Introducing Joseph Conrad’s

Quickwrite
Take a few minutes to ponder the following question:

Congo River

 The Kingdon of the Congo was a well-run imperial federation
 Known for advanced working in copper and iron
 Rich in ivory and rubber
 Participated in thriving slave trade
Ne Vunda
Kongolese ambassador to the Vatican, 1608

King Leopold II & The Congo

 Leopold sought the ability to use the river to gain access to the rich rubber supplies in the interior
 As European nations negotiated and agreed to respect each others’ claims to African territory,
Leopold made his claim for the Congo

Leopold sent the famous explorer of Africa, Henry
Chiefs offered trinkets or cloth if document they couldn’t read
These treaties, along with
Leopold’s proclaimed goal to trade, led the European countries to recognize Leopold’s claim to the territory in 1885 http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=dpx5hy5TejE&feature=youtu.be

Cheap Labor, Barbaric Practices
 Agents ‘encouraged’ young men to work by holding their wives and children captive until each man’s quota was met.
 Many who resisted were killed on the spot.
 Others were beaten with cruel whips called chicotte, made from dried hippo hide with sharp edges.

Cheap Labor, Barbaric Practices
 During the years from 1895-1908 it is estimated that
8-10 million people died due to murder, mistreatment and starvation

“Human Rights” Movement
 Public pressure eventually forced Leopold to sell the
Congo Free State. It became
The Belgian Congo in 1908
 The Belgian Government ended the worst of the atrocities, but still controlled the fate of the African natives
“for their own good”
 The Congolese were never consulted about their future

 Imperialism: The policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony
(the predominant influence, as of a state, region, or group, over another or others) over other nations.
Includes the system, policies, or practices of such a government.
 “ Robbery with violence, aggravated murder on a great scale.
”
Heart of Darkness, page 70

Content & 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 ”
 It may be 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 halfremembered experience… ”

Content & 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 you are now pros with this!
 Look at mood, tone, SETTING, symbolism, and imagery

 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

Make a list of 5-7 purposes the opening scene serves with regards to mood, characterization, setting, tone, theme(s)/ideas established

An introduction to Early Modernism &
Impressionistic Writing
Impressionistic style: Many vague pieces coming together to form the big picture, requires reader to make their own big picture, reliance on artist’s
(Marlow’s) rendition of images/events, subjective, things change moment to moment, focus on
emotional landscape – seemingly unimportant details add up to create some idea/feeling
As we view the image on the next slide, follow along and respond on your handout

 Consider your notes from last night on the opening scene of Heart of
Darkness. Write a brief comparison/contrast response that analyzes how what Conrad is doing with language is similar to the effect created by Monet in this painting.