Deconstruction of Heart of Darkness

Hello,

Recently my AP Literature and Composition class finished the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. My next objective is to create a project based on deconstruction. I have a very simple idea of what deconstruction is, but I need a little boost.

I'm not asking for all the answers to my project, just a little help so I have an idea of where to go.

Can anyone possibly give me an example of deconstruction in the book? I know deconstruction isn't concrete in any way, so any help will be appreciated!

Ten Suggestions:

1) Mixing high (elitist) and low (populist) cultures/arts/ideas/philosophies/characters/languages (You connect Van Gogh's painting to a bathroom graffiti.)

2) Using gray as alternative to either black or white-- meaning, get rid of binary opposites ( Instead of talking about the rich or the poor or both, why not talk about the middle class with unclear economic background.)

3) Defamiliarize the familiar (Talk about an apple not as a fruit.)

4) Experiment on forms or overhaul structures (You can start your story with a fragment or include Internet chats as part of the story)

5) Limit authorial intrusion (Do not bombard your readers with your own concept of power; let them conceptualize it.)

6) Revisit the margins (Let a garbage collector speak the language of philosophers or let a prostitute talk about economics.)

7) Play with language (The French deconstructed the certainty and formality of language first.)

8) Go against the conventions (Write about girls who are intelligent in math or tough boys dancing ballet.)

9) Redefine History (It is incomplete without considering present and future.)

10) In deconstruction, what is deconstructed is power (What if Lolita is the one who lusts for that old man?)


If you want me to deconstruct the book you read, I'm sorry. Get yourself some milk and cookies and do your assignment.

The Ten Suggestions from miyako73 are an excellent description of the process of deconstruction. Basically deconstruction is a process of making connections. Instead of interpreting any text, you relate it to something else. You draw on the things, books, knowledge, experience that you're strong in and relate that to the text you're deconstructing.

@ miyako73 about number 3)
How do you talk about ''an apple but not as a fruit''? do you have an example?

These all have been excellent answers! I appreciate it very much.
This has given me a deeper understanding of the subject, but is there any way you can relate this back to HoD?

apple as a technology

apple as a city

apple as an as s

apple as a poison

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Originally Posted by miyako73

apple as a technology

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Ok that is computers.

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apple as a city

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The city of Apple?? I do not know it.
Now I do. In Cupertino. Wow.

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apple as an as s

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As an S. Sorry...

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apple as a poison

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OK that is fairy tale.

I guess one more could be the apple as the shape with dent in profile/silhouette.

My reading of deconstruction theory is admittedly limited. However, I believe a central focus of deconstruction is often to turn a skeptical eye on oppositions and assumptions an author takes for granted and in which the reader may easily become complicit, but which are flawed or so steeped in a particular cultural perspective as to forestall a balanced understanding. The author may be blind to these assumptions because they are taken utterly for granted in the context in which s/he was writing. The deconstructive analyst brings these to light and dissects the bases on which they rest.

In your particular case I would look for oppositions, for example, civilization versus savagery, which have been broadly reconsidered since Conrad's time. I suspect this is the sort of thing your instructor might have had in mind with this assignment. You might also wish to consult a general primer on literary theory, like Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory, An Introduction—the relevant material will be in the section on post structuralism; see the index under "deconstruction." For greater depth if this doesn't do it for you, consult Jonathan Culler's On Deconstruction. There may be more current sources—I am a musician and don't really stay up to date.

If you are only describing binary oppositions, that is so structuralist. In the case of civilization versus savagery, a deconstructionist will be interested in the complexity of "versus"--the link that can potentially produce the narrative of unity, cooperation, and assimilation. It is also the graying of black and white.

Miyako: I was suggesting the deconstruction of binary oppositions, and the methods you describe (graying, etc.) are certainly ways one might go about it. I just thought the advice you were giving, though good, was perhaps beyond what the OP might be ready to absorb. I was suggesting some groundwork that might make it easier to assimilate.

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Originally Posted by miyako73

Ten Suggestions:

1) Mixing high (elitist) and low (populist) cultures/arts/ideas/philosophies/characters/languages (You connect Van Gogh's painting to a bathroom graffiti.)

2) Using gray as alternative to either black or white-- meaning, get rid of binary opposites ( Instead of talking about the rich or the poor or both, why not talk about the middle class with unclear economic background.)

3) Defamiliarize the familiar (Talk about an apple not as a fruit.)

4) Experiment on forms or overhaul structures (You can start your story with a fragment or include Internet chats as part of the story)

5) Limit authorial intrusion (Do not bombard your readers with your own concept of power; let them conceptualize it.)

6) Revisit the margins (Let a garbage collector speak the language of philosophers or let a prostitute talk about economics.)

7) Play with language (The French deconstructed the certainty and formality of language first.)

8) Go against the conventions (Write about girls who are intelligent in math or tough boys dancing ballet.)

9) Redefine History (It is incomplete without considering present and future.)

10) In deconstruction, what is deconstructed is power (What if Lolita is the one who lusts for that old man?)


If you want me to deconstruct the book you read, I'm sorry. Get yourself some milk and cookies and do your assignment.

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This is a great description of the deconstruction process.

Too great. LOL

Here we have a lot of experts on deconstruction completely con-structed. ROFLMAO

Seems to me Conrad's narrator does a bit of de-constructing. Items of technology are beasts in the wild: a boiler wallows in the grass; a railroad truck looks like a carcass. The native population has various titles, depending on who their protagonists are: enemies, criminals, helpers, "nothing earthly."

Maybe the story told from the POV of the jungle: "Uh, oh: here's another one!" The narrator of Apocalypse Now has a great line near the end: "Even the jungle wanted him dead."

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Originally Posted by miyako73

If you are only describing binary oppositions, that is so structuralist. In the case of civilization versus savagery, a deconstructionist will be interested in the complexity of "versus"--the link that can potentially produce the narrative of unity, cooperation, and assimilation. It is also the graying of black and white.

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is deconstructionism just about applying intellectual formulas? if one's going to talk about civilization versus savagery shouldn't one try and be 'creative?' No doubt everything i ve written can be 'deconstructed', but would this just be another boring way of following rules???