Heart of Darkness: Joseph Conrad's Novel and Its Interpretations, Apuntes de Análisis de Textos Literarios

¡Descarga Heart of Darkness: Joseph Conrad's Novel and Its Interpretations y más Apuntes en PDF de Análisis de Textos Literarios solo en Docsity! Joseph Conrad was born in Poland in 1857 and died in 1924. His parents were aristocrats and nationalist, Poland was under the rule of Russia, (this is an important fact since it has to do with colonialism), so they were arrested and sent to Russia, where they both die. When Joseph came back to Poland he was fascinated by Africa and literature. At 18, he travelled to Paris to study to become a seaman, and he enrolled in the French Merchant Navy for 1 year, then he enrolled in the British Merchant Navy for 24 years, reaching the rank of captain, after that, he travelled to Africa (to pursue his childhood dream). When he came back, he had been ill and affected by this experience, so he decided to write a novel, in order to project all these scenes in form of fiction, and he retired. He was a victim of the colonized power, but as a member of the British Navy, he was also working for the colonized power. STRUCTURE OF HEART OF DARKNESS: The passage contains a framed story, whose narrator is the nameless one, (framed narrator, witness narrator, homodiegetic unreliable). However, in the embedded story, we can appreciate Charlie Marlow as a first-person narrator, being an autodiegetic narrator, unreliable) Walter Benjamin defined Joseph’s Conrad novel as PARTICIPATORY AESTHETIC, the reader is no longer naïve, he is aware that behind all stories there’s biased perspectives, making him develop a critical capacity of reading. This novel is considered to be metafictional. Modern/ Realist novel / 19th century novel Modernist novel / 20th century novel 1. Imitation of reality (mimetic function) 2. Belief in objective truth and universal values. 3. Omniscient narrator (supposedly reliable) 4. Narration external to the plot. 5. Flat or psychologically less complex characters. 6. Optimism (except for the naturalist novel) 7. Closure (fair or happy ending) 8. Naive reader (unconscious of narrative strategies) 1. Imitation of the mind. 2. Objective truth and values do not exist / subjective and cultural perspectives. 3. 1st person narrator (autodiegetic) / 3rd person witness narrator / 3rd person free indirect speech narrator (all unreliable) 4. Internal monologue / stream of consciousness. 5. Round characters (psychologically complex characters) 6. Pessimism 7. Lack of closure (open ending) 8. Critical reader (conscious of narrative strategies). SUMMARY OF THE PLOT 1. How many characters are mentioned in the first paragraph? There are five characters mentioned: an account, a lawyer, the director of the companies, Marlow and the first narrator who doesn’t have a name. 2. How many narrators are there in the novel? There are two narrators, first one being the nameless narrator introducing and concluding the second narrator’s (Marlow) experience and history. 3. What is Marlow's more personal motivation to travel to Africa? His childhood dream was to travel up the river Congo, as he had always been fascinated by Africa. 4. What is Marlow's first impression when he reaches the Outer Station? He realized how unfair the colonialist system was, he was disgusted by the fact that they made black men work for pointless reasons, in useless tasks, treating them like slaves, and the privileged white man the company’s accountant, was unbothered by the situation that was going on. 5. Once Marlow is at the Central Station, how long does it take him to start his travel up the river Congo? It takes him 3 months to start his journey, because of the unforeseen circumstances of his boat sinking, since the manager of the port didn’t want them to leave. 6. How long does it take the expedition to reach Kurtz's house in the Inner Station? It took him 2 months. 7. What characters provide Marlow with information about Kurtz? What does he learn from them? The chief accouter, the harlequin and the central manager. The harlequin told Marlow that Kurtz had planned an attack on the steamboat. The manager informs him about Kurt’s resentment and fear, and the chief accouter expresses his admiration 8. Why is Marlow horrified when he first sees Kurtz's house? He is disgusted and horrified when he sees dried human heads on the poles of the fence of Kurtz’s house. 9. Does Kurtz want to return to Europe? No, he doesn’t wish to return, that’s the main reason why he tries to escape from the boat, since he wants to go back to Africa. 10. Can you find some evidence of Kurtz's purpose of civilizing the Africans? “…Kurt discuses eloquently about his ideas and his plans almost until the moment of his death, unaware of the discrepancy between his words and his actions he gave Marlow a report he had written on the Suppression of Savage Customs, having He’s referring to the Thames, in London, the dark place is Britain, before being invaded by the Romans. They were relativizing the superiority of European people (because they had progress, they were able to evolve), in contrast to primitives. TEXT 3 Say if the following statements are true or false according to the information in the passage. Justify your answer. 1. A French warship is bombarding a crowd of African people. False, they were bombarding a bush. 2. The flag in the French warship shows all the majesty of a powerful nation. False, he compared the ensign with a rag. 3. For the narrator what the warship is doing is absurd. True, the narrator considers the shelling and firing to be incomprehensible. 