Heart of Darkness - Summary, characters list, main themes, Guide, Progetti e Ricerche di Inglese

Scarica Heart of Darkness - Summary, characters list, main themes e più Guide, Progetti e Ricerche in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Heart of Darkness Summary A group of men are aboard an English ship that is sitting on the Thames. The group includes a Lawyer, an Accountant, a Company Director/ Captain, and a man without a specific profession who is named Marlow. The narrator appears to be another unnamed guest on the ship. While they are loitering about, waiting for the wind to pick up so that they might resume their voyage, Marlow begins to speak about London and Europe as some of the darkest places on earth. The narrator and other guests do not seem to regard him with much respect. Marlow is a stationary man, very unusual for a seaman. The others do not understand him because he does not fit into a neat category in the same manner that the others do. He mentions colonization and says that carving the earth into prizes or pieces is not something to examine too closely because it is an atrocity. He then begins to narrate a personal experience in Africa, which led him to become a freshwater sailor and gave him a terrible glimpse of colonization. With the exception of two or three small paragraphs, the perspective shifts to Marlow, who becomes the main narrator for the rest of the novel. Marlow has always had a passion for travel and exploration. Maps are an obsession of his. Marlow decides he wants nothing more than to be the skipper of a steamship that travels up and down a river in Africa. His aunt has a connection in the Administration Department of a seafaring and exploration company that gathers ivory, and she manages to get Marlow an appointment. He replaces a captain who was killed in a skirmish with the natives. When Marlow arrives at the company office, the atmosphere is extremely dim and foreboding. He feels as if everyone is looking at him pityingly. The doctor who performs his physical asks if there is a history of insanity in Marlow's family. He tells Marlow that nothing could persuade him to join the Company down in the Congo. This puzzles Marlow, but he does not think much of it. The next day he embarks on a one-month journey to the primary Company station. The African shores that he observes look anything but welcoming. They are dark and rather desolate, in spite of the flurry of human activity around them. When he arrives, Marlow learns that a company member recently committed suicide. There are multitudes of chain-gang types, who all look at him with vacant expressions. A young boy approaches Marlow, looking very empty. Marlow can do nothing but offer him some ship biscuits. He is very relieved to leave the boy behind as he comes across a very well-dressed man who is the picture of respectability and elegance. They introduce themselves: he is the Chief Accountant of the Company. Marlow befriends this man and frequently spends time in his hut while the Accountant goes over the accounts. After ten days of observing the Chief Accountant's ill temper, Marlow departs for his 200-mile journey into the interior of the Congo, where he will work for a station run by a man named Kurtz. The journey is arduous. Marlow crosses many paths, sees deserted dwellings, and encounters black men working. Marlow never describes them as humans. Throughout the novel, the white characters refer to them in animalistic terms. Marlow finally arrives at a secondary station, where he meets the Manager, who for now will oversee his work. It is a strange meeting. The Manager smiles in a manner that is very discomfiting. The ship on which Marlow is supposed to set sail is broken. While they await the delivery of the rivets needed to fix it, Marlow spends his time on more mundane tasks. He frequently hears the name "Kurtz" around the station. Clearly everyone knows his future boss. It is rumored that he is ill. Soon the entire crew will depart for a trip to Kurtz's station. The Manager's uncle arrives with his own expedition. Marlow overhears them saying that they would like to see Kurtz and his assistant hanged so that their station could be eliminated as ivory competition. After a day of exploring, the expedition has lost all of their animals. Marlow sets out for Kurtz's station