Conrad, Heart of Darkness - notes
Heart of Darkness and The Secret Sharer, Bantam Classic, 1981
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Hero Cycle
Religion again
Decision to do good: intuition v Kurtz justice (118)
Going with instinct
River v land
Saved by awareness
Intended (
Death (128)
Narrative theory / Tao
The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a
cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him
the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which
brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze... (1: 7).
Tao
"feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him,—all that mysterious life of the
wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. (1)"
It was somber enough too—and pitiful—not extraordinary in any way—not very clear either. No,
not very clear. And yet it seemed to throw a kind of light (1).
Quality
For months—for years—his life hadn't been worth a day's purchase; and there he was gallantly,
thoughtlessly alive, to all appearance indestructible solely by the virtue of his few years and of his
unreflecting audacity. I was seduced into something like admiration—like envy. Glamour urged
him on...
Racism
Choice of making Africans cannibals.
Better than the Pilgrims (Joey N.)
Darkness / Jungle
I was struck by the fire of his eyes and the composed languor of his expression. It was not so
much the exhaustion of disease. He did not seem in pain. This shadow looked satiated and calm,
as though for the moment it had had its fill of all...
Pre-Roman England (6)
Beginning of the world, civilization (Marielle)
Triremes: slaves
Forget self
“I offered to go back with him. And he would say yes, and then he would remain; go off on
another ivory hunt; disappear for weeks; forget himself amongst these people—forget himself—
you know.' (95)”
Colonialism
The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a
different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look
into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it... (1)
Racket (9)
Interest in maps (10)
Idea = Progress
I should think the cause of progress got them, anyhow. (13)
Jolly pioneers (15) + irony
Lie: keeping Africans down, destroying culture, according to Marlowe
Two cultures not clashing
Watts: divided mind
Theme: Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Why?
Kurtz weakness
there was nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz
lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts, that there was something wanting in him—
some small matter which, when the pressing need arose, could not be found under his
magnificent eloquence (97).
Kurtz successful v Marlowe judges him.
No rules
“Well, I had a small lot of ivory the chief of that village near my house gave me. You see I used to
shoot game for them. Well, he wanted it, and wouldn't hear reason. He declared he would shoot
me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and
had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him... (95)”
// Watson
Madness: Why do all the colonists go insane?
It was only months and months afterwards, when I made the attempt to recover what was left of
the body, that I heard the original quarrel arose from a misunderstanding about some hens. Yes,
two black hens. (1)
Firing into bush
the man in pink pyjamas showing himself a hopeless duffer at the business.
Changes inside (17)
Why did he have the severed heads facing the house?
Keep Kurtz in the house
One keeping people out.
(Circular thinking)
Burning hut (37)
Do whatever they want.
Crazy with power.
Absurdity / madness
Firing into bush
the man in pink pyjamas showing himself a hopeless duffer at the business.
2011-12
Monster
"The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered
monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free."
The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the
future.
Shaman
asylums—how can you imagine what particular region of the first ages a man's untrammeled feet
may take him into by the way of solitude—utter solitude without a policeman—by the way of
silence, utter silence, where no warning voice of a kind neighbor can be heard whispering of
public opinion?
This initiated wraith from the back of Nowhere honored me with its amazing confidence before it
vanished altogether.
Harlequin clothes / Fool
A beardless, boyish face, very fair, no features to speak of, nose peeling, little blue eyes, smiles
and frowns chasing each other over that open countenance like sunshine and shadow on a
windswept plain.
Reaction of Marlowe to Kurtz stories
'It isn't what you think,' he cried, almost passionately. 'It was in general. He made me see
things—things.' "He threw his arms up. We were on deck at the time, and the headman of my
wood-cutters, lounging near by, turned upon him his heavy and glittering eyes. I looked around,
and I don't know why, but I assure you that never, never before, did this land, this river, this
jungle, the very arch of this blazing sky, appear to me so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable
to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness.
Survives // Marlowe: wanderers, river
Suspense
A voice! a voice! It was grave, profound, vibrating, while the man did not seem capable of a
whisper. However, he had enough strength in him—factitious no doubt—to very nearly make an
end of us, as you shall hear directly.
Shaman v system
look how precarious the position is—and why? Because the method is unsound.' 'Do you,' said I,
looking at the shore, 'call it "unsound method"?' 'Without doubt,' he exclaimed, hotly. 'Don't you?' .
. . 'No method at all,' I murmured after a while. 'Exactly,' he exulted. 'I anticipated this.
Intended, black and white
Goddesses, temptress?
Life ends in "oblivion", linked with forgetting.
Foreshadowing
Unease (15, 16)
Foolishness (17)
Death
City of the Whited Sepulchre (France?, 14, 15)
Allusion: Women // Cerebus (2 heads) (16)
Fate (14, 16)
Goddesses (15): fate
Snake (15)
Purpose: religious statement
Buddha
Marlowe // Buddha 2x, beginning and end (4, 9, 132)
Like Buddha's venture out and seeing corruption (John R.)
Narrator (4) + end
Discussion
Pd. 7
Why Marlowe helps Kurtz?
Job
Why so many people to get Kurtz?
Company wanted him out
Sided with the natives
One guy he would kill you.
Why did he have the severed heads facing the house?
Keep Kurtz in the house
One keeping people out.
(Circular thinking)
Why does he call his fiancee his Intended?
Checklist
Why did Marlowe continue when the boat was so fragile?
Mission
Kurtz funky
How interested in Kurtz?
Willing to lie (44)
Excited (55)
Why does the El Dorado expedition disappear? (55)
Insanity
Why doesn't Kurtz want to return?
Mistress
Implied
Jungle
Love
Obsession
What kinds of names are Marlowe and Kurtz?
Christopher Marlowe
Faustus
Obsession
Kurtz
Foreigner
Why the value of ivory?
Scarcity
(Exotic)
Colonialism
Why did Marlowe not tell Kurtz's intended the truth?
Make her feel better
What did he omit?
Mistress
Last words.
Project ideas
1. History of cannibalism – 2
2. If there is no one to control the limits of power will there be corruption
3. Buddhism
4. Compare book to movie
Pd. 2
Why Ivory valuable?
Hard to get
Status
Luxury
Colonialism
Why did Marlowe throw away his shoes?
Beating of black.
Madness
Does Marlowe represent something? You meet him and he dies.
He was out of it.
(What is the nature of madness?)
Collected most ivory
Ivory madness
Colonial power is too much
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Why did the Africans attack the boat?
Kurtz ordered