness, is certainly one of the most polarizing novels of the last few centuries, with critical essays singing its praises and damning its aesthetics being almost equal in sheer volume. The watershed of criticisms towards Conrad’s visionary novella burst with Chinua Achebe’s scathing write up of the story, with its famous defaming of Conrad as a “bloody racist” (Achebe 343), that ends with the suggestion that it be banned from student...
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...original screenplay moved Joseph Conrad’s 1898 novella Heart of Darkness from colonial Africa to the heart of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s. Although Milius made drastic changes, he left the basic structure intact: a man travels upriver to face an evil genius and, along the way, must face his fears, his mortality, and the possibility that he will go slowly insane. Director Francis Ford Coppola in turn embellished Milius’s screenplay to make it more closely mirror Conrad’s book, cutting scenes, adding others, and demanding a great deal of improvisation from his actors. Milius and Coppola therefore shared the film’s screenwriting credit. Author Michael Herr, who wrote a notable collection of Vietnam War articles entitled Dispatches, also received a writing credit for penning the film’s narration. In addition to switching the setting, Milius renamed or modified nearly all of Conrad’s characters (aside from Kurtz). Conrad’s protagonist, Marlow, a pensive sailor on a quest to meet the ostensibly great, multitalented thinker Kurtz, becomes Milius’s Army Captain Benjamin Willard, an emotionally scarred Special Forces operative on a classified mission to terminate Kurtz. Milius’s Kurtz was an outstanding military officer who has apparently gone crazy. As the film opens, he leads a small colony in Cambodia, relying on “unsound methods” for imperious control. Moreover, Kurtz as portrayed by actor Marlon Brando is drastically different from the Kurtz of Conrad’s novella. Brando’s portrayal...
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...The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, considered one of the best novels for the English Language, and this is Conrad personal experiences. The Heart of Darkness published way back, in my opinion, this was one of the best price of writing from Conrad which I have read so far, and also Conrad was one of the best writers for his high regard work which Conrad has done. The Heart of Darkness, is basically a experiences when he traveled in Africa. Also, it’s one of the best examples how respected piece of literature can be, along with history and etc. Basically Conrad’s images of the Marlow in the African, and also, it’s a journey of person. Conrad’s didn’t learn until the age of 20’s, but latter Conrad have wrote some of the best stories such...
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...Heart of Darkness Criticism Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a novella that despite its short length constructs a tale that is as dense and complex as the undergrowth of the jungle through which the main character travels. The tale, which begins as a frame narrative on the Thames in London, chronicles Charlie Marlow’s descent from Belgium into the heart of Africa in search of Kurtz, the infamous chief of the inner station. As Marlow travels through Africa, we are treated to a wildly different view of Africa then we typically see in popular culture, with the book portraying the harsh realities of Colonialism while also creating an atmosphere of dread and horror. This atmosphere is incredibly critical to the way in which we view the story, which has been criticized both as a racist text and as the first truly critical account of Imperialism. The journey culminates at the inner station where Marlow meets the legendary Kurtz, a character so complex that critics are still analyzing his purpose in the story. Heart of Darkness, is certainly one of the most polarizing novels of the last few centuries, with critical essays singing its praises and damning its aesthetics being almost equal in sheer volume. The watershed of criticisms towards Conrad’s visionary novella burst with Chinua Achebe’s scathing write up of the story, with its famous defaming of Conrad as a “bloody racist” (Achebe 343), that ends with the suggestion that it be banned from student book lists. Achebe’s essay...
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...Heart of Darkness vs. Apocalypse Now Both the novel "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad and the movie "Apocalypse Now" are about one man's journey through Africa and Vietnam. A comparison and contrast can be made between the two. Both have the same themes but entirely different settings. Heart of Darkness takes place on the Congo River in the Heart of Africa while Apocalypse Now is set in Vietnam. The stock characters in both have the same general personalities but have different names. Of course, Kurtz is Kurtz, Willard twins Marlow, and the American photojournalist relates to the Russian Harlequin. Willard is a lieutenant for the US Army while Marlow is a captain of a steamboat of an ivory company. The first looks of Willard and Marlow differ a little. The movie begins with Willard lying in an apartment room completely out of touch with reality. He is haunted by his earlier deeds and he is getting very plastered. Willard smashes the mirror while fighting himself and cuts his hand. He falls to the bed crying. Marlow is portrayed as a traveler of the sea. The narrator described him as a hero somewhat. Their mission is to find Kurtz and take him down.. In both stories Kurtz is a psychotic rebel, worshipped as a god, who threatens the stability of his unit, but in one it is an ivory trading company and in the other it is the US Army. Kurtz, who had begun his assignment a man of great optimism and the highest morals, had become peculiarly savage. Tribes of natives worship...
