THE MANY LAYERS OF THE HEARTMarch 22-23rd

WARM-UP

• Critics argue that Heart of Darkness symbolizes a journey into Hell or a journey into the dark place of Marlow’s own soul. Explain why both or one of these may be true using evidence from the book.

STORY OF HUMAN ADVENTURE

VIVID TRAVELOGUE

CONDEMNATION OF

SCRAMBLE FOR IVORY

ANGRY DOCUMENT OF

BRUTAL EXPLORATION

JOURNEY INTO UNDERWORLD

STUDY OF MYSTERIES OF MARLOW’S MIND

STUDY IN RACE RELATIONSHIPS

It is a story of Human Adventure.

•Suspense•Hazards of River Navigation

•Fog Traps•Impending Gloom•Armed Conflict

•Marlow’s choice to Explore

It is a Vivid Travelogue.

• Frame Story, in which Marlow tells us of an exciting journey into the center of Africa.

It is a Comment (Condemnation) of the Vilest Scramble for Ivory in the

History of Exploration.

• Even though Conrad/Marlow seem to accept the ivory trade, the irony is blatant with the impending gloom and darkness.

• Conrad seems to acknowledge the evil.• Throughout the novel, the irony becomes

even more evident.

It is an angry document of Brutal Exploitation.

• This is revealed even before Marlow reaches Africa, in the recounting of the story of Fresleven, “the gentlest, quietest creature that ever walked on two legs” – who ended up feeling that he could beat the native chief to death!

It is an epic journey into the Underworld symbolized by the Congo.

• Compares to voyages into Hades (descent into Hell: in the 6th book of the Aeneid, Aeneas seeks for truth.) As Marlow travels further into the Congo, he travels further into Hell.

1. Brussels: The Vestibule2. First Station: Limbo3. Second Station: Upper HellMarlow’s Hell is imaginary rather than an actual place.Another epic journey, Dante’s Inferno, is an example of

a journey into Hell.

It is a study of Marlow’s initiation into the Mysteries of his own

Mind.•Marlow not only searches for the truth, but he searches for an epiphany, which

reveals itself further in the story.

•He makes a discovery about himself, as well as all human beings.

It is a study in Race Relationships.

• This is demonstrated in the antagonism of the two races.

• The true question is: what is Conrad attempting to do in this novel?

• Is he a racist, showing the white man’s view of colonization, or is he condeming it?

• Critics vote both ways.

Painting the Congo

•Read the following passage silently to yourself.

“…Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of over-shadowed distances. In silvery sand-banks hippos and alligators sunned themselves side by side. The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands; you lost your way on that river as you would on a desert, and butted

all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, til you thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once—somewhere—far away—in another existence perhaps … And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention.”

Conrad, Heart of Darkness, p. 113.

Questions:• What kind of imagination is Marlow

(Conrad) using to portray the river. • Is it visual? (That is, is he seeing the river

and its environment? Is he making you see it?)

• Or is the description conceptual/ intellectual? (Is he making you think about what he portrays?)

• Is it aural? (Is he making you pay attention to the sound of his words?)

Assignment:

• Give an oral depiction of movement through space.

• For instance: the path you walk (drive, ride) from home to school and back, or the space you traverse in some sports activity or in traveling in a car with the family.

• Dissect these descriptions for the kinds of imagination that constructs them.

• What makes an effective portrayal in words?

Please answer the following questions with your full name.

• 1. To what colleges/universities did you get accepted?

• 2. Which one are you planning/hoping to attend next year? If not going to college, what will you be doing?

• 3. I have been awarded the following scholarships?

SYMBOLISM WITHIN THE HEART

May 12, 2009

WARM-UP:

• Explain the meaning that each of these words, phrases, sentences, or thought units have in the story.

• “no fool ever made a bargain for his soul with the devil” (126).

• “My Intended” (125).• “harlequin” (131).

SYMBOLISM:

• CIVILIZATION AND SAVAGERY• THE CONGO RIVER• BLACK AND WHITE; DARKNESS AND

LIGHT; EVIL AND GOOD

CIVILIZATION AND SAVAGERY

• Marlow represents civilization, with its laws and rules to govern human conduct.

• Kurtz represents the savagery to which man’s instinctive desires may lead without the protection and restraints of civilized society.

THE CONGO RIVER

• “The snake had charmed me.”• Because of the story of Adam and Eve, the

snake represents evil or Satan.• The river is seen as a snake.• As he travels the river, he encounters evil

in many forms, culminating with the evil and depravity he finds in Kurtz.

BLACK AND WHITE; DARKNESS AND LIGHT; EVIL AND GOOD

• Black = evil, death, mystery, ignorance (threatening, ominous, menacing, hidden).

• White = purity, goodness, life, enlightenment (clear, spotless, undefiled, moral).

• Those with the darkest hearts had the lightest skin.

• White men considered superstitions and beliefs of natives to be evil, yet they introduced their own forms of evil into the native culture.

QUESTIONS:

• Now, what do you equate with darkness?• What does the heart of darkness stand for

in the novel?• Was the darkness something that was

simply an invincible part of the universe or did it come from within human beings? Interior of jungle, inner station, or “blackness that resides in the heart of every human being”?

QUESTIONS, CONT.

• WHY DOES CONRAD AVOID GIVING CHARACTER NAMES?

• WHAT DOES KURTZ VISUALIZE WHEN HE CRIES OUT, “THE HORROR! THE HORROR!”?

THEMES/ MOTIFS:

• CIVILIZATION VS. SAVAGERY• GOOD VS. EVIL• THE CONGO RIVER• DARKNESS VS. LIGHT• BLACK VS. WHITE• HYPOCRISY OF IMPERIALISM

SUB-THEMES:

• SOLITUDE• CONRAD’S NOTION OF WORK• UNRELIABILITY OF WORDS• ACTIONS CANNOT LIE, WHILE WORDS

CAN AND DO• MADNESS• ABSURDITY OF EVIL

MAP ACTIVITY

• Map out Marlow’s Journey in the novel.• Include as mush as possible, but make sure to

include the major destinations.• Use color and symbols to represent different

areas.• Be as precise as possible.• Include characters in your drawing.• You may use any materials you feel necessary.• Total Points: 30

Homework:

• Study for Heart of Darkness test.

• Finish maps if necessary.

THE HORROR! THE HORROR!