Light and Darkness in Heart of Darkness.
Course Name: ???????? Instructor:?? ?? Name:??? No:01041083 Date:2003/10/12 Light and Darkness in Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad mainly presents a sailor's adventure to Congo, the heart of darkness. Throughout the narrative, Marlow, the primary narrator, describes things he encounters during his voyage in terms of light or white and dark or black: the luminous scene of sunset at the departure, the dark African jungles, the white and black people's scuffle, Kurtz's ivory pate and the bronze bodies of his devotees......Behind these strong images of light and darkness, there lies a metaphor, at first equating light with glory, truth, recognition, civility, and darkness with decadence, lies, ignorance and savagery, but later shifting to the other way around with Marlow's penetration into the darkness and wilderness. Thus the voyage in this novella is not only one to the dark African jungles, but also a mythic descent into the primal underworld, a night journey into the unconscious self and a spiritual voyage towards transcendent knowledge. At the beginning of this novella, light is equated with glory and civility, while darkness with ignorance and savagery. "it has known and served all the men of whom the nation is proud ...the great knight-errant of the sea. It had borne all ships whose names are like jewels flashing in the night of time. They all
Opposing Cultures in "Heart of Darkness"
"Land in a swamp, march through the woods, and in some inland post 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. There's no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable. And it has a fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination-you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate." (p. 106) In the center of the plot of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness stands the idea of two opposing cultures and the battle between developed and primitive. That conflict is portrayed through the eyes of Marlow, who is sent on a mission in Africa. Readers are able to follow the change in his opinion about whether the more dominant civilization is necessarily the better. The rise of the dilemma can be observed clearly in a passage in the book describing the African landscape and contrasting it to the lifestyle he is used to. The first phrase that draws the reader's attention in the passage is "the utter savagery", since it directly describes the environment Marlow is in from his own standpoint. The word "utter", which means "complete" or "extreme", implies that this new world is completely different to the one
Compair the endings of the Test, and The Darkness Out There - How each ending is prepaired for throught the story - Which ending do you enjoy and why?
Compair The Endings Of The Test, And The Darkness Out There. How Each Ending Is Prepaired For Throught The Story. Which Ending Do You Enjoy And Why? I enjoyed both the test and the darkness out there, however I did prefer the tests ending because it was very unpredictable, it had a twist, and the whole story was gripping from start to finish. The darkness out there however had less drastic ending but was still powerful in its own way. I will demonstrate this in my essay by comparing the build up to both endings and the endings themselves. I will conclude on which ending I prefer and why. The tests is written in third person narrative and potrays the test of a lawyer, trying to proove a teenage boy innocent of stabbing one of his enemies.When all the evidence is stacked against him. Throught the story the writter gives you the impression that the boy is guilty , for example ; one of the witnesses testifys that " I seen the boy, the one over there, running away with a knife in his hand." This evidence is compiled with other hard evidence which gives the reader reason to believe that proving the boy innocent would be near impossible . The boy however is adamant that he didn't commit the crime, and will not plead guilty even when he knows that pleading innocent could result in the death penalty. Time passes in the courtroom and the prosecution councils case seems to
How does Conrad present the company and Marlow's attitude towards its representatives? "Heart of Darkness"
Naeem Yasin How does Conrad present the company and Marlow's attitude towards its representatives? "Heart of Darkness", clearly a novel before its time; shows the attitudes and behaviour of various people of different nature and their reactions to various events that take place during their physical and metal journey. Perhaps for the first time the reader is allowed to decide who is in the right and who is in the wrong due to the way in which Conrad describes this journey. The character of Marlow (almost like Conrad himself), goes through his trip examining different people, and it is his thoughts and attitudes towards them which allows the reader to understand that the typical view of life and people is not the same in "the centre of the earth." The change in the style of writing that this novel brought to the world of literature in the early 20th century puts forward different attitudes towards respected people. Therefore Marlow clearly shows what he thinks of the company and its representatives. One thing that is noticeable about Marlow from his attitude towards other people is that he judges them on what he sees, and not on their background or what they do. This is evident as he has completely different views on people working for the same company. This makes it even harder for the reader to interpret whether colonisers deserve respect or not. "I shook hands with this
Darkness - creative writitng.
Darkness The warm September wind brushed the autumn leaves, making a harmonic sound in his ear. For Eric, it sounded like a highly talented orchestra led by a world famous conductor building up to its pounding, earth-shaking climax. However, it was nothing of the sort; a simple wind that blew one second and left the next. It was a picturesque sight, Eric thought to himself as he crossed the road to get home. It was such a great feeling to see his house get closer as he crossed the road; Eric was getting excited at the prospect of inserting the key in his front door and the homely crunch of the key turning in the lock as the heavy door edged open. So comfortable with the notion he just created for himself Eric allowed his neck muscles to completely relax and his head slumped towards the earth. His eyes fastened tightly, unwilling to see his head crash into the street, praying that the pain would not last long - if it all. Eric's eyes were jerked open by the fact that his long, elongated chin had just slammed into the impenetrable ground. Eric laughed quietly to himself, realising that he would not be allowed to die that easily. He would have to make more of an effort than just allowing his neck muscles to relax. Eric focused on the street and actually began to admire it. Taking in the splendour of the footpath in he mused on its colour, the right combination of good and
Creating Realities - Different reasons pull Marlow and Henderson into the jungle.
