Heart of Darkness
Review
Map of Marlow’s Journey
Describe the detail setting of where the story begins.
Characters description
What observations does Marlow make about the
Roman conquest of Britain? How do these
observations relate to the novels main topic?
Marlow’s predecessor, Fresleven, has died there while
“engaged in a noble cause.” What was “the noble
cause,” and how did he die?
Why does Marlow describe Brussels as the “whited
sepulcher’’?
An aspect of Conrad’s style is to cite the details and let
an inner meaning emerge from the accumulated
details. This is well depicted in his description of
Marlow’s approach to the Outer Station. Which
details are used to show the uselessness and
wastefulness of the European enterprise?
Part I – Outer Station
Outer Station:
Blasting (connection to “man-of-war”) (“lugubrious drollery”)
Chain gang – “great cause … high and just proceedings”
Grove of death – “the gloomy circle of some Inferno”
Accountant / flies (Beelzebub = “lord of the flies”)
Mention of Kurtz
Central Station:
General Manager (Kurtz) / “Hollow Men”
Brickmaker (“papier-mâché Mephistopheles”) (“Hollow Men”) /
(Kurtz)
Painting
Authorial intrusion (30) / “We live, as we dream – alone …”
Rivets (Foreman)
Hippopotamus
EEE
At the Outer Station, Marlow first hears the name of
Kurtz. What is the accountant’s opinion of Kurtz and
where is Kurtz?
Marlow & Kurtz. Long before he meets Kurtz, Marlow
hears from others that Kurtz is extraordinary,
"remarkable." On what evidence do these claims seem
to be based? By the end of Part I, Marlow develops a
strong curiosity about Kurtz: why?
What is suggest by the names of the three stations:
Outer, Central, Inner?
How is related to the format and style of the novel?
Marlow remembers the words of the doctor about its
being scientifically interesting to observe the mental
images of individuals while in Africa and observes, “I
felt I was becoming scientifically interesting.” Why?
How is this novella a commentary on colonialism,
imperialism, and exploration?
How is this novel a symbolic journey into the
underworld?
Important information regarding Joseph Conrad.
Define novella
Explain that although HOD is considered to be
Victorian in its subject matter, it is very much a
“modern” text in both style and form.
Describe the company’s headquarters.
What feeling does the place give Marlow?
Conrad builds a series of images to describe the company
office. Many of these images have traditional, symbolic
meanings. Connect the following to they symbolic meaning(s):
Whited sepulcher, two women knitting, the deadly snake, the
center of the map of Africa, the color black and the sun.
How does Aunt view his assignment? Does Marlow
agree with her? Why?
What does Marlow mean when he says the journey
down the African coast takes him away from “the truth
of things?”
Why does Marlow say he “respects” the company’s
elegant account? Is his comment sincere?
What the accountant tell Marlow about Kurtz? Why
doesn’t the account write to the ivory agent?
What horrors does Marlow encounter on the journey
to the central station?
Who are the “pilgrims” and what is Marlow’s opinion
of them?
What is significant about the conversation Marlow
overhears the night the shed burns down?
Describe the painting in the brick maker’s cabin.
What is Marlow’s reaction to it?
What mistake had the brick maker made about
Marlow? Why doesn’t Marlow correct him?
What is the Eldorado Exploring Expedition? How
does Marlow react to them?
How does the conversation beetween the manager and
his uncle, which Marlow overhears on the deck of the
steamboat, reveal the m en’s antipathy toward Kurtz?
How does Conrad create mood and tone through his
descriptions of the jungle as Marlow journeys upriver?
Why, in Marlow’s opinion, do the cannibals not
murder and eat the white men aboard the steamboat?
Provide textual evidence that support the thematic idea
of civilization vs. savagery.
Discuss the structure of the novel and how it relates to
theme and meaning.
Analyze how the characters Marlow, Kurtz and the
Intended relate to one another and to the themes of
the novella
What are some o the moral implications of European
colonialism in the late 19th century.
