HOD Blog (fourth this week)

This section was super jam-packed with goodness. The first mention of heart of darkness! so basically this section is Marlow on his fixed steamer going up the river to Kurtz and all of the things they encounter and the shortage of humanity that humans possess. Unfortunately, there is no way for me to adequately describe all of the significances of the frolicking intricacies that Conrad so perfectly presents in these ten pages. The best i can hope to do is to say that this section- in the heart of the book that reveals the darkness of man and tantalizing but unfulfilling nature of dreams and desires- is the most important section of the novel

HOD BLOG

In this episode of Heart of Darkness Marlow learns more and more about his possible nemesis and possible friend, Kurtz. Meanwhile, he notices (but does not truly see) all of the hellish and evil aspects of Africa. There are some good nature phrases like "virgin forest" and "the wall of plants grew higher than a temple wall." Towards the end of this episode Marlow listens to an uncle and his nephew (who are inseparable to show the conflict between family and sociability), but he doesn't really get all of it and it's kind of confusing. what we get is a new image of Kurtz. He is revered, feared, talked smack about, and maintains a public image that is both mysterious and involved. This is exemplified by the story of him taking a crap ton of ivory to the post and then deciding to leave with four black slaves instead of seeing people. I am really liking this book

HOD blog due wednesday up to p 31

In this section of HOD, Marlow settles in at his final destination and gets to know the people in his ring of hell. To me, this section was unimportant and, therefore, forgettable. Yes, there are a lot of good lines that perpetuate the metaphors, images, etc. but nothing really big happens. This section's saving graces (double entendre) are that Marlow submits a little at the end to being in hell (by letting the barn and fields just burn) and we find out about Kurtz. We learn Kurt's official title, his job prospects and details, how grand his reputation is, and that he is basically the devil working in the heart of darkness. The rest of the chapter, though, was just filler and a lot of sarcasm. Here's my prediction based on this section: Marlow is going to meet Kurtz and he is going to love him and start hating him. once he realizes his true nature, Kurtz will die and then Marlow will realize that he has become evil too and everybody is evil in the end. Granted, i have already read the novel, but this is all derived from information in this section and a knowledge (from many years of reading) of how story lines work out.

HOD + Freud

Heart of Darkness and the Freud text we are reading have similar views on the nature of man. Freud says that men will always pursue their penchant for sex, violence, money, and other desires without consideration for others. He also says that in a society in which nobody has property and everything is shared, men will still covet, do evil, be aggressive, and be bad. Freud sees human nature as automatically bad, determined by past experiences/hardships, and inevitably predictable. he also says that men exploit each other by nature. And, Freud says that men are slaves to their desires. Conrad echoes this exactly. The whole ivory and exploration enterprise, the treatment of the Africans, the corruption, the spoils, the exploitation, and pretty much every other aspect of the book present this same view of men. Dr. Forman, good job seeing this connection! To avoid being overly-vague i will use an example. The three africans chained together, walking up a hill to do work for white men were emaciated, sick, unhappy, dead inside, and driven exclusively by fear of punishment. This shows the evil, angry, exploitative, id-centered, selfish nature of man about which Freud talks in his book. This assignment is also good because it exposes us to Freud, a man who we are all likely to study in college.

HOD 17-26 + sarcasm

Pages 17-26 detail Marlow's journey into the heart of darkness Africa. His journey is long and has a few interesting people, but it is not the main journey of the novel. All of the motifs, images, etc. that appeared in the previous pages appeared in full force in these. This section was particularly depressing... especially when he finds out his steamer sank and he has to spend months fishing out pieces so that the devil head guy in charge can make a profit. The other white guy on his journey is annoying, the accountant is corrupt and evil, and all of the natives are basically dead. I feel like this novel doesn't fit the stereotype of "all books are about one thing: 'who am I?'" Rather, it's about man, death, heaven, hell and the meaning of all of the evils. It's more meta than self-interested.

This section is also sarcastic. for example, his constant praise of the accountant and his characterization of his deals and book-keeping as perfect and honest clearly shows his disdain for the lying, corruption and exploitation of the ivory enterprise. Also, in the previous pages, he is more overtly sarcastic when he says things like "my excellent aunt" and "supernatural being." for an interpretation of the sarcasm see my previous post

HOD second blog

transitional periods for characters are always important in novels. This section of HOD is Marlow's transition from life to death to purgatory, where he interacts with his aunt, and eventually to hell. all of the images and adjectives and language and words point to this interpretation of the text. the vividity (not a real word, i know) and flow of the book is quite an achievement as well. Marlow's sarcasm also plays a big role. Yes, it changes the possible interpretations of certain events, but the sarcasm provides some much needed comedy in this book without being outright cheery (which would be too stark a contrast with the depressing nature of the rest of the book) and helps us empathize (or is it sympathize?) with Marlow. So far, this book is good. It is a little heavy-handed at times with all of the symbols and motifs etc. and sometimes depressing, but its literary merits, vivid images, and ease of reading more than make up for its faults.

heart of darkness first blog

the first ten pages of Heart of Darkness really foreshadow the rest of the book. The images and tones he uses in describing the Thames, England, the sky and water, and Africa lead to two possible motifs running through the novel. Option one: sailors chose to live on the Thames and at sea pursuing fun and adventure, the land is the world and it is never constantly good or bad, Africa is hell and so is enslaving people and the jungle and the exploitation of the societal differences between two groups of people, and the sky and ocean are heaven/god, but (notably) unattainable. Option 2: the Thames is purgatory and there are a bunch of excited and nervous dead people there who will either go and have an adventure and lead a great life (heaven) or go die trying to enslave people (hell), the land is the ever-changing world, the sky and ocean are god/heaven, and Africa is still hell. Marlow, in both options is a philosopher pondering the implications of destiny, life, death, etc. and, naturally, is excited to prove his preconceptions (philosophies) by sailing around doing stuff. the other people are just people and are ignorant to the wondrous happenings with which Marlow concerns himself. But either way, the book will end with Malow unraveling the mysteries of life and it will be a sad book because he will be in hell dreaming of heaven.