THE MANY LAYERS
OF THE HEART
March 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.
STUDY IN RACE
RELATIONSHIPS
STUDY OF
MYSTERIES OF
MARLOW’S MIND
JOURNEY INTO
UNDERWORLD
ANGRY DOCUMENT OF
BRUTAL EXPLORATION
CONDEMNATION OF
SCRAMBLE FOR IVORY
VIVID TRAVELOGUE
STORY OF HUMAN ADVENTURE
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 Vestibule
2. First Station: Limbo
3. Second Station: Upper Hell
Marlow’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:
THE HORROR! THE HORROR!
• Study for Heart of Darkness
test.
• Finish maps if necessary.