Give examples from the text
Effects of light and dark imagery
Specific examples from the text
What is the literal and figurative meaning of heart of
darkness?
What is the origin of evil or darkness in the novel?
Describe the effects of destruction of a culture.
Textual evidence
Discuss the theme of individual helplessness
Textual evidence
Discuss the theme of futility of resistance.
The story is constructed around a series of foils.
How are the “harlequin” and the manager (from the central
station) differentiated from each other?
What do they have in common?
How do they function to highlight important defining
qualities of Kurtz?
How is Kurtz used, by comparison/contrast, to define Marlow?
How do Marlow’s views about women’s nature and role show
up in the contrast between the situation in which, he tells his
hearers, he completely misrepresented it?
Is Marlow’s conduct with Kurtz’s “Intended” and his aunt an
instance of proper moral restraint?
Are some lies genuinely morally necessary? Are we meant (by
Conrad) to see this as one?
What is the point of providing a “frame narrator”?
How does the presence of this kind of narrator affect
your view of Marlow’s authority as a narrator?
Describe the exchange between Marlow and his
idealistic Aunt.
How well does Marlow’s self-description as a realist
hold up over the course of the story? Explain.
Europeans in the [Belgian] Congo. Consider the Europeans
that Marlow meets at the Company's stations:
(a) the Company's chief accountant (1378-79: why does
Marlow respect him?),
(b) the manager (1380-81: why is such a man in command?),
(c) the "faithless pilgrims" (1382: why does Marlow call them
that?),
(d) the "manager's spy" (1382: what kind of "devil" is this
"papier-mache Mephistopheles" [1384]?); (e) the "sordid
buccaneers" of the Eldorado Exploring Expedition (1387).
How does Marlow assess these men and their motives for
coming to and remaining in Africa?
When Marlow reaches the Company’s Outer station,
he offers us some observations about it.
What does he say about the reigning “Devil” in this
Outer Station?
How does this “Devil” differ from others with whom
he has made acquaintance?
Patterns of Three
Note the following patterns in your books:
Three chapters
Three times Marlow breaks the story
Three stations
Three women (Aunt, Mistress, Intended)
Three central characters (Kurtz, Marlow, Narrator)
Three characters with names
Three views of Africa (political, religious, economic)
When Marlow reaches the Central Station, how does
he describe nature’s effects on the Station and its
inhabitants?
What power does the wilderness have over the Station
and what appears to motivate its occupants?
How does Marlow describe the Congo River and its environs?
How does he describe his interaction with the river?
What illusion does the River promote?
What insight does it provide?
Marlow says he came to an important realization as he
neared Kurtz’s station.
What is the realization and to what extent does it
influence or explain his behavior in the rest of the
story?
How does Marlow describe the partially completed
report that Kurtz penned before lapsing into his fatal
illness?
What effect does that report have on Marlow?
Marlow sees the “symbolic” skulls lining Kurtz’s hut.
What reflections do those skulls lead Marlow to make
regarding the nature of Kurtz’s downfall in the
wilderness?
What does Kurtz say in his final illness?
What, if anything, does Marlow learn from Kurtz?
How does he interpret Kurtz’s phrase “the horror, the
horror”?
Kurtz finally passes away, and at the text’s conclusion
Marlow decides to visit Kurtz’s “Intended”
Why does Marlow lie to here about Kurtz’s last words?
Does his lie reflect any insight he has gained from his
trip up the Congo and to “the Heart of Darkness”?
Explain
Themes
One of the novel’s strengths is its complexity. Conrad
comments on a range of themes that resonate with
most readers, such as:
The corrupting influence of power
Man’s inhumanity to man
Racial inequality
Gender inequality
Nature as adversary
Moral-Philosophical: Heart of Darkness is
preoccupied with general questions about the
nature of good and evil, or civilization and
savagery
What saves Marlow from becoming evil?
Is Kurtz more or less evil than the pilgrims?
Why does Marlow associate lies with mortality?