For all Eng IVB students, my question to you is this: What two images do you find now after Part II that seem to prevail throughout the story? Name them and discuss their significance. This is the first of several threads, as well as an opportunity to post questions to others!
Hęårt of Darkness Part 2 Question by Taylor Spruth
The images that I am discovering in Part 2, that I did not notice in Part 1 are visualizing the surroundings more vividly. (1)The deep forest, yet untouched by the white men. (2)When meeting Kurtz's friend who lives in the hidden hut, the realization that some men are actually trying to save the Africans in the forest and their native ways kept preserved. The Africans that are met who are found with Kurtz's friend are "broad chested, dark blue clothing, fierce nostrils, and there hair neatly arranged in ringlets artfully." These men are classy "new time" african men who are treated with respect. (3)Later in Part 2 we meet the "old" Africans who are still in touch with the native ways "tangled gloom, nakedd, glaring eyes glistening in bronze color." The quote I picked to describe Part 2 was : "Surface- truth enough in these things to save a wider man. "Originally Posted by Yvonne Sturgeon
For all Eng IVB students, my question to you is this: What two images do you find now after Part II that seem to prevail throughout the story? Name them and discuss their significance. This is the first of several threads, as well as an opportunity to post questions to others!
The images that prevail throughout the story are descriptions of the "savages" and the descriptions of the forestry as a sort of fortress protecting Africa, making it impenetrable. I believe the significance of Marlow describing the forests on the banks of the river with tall trees as impenetrable because it symbolizes that the European attempt to colonize, exploit, and civilize Africa will ultimately fail. Marlow himself had "judged the jungle of both banks quite impenetrable" (27). This is in part II where he realizes it is impenetrable, but throughout the story he describes it and allows the reader to come to the conclusion that it was impenetrable before Marlow claims it is. The other image that I find significant are the vivid descriptions of the native Africans and their "savagery." Marlow views their culture with contempt and disgust and calls them all cannibals, yet is surprised to see that they don't actually eat each other. I believe this is significant because as the story progresses Marlow's descriptions of the Africans change a little bit each time he describes them, and this symbolizes his progress towards the realization that the Europeans are the one's bringing the darkness, and at the heart of darkness are Europeans.For all Eng IVB students, my question to you is this: What two images do you find now after Part II that seem to prevail throughout the story? Name them and discuss their significance. This is the first of several threads, as well as an opportunity to post questions to others!
The two images that I am finding now after reading Part 2 are the scenery and surroundings descriptions, as well as the act of cannibalism. "We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there. At night sometimes the roll of drums behind the curtain of trees would run up the river and remain sustained faintly, as if hovering in the air high over our heads, till the first break of day." This is important because the details described are used to portray the "heart of darkness." The ship is going down the river, the surroundings seem to be getting darker and darker, and the trees are hanging over the river more. "I asked; 'what would you do with them?' 'Eat 'I'm!' he said curtly, and, leaning his elbow on the rail, looked out into the fog in a dignified and profoundly pensive attitude." This is important because the white men had been traveling for six months and had no other way to survive. Since they had to go for so long without real food, they resulted to cannibalism of the "black fellows" as a means of survival.
One thing that seems to prevail throughout the story is the idea of the surface of things. Whether it be the image of the surface of the water, or the image of the forest from the outside, it seems like the surface of things is what interests Marlow. As said in part 1, "to him the meaning of an episode was not the inside like a kernel but outside." When Marlow is going down the river, he says that his job is to keep a look out for dead wood floating on the surface of the lake. He says that when you pay so much attention to the outside of things, the inside seems to be of no importance. In a way it means that when one pays so much attention to the surface of things, the "inner truth" and "reality" is ignored and put aside. This also relates to the idea of the outside of the forest being an immense barrier to what is inside of it. With its huge trees bordering the sides of the river, someone who is riding on a boat along the river sees only what is on the outside, and not the reality of what occurs with the natives on the inside. It may be a stretch to say to say, but I think that the outside represents the imperialist view of seeing things in a way that is oriented around making a profit, and the inside represents the lives of the natives and the way they feel about what these outsiders are doing to them.
