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Conrad

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Conrad s Heart of Darkness: Day Two ENGL 203 Dr. Fike Quiz Please clear your desks. Question #1 References to women appear on 1623, 1624, 1626, 1630, 1655, 1665 ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Conrad


1
Conrads Heart of Darkness Day Two
  • ENGL 203
  • Dr. Fike

2
Quiz
  • Please clear your desks.

3
Question 1
  • References to women appear on 1623, 1624, 1626,
    1630, 1655, 1665, 1671, and 1675ff.  Do you agree
    with Johanna M. Smith that "the whole of his
    Marlow's story is seen to be a manful effort to
    shore up imperialism through patriarchy, through
    the nineteenth-century ideology of separate
    spheres"?  (The quotation is from her essay "'Too
    Beautiful Altogether'  Patriarchal Ideology in
    Heart of Darkness.")

4
Question 2
  • According to Marlow, how does one overcome
    darkness? 

5
Answer Work
  • Positive work
  • Rivets on 1639/131 see also the end of the same
    par.
  • 1645/137 surface-truth
  • Towsons book on 1646-47/138-39.
  • Story telling is also a kind of work.
  • Destructive work
  • EEE on 1640/132 To tear treasure out of the
    bowels of the land was their desire.
  • Kurtzs methods taking ivory and human heads
    (1662/154) Mr. Kurtzs methods had ruined the
    district.
  • Futile work
  • The man-of-war on 1627/119
  • The pilgrims gunfire on 1652/144
  • The pail on 1635/127
  • Other
  • Director
  • Accountant
  • Brick maker
  • Helmsman
  • Laundress

6
Question 3
  • What do you make of Kurtz's report on 1656-57?

7
Answers
  • 1656-57/148-49.
  • It is opposed to Towsons book
  • Towson constructive work
  • Kurtz futile idealism
  • It shows Marlows fascination with Kurtz (Marlow
    skips ahead because he is so enthusiastic about
    the report).
  • It shows how the road to hell can be paved with
    good intentions.
  • It shows the stupidity of the colonial
    enterprise.
  • It underscores the shadow/darkness that is common
    to all persons there is a murderer inside each
    one of us.

8
Question 4
  • What does the presence of the Russian add in
    section III (1658ff./150ff.)? 

9
Possible Answer
  • Without an omniscient narrator, Conrad has to
    have someone tell us the important background.
  • Here is what the Russian tells us about Kurtz
  • Reverent attitude toward Kurtz
  • Respect for Ks intellectual powers
  • this man enlarged my mind (1660/152)
  • K has suffered two illnesses (1661/153).
  • K was alone until he got the natives to follow
    him.
  • K raided the country and treated the Russian
    ruthlessly (1661/153).
  • K, like Jove, is associated with thunder and
    lightning (1661/153).
  • K tried to leave but was unable to make it out
    (1660).
  • Marlow gives the Russian Towsons book on
    1660/152. Why is this a significant action?

10
Question 5
  • What do you make of "The horror!" on 1672/164? 
    What does Kurtz mean? Is Marlow right to call it
    "a moral victory" on 1673/165?

11
Answers
  • It may suggest total self-awarenessawareness of
    his Satanic service
  • It may look backward but also forward to
    eternal horror, torment in hell. (Dying people
    sometimes see a ways into the afterlife.)
  • It is probably not a last-minute conversion
    Kurtz is overcome by the enormity of his evil
    deeds, but he probably does not repent.
  • It is what Marlow has journeyed/descended to
    discover the heart of darkness.
  • Marlow is not necessarily right to call it a
    moral victory (1669).

12
Kurtz and the Ars Moriendi Traditiion
  • The art of dying well
  • Unbelief devilish initiation (1655/146)
    certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable
    rites (1656/148) witchcraft (1669/161)
  • Pride Ks assumption that he can impress
    European ideals on the natives
  • Impatience Using extreme methods
  • Avarice My Intended, my station, my career, my
    ideas. (1671/163)
  • Despair The horror!
  • Ks avarice on Live rightly, die, die
    (1670/164) What does K intend to complete the
    sentence?

13
Question 6
  • Marlow lies to Kurtz's fiancée, the Intended.
     What do you make of this?

14
Answers
  • 1655/146 I laid the ghost of his gifts at last
    with a lie.
  • Here is the lie The last word he pronounced
    wasyour name (1678/170).
  • Marlow hates lying 1638/130.
  • Lady Justice on 1636/128 Marlow does not give K
    justice. See justice also on 1679/171.
  • Love is mentioned on 1677/169.
  • Pity appears on 1678/170.
  • The lie now becomes that great and saving
    illusion (1677/169).

15
Point
  • If Marlow had told the Intended the truth (i.e.,
    if he had said that Ks last words had been The
    horror), he would have missed the entire point
    of his experience in Africa.

16
Question 7
  • What has Marlow learned from his experience?
  • Write for 3 minutes What is the moral of the
    story?

17
Answers
  • Work is a saving grace.
  • Human solidarity is important.
  • Good and evil are together in the human heart.
    It has potential for both.
  • Love and compassion trump justice.
  • If you want to survive a difficult situation, you
    have to be mentally tough.
  • Material gain cannot assuage inner
    darkness/hollowness.
  • Telling a story about darkness is a way to come
    to terms with it.
  • A healthy life is a compromise between ignorance
    and total indulgence.
  • You must integrate the unconscious into your
    conscious life.
  • Jesus, speaking in the Gospel of Thomas  If you
    bring forth what is within you, what you bring
    forth will save you.  If you do not bring forth
    what is within you, what you do not bring forth
    will destroy you. 
  • END
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