with the Pilgrims, the cannibal crew, and the Manager. About eight miles from their destination, they stop for the night. There is talk of an approaching attack. Rumor has it that Kurtz may have been killed in a previous one. Some of the pilgrims go ashore to investigate. The whirring sound of arrows is heard; an attack is underway. The Pilgrims shoot back from the ship with rifles. The helmsman of the ship is killed, as is a native ashore. Marlow supposes that Kurtz has perished in the inexplicable attack. This upsets him greatly. Over the course of his travels, he has greatly looked forward to meeting this man. Marlow shares Kurtz's background: an English education, a woman at home waiting for him. In spite of Marlow's disappointment, the ship presses onward. A little way down the river, the crew spot Kurtz's station, which they had supposed was lost. They meet a Russian man who resembles a harlequin. He says that Kurtz is alive but somewhat ill. The natives do not want Kurtz to leave because he has expanded their minds. Kurtz does not want to leave because he has essentially become part of the tribe. After talking for a while with the Russian, Marlow has a very clear picture of the man who has become his obsession. Finally, he has the chance to talk to Kurtz, who is ill and on his deathbed. The natives surround his hut until he tells them to leave. While on watch, Marlow dozes off and realizes gaining authority, namely, firearms. This is the tragedy of imperialism in that the arrival of the white man heralds a new order, but in the creation of that order, they retain the tools and the authority. Black men in this book first appear as members of a chain gang, and they gain little power after that scene. Religion Although there is controversy over whether Conrad is critiquing colonialism or not, it is clear that he is critiquing religion. The two groups in the novel, the pilgrims and the natives, are linked by having religious beliefs, and the pilgrims seem at least as bloodthirsty as the natives. The rite in the woods that Marlow describes seems alien but certainly no more dangerous than the ambush. One of the seemingly admirable characteristics of Kurtz, as presented by Conrad, is that he seems just as compelled by African religion as by Christianity but seems beholden to neither. Marlow genuinely admires his ability to independently critique religions. He may not agree with Kurtz’s evaluation, but he respects Kurtz's ability to have his own opinions in the face of the various religious traditions he encounters. Jewelry Jewelry is a major presence in Heart of Darkeness. To begin with, it is the main reason for the presence of the colonists in Africa: they are there to strip the country of its ivory. There is a play on colors between the black people and this white valuable good. The most prestigious member of the African community and one of the only characters to be afforded individual characteristics by Conrad is the woman who is presumably Kurtz’s mistress. Her first appearance is impressive; she is covered in bangles and other “barbarous ornaments.” Her aspect has both attractiveness and ferocity, and she is the only character in the novella who wears jewelry. Despite it being the raison d’être of the novella, the other characters have little interest in jewelry, showing an almost Marxist detachment from the good they harvest. Illness Illness is a major factor in this novella. It appears in physical and mental forms. Marlow is hired to replace a man who committed suicide, and another instance of suicide is announced by a somber Swedish man. The first thing that Marlow does upon being hired is go to the doctor, who checks both his mental and physical health and provides a very gloomy prognosis. The specter of ill health, or of one’s body not standing up to the conditions, is a constant specter in the novella. The mental health issue is particular to Heart of Darkness, while the issue of wider health continues in the tradition of Victorian novels, in which men often travel to Africa only to come down with exotic diseases. In the end, it seems that Marlow is more mentally than physically taxed, while Kurtz is clearly both. The Nellie traduzione La Nellie ruotò sull'ancora senza far oscillare le velee restòimmobile. La marea si era alzatail vento era quasi caduto edovendo ridiscendere