Insignificance of man

[dundundun]

I'm having hard time finding textual support. I need to talk about how this work contains the theme that men are insignificant. Examples please!!!

[dundundun]

Help anyone...?

[gnarlybill]

so you need help with a work that deals with the insignificance of man?

[gnarlybill]

my bad im new dnt no how this works yet

[lighthirsty]

The very fact that Pinkerton claims to be an atheist would explain why he views man as insignificant. An atheist view of man gives man no real purpose for living or dying

[lighthirsty]

My personal view is that God created the universe and everything in it. As a Christian I have found my purpose that so many people lack. What religious views do you hold?

[V.Jayalakshmi]

Dear Dundundun,
If you are looking for a particualr work to support the view 'man is insignificent'then any work dealing with strong religious views will do.Otherwise you can arrive at the same conclusion when you deal with great disasters in this universe(Like T-Sunami) where man could do nothing.It is how you argue that allows the conclusion.

[lighthirsty]

dundundun, are you writing a paper? If so, look for places in the book where pinkerton has a pessimistic view of life. That would show the insignificance of man, because the time period was one of alot of chaos. It would really look like the whole world was random if you lived during the time of civil war, racism and all of the other man vs man problems.

[Kumaraditya Sar]

hello! are you looking for textual support for insignificance of man in conrad's heart of darkness? if so, why not consider the language when Marlow sets off on his Frenc steamer towards the very opening of the novella? i have found that soldiers and custom house clerks were flung out insignifcantly like burdens, and none cared if they drowned or not. on the other hand, the nature and the sea is presented as living entities, and Marlow feels an alienation with his copassangers as well as a sense of brotherhood with the sea. will this view do? if you are benefitted by this view, please drop me a mail. let me know.

[NoNot]

:banana::banana:
I'm having hard time finding textual support. I need to talk about how this work contains the theme that men are insignificant. Examples please!!! Consider literature in the broadest sense and include the fiction of early science . Science continues its inspiration of literature , to be denied , distorted , attacked or made fantastic .
Literature reveals the unseen , the perceived , philosophy , and the human condition . In this, science and its conclusions are a near identity with imagination , and in this are a single identity now tested . Science fiction sometimes anticipates science or follows it.
Insignificance follows easily from current science . The ' black hole' in the Milky Way Galaxy is a mass equivalent to 4.31 million suns 27 million light years from earth . There are probably 100 billion galaxies ( of those about 500 million date back 13+ billion years and the light is just arriving here to be seen with our instruments ). Finding or insignificance is easy . Insignificance is a priori . 'Human significance" and its creation by humans is clearly the stuff of most writings. We fight to be important , intelligent , the 'chosen' , to have a God man die for our sins . We struggle against the obvious , our insignicance. It is as Freud said " We are what we fight against ." And of course just consider our opposable thumb - now that really sets us apart.

[NoNot]

banana::banana:
I'm having hard time finding textual support. I need to talk about how this work contains the theme that men are insignificant. Examples please!!! . . .

Consider literature in the broadest sense and include the fiction of early science . Science continues its inspiration of literature , to be denied , distorted , attacked or made fantastic .
Literature reveals the unseen , the perceived , philosophy , and the human condition . In this, science and its conclusions are a near identity with imagination , and in this are a single identity now tested . Science fiction sometimes anticipates science or follows it.
Insignificance follows easily from current science . The ' black hole' in the Milky Way Galaxy is a mass equivalent to 4.31 million suns 27 million light years from earth . There are probably 100 billion galaxies ( of those about 500 million date back 13+ billion years and the light is just arriving here to be seen with our instruments ). Finding or insignificance is easy . Insignificance is a priori . 'Human significance" and its creation by humans is clearly the stuff of most writings. We fight to be important , intelligent , the 'chosen' , to have a God man die for our sins . We struggle against the obvious , our insignicance. It is as Freud said " We are what we fight against ." And of course just consider our opposable thumb - now that really sets us apart.

[Wilde woman]

I think there's quite a lot in Heart of Darkness about man's insignificance. You could write about man's powerlessness in the face of nature (I believe there's a line about how the men feel like bugs or beetles in the jungle because it's so large and overwhelming around them). Marlow even feels like the environment itself is hostile towards his party. You could write about how an how man is nothing in terms of Time...the jungles of Africa were there far faaaar before Marlow and his men ever arrived. During the long trip up the river, Marlow describes how he feels like time is slowing down, even moving backwards. Finally, you could discuss the appearance of the two women in black spinning wool at the beginning of the novel. The standard interpretation is that these two women represent the Greek Fates, determining the fate of each and every individual man. So you could discuss how Kurtz or Marlow are merely pawns of Fate or the gods.

Here's a nice resource that talks about this theme, as well as including quotes from the book. Check out the "identity" theme in particular: http://www.shmoop.com/themes/literature/joseph-conrad/heart-of-darkness.html