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...Kyonna Acie Ms.Fevola AP English 4 November 2, 2011 In chapter two of Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, he begins to reveal each characters true feelings about Kurtz. Conrad’s use of similes, personification, and aphorisms, display Marlow’s and other character’s emotions in a less obvious way. “I am as harmless as a little child, but I don’t like being dictated to” (33). This quote is used to help the author explain the uncle’s sensitivity towards being told what to do. Conrad compares the uncle to a child because as an adolescent all people are constantly being told what they should and should not do whether good or bad. Conrad’s use of personification throughout chapter two shows not only the positive effect that the forest is having on Kurtz but the negative as well. “For me it crawled towards Kurtz ---exclusively; but when the steam pipes… deeper into the heart of darkness” (36). The quote used on page 36 is saying that slowly but surely Kurtz is becoming evil; he is following the darkness of the forest instead of staying in the light where he belongs. The author’s use of personification helps each reader of the novella develop a greater understanding about the type of person Kurtz is. The author uses aphorisms within the entire novel to talk about the truth of life within the jungle and how it has affected Marlow. “Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest of beginnings…. ---what is it? half-a-crown a tumble” (35-36). The past paragraph...
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...say about one of my favorite texts. This happened because by way of his approach by simply stating that Western Culture is wired to see certain aspects differently than that of African or Eastern culture. After reading Achebe’s academic essay for the first time my immediate reaction, in his own words, is that “western psychoanalysts must regard the kind of racism displayed by Conrad as absolutely normal” (Achebe 11). I did not want that to be my initial reaction, but why should I argue my side of it if Achebe only believes that I see things this way because of where I was born? According to Chinua Achebe, before I even picked up “An Image Of Africa,” we were never going to see eye to eye on any level of his dissection of the novella Heart of Darkness. My first thought was to not even touch what Achebe had spoke about. To leave it as it was, an unchangeable belief that I would never be able to argue because of his demeanor. A demeanor that shouts, “I’ve felt this way for some time now, and I am finally getting this off my chest.” Someone writing with such conviction is quite hard to argue against. Anyone with a history in debate would know this. I felt as if my conviction was not as high as his over this topic matter, and the only way to argue with someone such as himself is to match his demeanor. Although I felt he was dead wrong with every topic he brought up, I decided to stray away from the status quo. I did not feel strongly enough to argue the ideas brought up in his essay...
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...Although the content within Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is universally commended for its deep thematic concepts and skillful literary techniques, there has been a spirited argument over whether the novel is itself a discriminatory work. Due to the many contradicting aspects of racism during the 17th century and the limited information known about the personality of Conrad, the question of racism versus realism is too complex to give a definitive answer. One of the passages that appears to be intuitively racist is included in Part I: “All their meager breasts panted together, the violently dilated nostrils quivered, the eyes stared stonily up-hill. They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference...
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...An Image of Africa An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is the published (and amended) version of the second Chancellor’s Lecture given by Chinua Achebe at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in February 1975. The essay was included in his 1988 collection, Hopes and Impediments. The text is considered to be part of the Postcolonial critical movement, which advocates considering the viewpoints of non-Westernized nations, as well as peoples coping with the effects of colonialism. In An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Achebe accuses Joseph Conrad of being "a thoroughgoing racist" for depicting Africa as "the other world". The essay [edit] According to Achebe, Conrad refuses to bestow "human expression" on Africans, even depriving them of language. Africa itself is rendered as "a foil to Europe, as a place of negations at once remote and vaguely familiar, in comparison with which Europe's own state of spiritual grace will be manifest". Conrad, he says, portrays Africa as " 'the other world', the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization", which Achebe attributes to Conrad's "residue of antipathy to black people". Achebe moves beyond the text of Conrad's Heart of Darkness in advancing his argument. Achebe quotes a passage from Conrad, as Conrad recalls his first encounter with an African in his own life: A certain enormous buck nigger encountered in Haiti fixed my conception of blind, furious, unreasoning...
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...Heart of Darkness Essay Light and dark imagery is one element most commonly used in literature, and has held specific symbolic meanings for hundreds of years. Simply stated, light generally symbolizes good, while darkness symbolizes the complete opposite, evil. More specifically, Conrad uses detailed imagery of light and dark to show that white men can in fact be more savage than the natives. While the contrast of light and dark, white and black, and good and evil is a common theme in his novel, Conrad reverses the meanings of the two. In his story often the light is viewed as more menacing and evil than the darkness, and the white characters more spiteful than the black. In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses light and dark imagery and the reversing of their regular meanings as a main focal point throughout the novel. Conrad establishes throughout this the theme that not everything is as it seems. Conrad uses light imagery as a symbol of civilization. Darkness is defined as the absence of light just like the black jungle is defined as the absence of white man’s civilization, a civilization full of corruption and evil. Conrad’s first description of Brussels is an example of this. “In a very few hours I arrived at a city that always made me think of a white sepulcher.” It is significant that Conrad describes the building as a white coffin, because the job there is sending men out to retrieve ivory, ultimately resulting in their death. This cycle of evil begins and ends in...
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