il fiumenon ci restava che ormeggiareaspettando il riflusso. L'estuario del Tamigi si apriva davanti a noisimile all'imbocco di uninterminabile viale. Al largoil cielo e il mare si univano confondendosi enello spazio luminosole vele color rugginedelle chiatte che risalivano il fiume lasciandosi trasportare dalla mareasembravano ferme in rossi sciami di telatesa tra il luccichio di aste verniciate. Una bruma riposava sulle sponde bassele cui sagome fuggenti si perdevano nelmare. L'aria era cupa sopra Gravesende più indietro ancora sembrava addensarsi in una desolata oscurità cheincombeva immobile sulla più grandee la più illustrecittà del mondo. Il Direttore delle Compagnie era il nostro capitano e il nostro ospite. Noiquattro l'osservavamo con affetto mentrea pruavolgendoci le spalleguardava verso il mare. Su tutta ladistesa del fiumenulla aveva l'aria più navigata di lui. Si sarebbe detto un pilotache per un marinaio è come dire lafiducia in persona. Era difficile credere che il suo lavoro non si svolgesse làsu quell'estuario luminosoma alle sue spalledentro quell'incombente oscurità. Fra noicome ho già detto da qualche partec'era il legame del mare. Oltreche tenere uniti i nostri cuori durante i lunghi periodi di separazioneaveva l'effetto di farci tollerare iracconti e addirittura le convinzioni gli uni degli altri. L'Avvocatoil migliore dei vecchi compagniin ragione dei suoinumerosi anni e delle sue molte virtùaveva diritto all'unico cuscino che ci fosse sul ponte ed era disteso sulla nostraunica coperta. Il Contabile aveva già preparato il domino e si divertiva ad architettare piccole costruzioni con le tessered'osso. Marlow sedeva all'estrema poppa a gambe incrociateappoggiato all'albero di mezzana. Aveva le guance incavatela carnagione giallail dorso eretto l'aspetto ascetico: con le braccia distese e il palmo delle mani aperte voltoin fuoriassomigliava a un idolo. Il Direttore soddisfatto della tenuta dell'ancoravenne a poppa e si sedette in mezzo anoi. Scambiammo qualche parola svogliatamente. Poi ci fu silenzio a bordo dello yacht. Non ricordo per qualeragione non iniziammo la partita di domino. Eravamo in vena di meditazionia nient'altro disposti che a unaplacida contemplazione. Il giorno finiva in una serenità di calmo e squisito splendore. L'acqua scintillava pacifica; ilcielosenza macchiaera una benigna immensità di luce pura; sulle paludi dell'Essexla foschia stessa era come una garzatrasparente e radiosa cheimpigliata ai pendii boscosi dell'internodrappeggiava le sponde basse nelle sue pieghe diafane.Solo l'oscurità a ponenteche incombeva sui tratti superiori del fiumediventava sempre più tetracome irritatadall'avvicinarsi del sole. E infinenella sua caduta obliqua e impercettibileil sole toccòl'orizzonte e dal bianco incandescente passò a un rosso opacosenza raggi e senza calorecome stesse per spegnersiall'improvvisocolpito a morte al contatto di quella oscurità che incombeva sopra una moltitudine di uomini. Anche sull'acqua ci fu un cambiamento repentinoe la serenità si fece menobrillantema più profonda. Il vecchio fiume riposava imperturbato al declinare del giornodopo secoli dionorato servizio reso alla razza che popolava le sue rivedisteso nella tranquilla dignità di una via checonduce ai confini più remoti della terra. Guardavamo quel venerabile corso d'acqua non nella passeggera vampata di ungiorno che compare e poi scompare per semprema nell'augusta luce dei ricordi duraturi. E di fattinon c'èniente di più facile che un uomo checome si usa diresi è "votato al mare" con amore e riverenzasi metta aevocare il grande spirito del passato sull'estuario del Tamigi. La corrente della marea che va e che viene nel suo incessante lavorioèpopolata dal ricordo degli uomini e delle navi che ha portato verso il riposo nel nido natio o alle battaglie nell'Oceano.Li aveva conosciuti e serviti tuttiquegli uomini di cui la nazione è fierada Sir Francis Drake a Sir John Franklintutti cavaliericon o senza investiturai grandi cavalieri erranti del mare. Le aveva portate tuttequelle navi dai nomi comegioielli scintillanti nella notte dei tempi dalla Golden Hindche rientrava in porto con i rotondi fianchi tuttipieni di tesoriper ricevere la visita di sua maestà la Regina e poi uscire dalla gloriosa leggendafino all'Erebus e alla Terrorpartite per altre conquistee non più ritornate.