A second image in the story is just how the natives are described. Many times they are described as savages or creatures. There is obviously no respect for these natives, and that is why it is so easy for these colonists to take advantage of them to gain a profit. When Marlow sees them pass by him, he describes them as having a, "deathlike indifference of unhappy savages." There are plenty of other examples in which the natives are described this way, and it seems that the view the white people have of them is that they are uncivilized and incomprehensible. Whether it be their appearance or their voices (noises), they are described in a way that portrays them as being savages.
The two images I found that seemed to prevail throughout to story are the image of the African wilderness and the light vs dark imagery. Time and time again Marlow describes nature of Africa as immense and unnatural. The African setting is foreign to him and his constant description of Africa as being 'not real' and unlike anything he has ever seen before helps the reader to understand the entirely different world Marlow was in, not only from a nature perspective but also from a time perspective. When traveling up the river Marlow comments that its almost like he's going back in time to a less civilized time of the Earth with all the overgrown wilderness and savage natives he sees. He also mentions that he is used to seeing nature in the form of a 'conquered monster' where as in Africa the 'monster' is free and untamed. As for the light vs dark imagery, the two are very significant in the book and have many meanings. As he is leaving England Marlow comments that England used to be a 'dark' place back before the Romans colonized it. He speaks of them in a tone of admiration, talking about the challenges they must have faced with savages and building a new civilization in an unknown world. Therefore, darkness could mean uncivilized, savage or primitive. With light, there are instances where light plays an interesting role. When Marlow discovers all the natives slaving away as the men of the Company blast holes with dynamite before he embarks on his journey to Kurtz, he talks about the intense white light beating down on everything. This would lead the reader to believe that the light may be symbolic of imperialism and modern civilization .For all Eng IVB students, my question to you is this: What two images do you find now after Part II that seem to prevail throughout the story? Name them and discuss their significance. This is the first of several threads, as well as an opportunity to post questions to others!
One thing that seemed to prevail throughout the story after reading part two was this idea of 'restraint'. Marlow says "Poor fool! If he [the helmsman] had only left that shutter alone. He had no restraint, no restraint" (32). I think the significance of this is to show readers that restraint is a necessity that brings 'goodness' to our lives and the lack of it could lead to 'evil'. He exemplifies this by showing the readers that the helmsman's own lack of self-control has led to his own death.
Another thing that seemed to prevail throughout the story was this concept of 'sound'. Marlow mentions this concept several times but once specifically says, "what made the idea of attack inconceivable to me was the nature of the noise" (27). I think the significance of this is to show readers how big of an impact sound really has on us. I think he is trying to tell us that we should not believe everything that we hear; that not only looks can be deceiving, but what we hear as well.
I think one of the most reoccurring and prominent images in the story is the image that Marlow gives all of the "savages" he sees. Marlow calls the natives "savages" not because he has experienced them being savage or doing anything savage but because all of the Europeans call them this. What I think is one of the most significant moments in the story is when Marlow compares himself to these savages. It humanizes both the natives, and Marlow himself. Another image that seems to prevail throughout the story is the image of pointlessness. Throughout the story Marlow watches pointless actions take place and sees things as meaningless because they are actively doing nothing. For example, Marlow sees the European men making the natives blow holes in a mountain, essentially doing nothing. What this shows is that the English presence in Africa does nothing and that the English are just there wasting their time and money on needless projects.
The two images that seem to prevail, in my opinion, are the image of the native people and the image of the mens surroundings.For all Eng IVB students, my question to you is this: What two images do you find now after Part II that seem to prevail throughout the story? Name them and discuss their significance. This is the first of several threads, as well as an opportunity to post questions to others!
The natives are described as savages and cannibals who shriek "a cry, a very loud cry" and their native dialect makes Marlow's hair stand on edge.
The images of their surroundings are used literally and metaphorically. The fog, for example, prevents Marlow from being able to see his surroundings and leaves him with only sounds to aid him in making a judgement on how to escape the situation.
Marlow's surroundings and the savagery of the natives seem to be the two images that are most prevalent throughout the story. Marlow is continuously describing the 'darkness' he sees as he travels farther into Africa. "The living trees, lashed together by the creepers and every living bush of the undergrowth, might have been changed into stone, even into the slenderest twig, to the lightest leaf" (35). Marlow is starting to go mad and is starting to see this dark place turn into other things. In this case, he sees nature turning into stone. This is significant because as he travels deeper into the heart of darkness, he begins to lose control of his own sanity. "Perhaps you will think it passing strange this regret for a savage who was no more account than a grain of sand in a black Sahara" (46). This idea that all the natives are worthless is consistent throughout the book so far. One or ten native deaths barely effect the Europeans' life. This is significant because the natives can do nothing about this connotation they are forced to hold and have to face the horrible conditions the Europeans' put them through.