Michelle Grinberg Block:A November 11,2002 Creating Realities Different reasons pull Marlow and Henderson into the jungle. Here they develop a struggle to find themselves and their own reality. Henderson and Marlow correlate individual meanings to experiences in order to gain a perspective of their own reality. In Heart of Darkness Marlow there is a real contrast between what is light and what is dark. These contrasts work within the reality of Marlow's conception of what he considered right and wrong. Light represents for him what he is not. The light represents something unknown while the darkness was himself, knowledge of the impurity of the world and everything around him. Marlow developed an odd phrasing of what he considered his own reality. The meaning that Marlow assigned to his journey into the jungle and the knowledge about himself that he obtained from this journey developed this perspective. He discovered that what he always thought had been black referring it to the unknown was whiter than himself. The main meaning for Marlow being in the jungle was the "Fascination for the Abomination" that he developed for the something unknown. He developed this fascination for Kurtz. For Marlow, Kurtz was an idea that became part of Marlow's reality. Marlow based his reality on ideas with individual meaning like the contact with the savages or the journey in the river
The lumber-room.
The lumber-room. In this essay, I intend to compare the two stories and decide which one I prefer between, the darkness out there and The Lumber-room. The lumber-room is set in the Edwardian times, the main character is called Nicolas, and he is a young child, who is growing up and realising that every thing is not as it seemed, he sets out to seek attention by being mischievous and end's up proving his aunt wrong and using her own lie's against her. Nicolas puts a frog in his own bread and milk, probably to shock his aunty, but when his aunt insists constantly that there was no frog in his bread and milk to keep things calm and normal he knew there was being guilty of this act and try's to prove the aunty is wrong without admitting to the fact. Then he makes a fool and out wits his aunt in to thinking that he was trying to get in to the gooseberry garden, where he had been banned from visiting, because of the mornings earlier event's. She sat in front of the door watching the entrance to the gooseberry garden trying to stop him from getting in, so he changed his tactics and went inside to look in the lumber-room. He found all sorts of treasures and books he also highlighted how he sees adults, as boring and to serious. "It was probably the first time for twenty years that any one had smiled in that lumber room." Then he heard his aunt shouting for him, while she was
Read through the story and write down a few points that summarise the plotof the story. Acquaint yourself with the characters in the story.
Read through the story and write down a few points that summarise the plotof the story. Acquaint yourself with the characters in the story. plot The structure of the storyline, the way in which the action develops. This will usually include the settings, the development of character, crisis or climax and resolution * The plot is about two young people, Sandra and Kerry, who belong to the Good Neighbours' Club. * They go to do volunteer work at Mrs Rutter's house. She is an elderly lady who lives past Packer's End, a field that was said to be haunted. * Sandra is not pleased that it is Kerry she is working with, as she had hoped it would be her friend, Susie. * After some time, Mrs Rutter tells them the story of what really happened at Packer's End during the war. * An enemy plane was shot down over the field and she and her sister (Dot) went to investigate the crash. * They found the plane, but also found one of the soldiers in it still alive. * Because it was the enemy and because her own husband had been killed in the war, Mrs Rutter leaves the soldier to die overnight. When they arrive at the scene the next morning, he is still alive, but they don't get any help for him. * The young people are shocked by what she tells them and Sandra suddenly sees Mrs Rutter in a new light, but she also sees Kerry in a new light. Sandra She is a young girl who is a
Compare "Apocalypse Now" to Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness". How effectively has the director captured the central themes? (Include some detailed analysis of the technical aspects of film making in your answer)
By James Campbell Compare "Apocalypse Now" to Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness". How effectively has the director captured the central themes? (Include some detailed analysis of the technical aspects of film making in your answer) Man's Journey into Self The film "Apocalypse Now", directed by Francis Coppola, is loosely based upon Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness" in which both works share similar themes and motifs. Both are accounts of Man's journey into his self, and the discoveries to be made there. They are also about Man confronting his fears of failure, insanity, death, and cultural contamination. Symbols such as the river and the boat preside in both as do the key personas of Kurtz and Willard/ Marlow. Francis Coppola skillfully developed the visually beautiful, ground-breaking "Apocalypse Now" with the surrealistic and symbolic sequences detailing the confusion, violence, fear, and nightmarish madness of the Vietnam War. The deterioration of the culturally accustomed man in exposure to foreign cultures and savagery play key roles in the way of portraying the human psyche. All America contributed to the making of Colonel Kurtz, just as all Europe produced Mr. Kurtz. What is reflected by the Kurtz's is the threat of loss of self, loss of centrality and the displacement of Western culture from the perceived supreme center of history. The evil side of both
A young girl weeps in the murkiness of the quiet train station.
Sophie Gigg Descriptive Writing A young girl weeps in the murkiness of the quiet train station. She gently lowers her head as the sound of footsteps becomes louder. Discarded newspapers drift along the sleepers on the track, accumulating to the litter lining the rails. She scowls as signs of life disturb her previously isolated hideaway. She opens her eyes, glances around, and shivers, embracing her knees to make herself as small as possible, hiding herself away from everything...everyone. She doesn't want to be noticed as she drops her head into darkness. Above her slumped head flickers a bleary light, it glimmers downwards and illuminates the cold, damp platform upon which the young girl is settled. The continuous twinkle interrupts the stillness of the station. Light intrudes the gloomy scene, which only welcomes the darkness. As she cranes her neck to nervously observe those walking past, her appearance becomes pronounced. Her troubled face could tell a thousand stories. Tears escape from her passionless, yet fearful eyes. Droplets of tears trickle down her face, like solitary raindrops on a windowpane. She doesn't respond to her own emotions, neither do the train passengers who don't contemplate each tear falling from her timid eyes. Each tear representing another moment of hurt and agonizing pain she has suffered. She raises her head to acknowledge an elegant,