4. The narrator is shocked by the thunderous noise caused by the shelling. False, it isn’t mentioned in the text, the narrator just sticks to describing the firing, he shows how insignificant is the action of the ship 5. The way in which the narrator describes the attack is ironical. True, the irony is showed by how he described the sound of cannons, as “pop”. Another hint is showed when he says “there she was, firing unto a continent” 6. As the attack is useless, the narrator thinks that the French are behaving like crazy people. True, the narrator mentions the insanity in the warship process. 7. The narrator understands everything when somebody tells him that there are natives hidden somewhere. False, the feeling of misunderstanding was not dissipated when they assured him that there were natives, he continued to not understand. 8. The narrator sees the Africans as enemies. False. He uses a tone of irony when one of his shipmates that is onboard with him calls them enemies. 9. The narrator is the nameless frame narrator. True. TEXT 4 1. What is the meaning of "restraint"? Can you relate it with the Victorian ethos? Why does Marlow use this word four times in the passage? The word restraint means controlling your actions and behaviour, to “hold back” and have self-control. He repeats it so many times to restrain himself from the weakness and fear. This connects to the Victorian Society, since they had a sense of duty, they were expected to restrain from a lot of aspects in life. 2. Do you find racism in Marlow's statement "Yes, I looked at them as you would on any human being"? Hi statement contains a bit of racism, but he tries to find in the cannibals the normal human being. He’s also clarifying it because his audience is racist. 3. Does Marlow justify cannibalism? Marlow is not justifying cannibalism as a whole, instead he’s trying to understand it, looking at the motives behind it, since hunger is unbearable, it can’t be stopped o stood up. 4. Is Marlow comparing the Europeans with the Africans in relation to cannibalism? He states that Africans have no scruples, while Europeans tend to restrain themselves more to protect their honour and their soul. 5. What is Marlow unwilling to accept about the African cannibals? He does not want to accept that they have more restraint than the Europeans, because cannibalism is integrated in their culture, and since he can’t understand he gets annoyed and ends up insulting them, stating that they’re worse than hyenas. 6. What evidence of Marlow's racism do you find in the passage? The evidence can be found when he compares the cannibals with animals, (hyenas) 7. Taking into account all the passages you have read so far, do you find contradictions in Marlow's attitudes and thoughts in relation to the Africans? Yes, he contradicts himself at the first lines, stating that he sees Africans as human beings, but he finishes the passage insulting them, calling them animals. 8. After reading the passage, would you say that Conrad is a racist writer? Conrad’s personality and experiences can be found on Marlow’s character, who has a racist mindset. Coventry Patmore’s label is “Angel in the house”, which relates to women’s situation and role in Victorian society. ➥ This expression relates to purity, innocence, and spirituality. Angels are not contaminated by material things, they are identified as non-sexualized beings, and they were meant to stay in the house. ➥ Double standard: it shows that men showed their dominant side, while women were punished for behaving like that. ] Spinster: a woman who has not married ] Prostitute. ] Woman with a past: a woman who has made an economical mistake in the past, and now must dedicate her life to prostitution. ] Hysterical woman: divided in › Those who rejected sexuality. › Those obsessed with their sexuality, seen as a threat in society. ] New woman: it represents the feminist movement. They consider that marriage should be optional, it shouldn’t be an obligation. ] Femme fatale: a woman whose objective in life is similar to men’s goals, they wanted to become wealthy, obtain power, ] Monstrous/wild woman: they are destructive, threatening. While hysterical woman could be cured, wild woman could only be destroyed. TEXTS 5 AND 6 1. What positive and negative features do you find in the description of the African woman? Do you think that this woman represents a culture? Positive features Negative features Confident, pride (Treading the earth proudly, she carried her head high) Magnificent Passionate soul Superb Wild-eyed Immense wilderness Tenebrous soul Savage Bizarre All these elements (pride, her clothes; brass leggings, brass wire, gauntlets, her hair shaped as a helmet…) represent her culture. He’s showing fascination to this woman, but he’s also animalizing her. *The author shows a contradiction by using positive and negative adjectives. 2. Identify Marlow's impression of this woman with one -or more than one- of the following phrases: a) he is fascinated by her; ✓ b) he is scared by her. ✓ c) he despises her. ✗ d) he sees her as a symbol of Africa. ✓ 3. Do you find any racist expressions in the passage? “She must have had the value of several elephant tusks upon her…” 4. What positive and negative features do you find in the description of Kurtz's fiancée? Positive features Negative features Mature capacity for fidelity, belief, suffering Confident Trustful She carried her sorrowful head. Not very young Not girlish Fragile Guideless