The two images that I found that seemed to prevail from part 1 to part 2 were the light and dark contrasts as well as how time can go forwards and backwards. Throughout the novella, the images of light and darkness come to represent certain ideas that in common literature they do not. When Marlow finds out what Kurtz wrote about the natives he declares, "It was very simple, and at the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic sentiment it blazed at you, luminous and terrifying, like a flash of lightning in a serene sky: 'Exterminate all the brutes!'(46). Marlow describes Kurtz's statement to kill all the brutes as luminous, which shows how brightness can represent the truth coming to light. The truth of Kurt's intentions is blatant and obvious, as is anything when light shines on it.
Time is static rather than dynamic in this book. Marlow finds that the closer he gets to the heart of the jungle, the further back in time he gets. He states, "We were wanders on the prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an unknown planet"(31-32). Ever since Marlow embarked on his journey of discovery, he has found that the natives and jungle seem to be from a different time. The world he knows slowly fades into the background as the presence of a different time or maybe even world creep forth into his new reality.
The Heart of Darkness uses imagery to both strengthen and add mystery to the story. Religion imagery is the extremely prevalent in the story, the way Marlow sits when telling his story with "his arms dropped, the palms of his hands outwards, resembled an idol." The use of religious imagery extends throughout the entire novella and allows Conrad to draw from the readers previously known and trusted knowledge which provokes a deeper meaning not only of the latent content but what the reader draws from the story. Conrad also creates an image of Africa as uncivilized using Marlow's thoughts and actions. When Marlow first starts up the river he says it was like going back in time to a prehistoric land, even comparing Africa to an ichthyosaurus. Conrad does this to show Marlow's beliefs towards the difference between the industry of Europe and the untouched " dark place" of Africa.
Two images I noticed that prevailed throughout Part I and II were the concepts of being trapped and darkness. Much of Part II mentioned that parts of the river were impossible to distinguish from each other; it was very easy to feel lost or trapped when traveling along the river. Marlow also described the forest as extremely dense and "impenetrable" which adds to the feeling of the men being trapped. From dark and negative adjectives used to describe weather to describing the skin of the natives, darkness is expressed in many ways and was one of the most significant symbols used. Darkness is used to symbolize corruption, uncivilization, and literal darkness.For all Eng IVB students, my question to you is this: What two images do you find now after Part II that seem to prevail throughout the story? Name them and discuss their significance. This is the first of several threads, as well as an opportunity to post questions to others!
An image that prevailed in the story for me was Marlow's descriptions of the natives as he traveled deeper into the jungle. Marlow states how they "were not inhuman“, and how they "howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces." Even though Marlow describes them as savages, he seems to have an understanding for the natives as he explains how the natives were still human like everyone else in the world. This seems to show that Marlow is changing his viewpoint of the natives from the stereotypical views of others that are nothing more than savages who are uncivilized.
Another image is the jungle and everything within it. Everything like the stations, forest, river, and people are described to be under control of Kurtz, shown in the quote "‘My ivory.’ Oh yes, I heard him. ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my--’ everything belonged to him”. Kurtz believes that everyone and every object belongs to him and him only, and this shows how corrupt and obsessed Kurtz is over ownership, especially with ivory.
I found that The Heart of Darkness uses irony throughout the story to give clarity and deepen the meaning behind a lot of the characters actions. The imagery I found in Part 1 and 2 that seemed to prevail throughout the story were the contrast between laziness and hard work along with what is realistic and what had been fabricated for the characters own piece of mind. It is very ironic that the white Europeans (pilgrims) call the African Americans (Natives) lazy when in reality they are the ones doing all of the work and in return the pilgrims get paid and are healthy and the natives get nothing but to starve and rot in the Congo. another ironic point is when Marlow thinks he knows who Kurtz is and kind of idolizes him when he has never even met the man, all he knows is what has been told to him. "His name, you understand, had not been pronounced one. He was 'That man'". (22)
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