HEART OF DARKNESS, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica HEART OF DARKNESS e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! HEART OF DARKNESS (1901) Setting: Congo Region (discovered in 1481 providing rubber, ivory)- King Leopold 2nd claimed the possession and applied policies based on: - anti-slavery – setting up concession companies to exploit the wealth - philanthropy by:  agents of the State civilised the population  accustoming the population to general rules Characters Kurtz (managed the most productive ivory station) was a progressive and liberal but wilderness captured him (acts of lust-cruelty) his misguided conduct took him beyond the limits experiencing all excitements (not controlling his primitive instincts) Marlow holds on sanity and normality he didn’t transgress the limits he was able to restrain himself thanks to work ethic (it’s got a redeeming power as it keeps you in contact with reality) but he didn’t live a life completely Marlow can’t defend him anymore as 1. his ideas of virtue-justice are inadequate to justify the evil he’s seen he sympathises with him 2. comparing to Kurtz he realised men have a good and a bad part Themes - denounce against violence to natives - death (men-ethics-goodness) - impossibility to penetrate reality in one way - double Structure: stories are embedded+ there are 2 narrators: - anonymous one (introduces Marlow) - Marlow = observer narrator (with different points of view) Style: - time shifts - suspense (by delaying details) - idiomatic-speech irony - vague and disturbing adj (convey difficulty in explaining the facts) Modernist elements