Heart of Darkness–Joseph Conrad "Mapping Marlow"

“I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking…They were called criminals, and the outraged law, like the bursting shells, had come to them, an insoluble mystery from the sea.” (25)

This excerpt is located in Part II of the novel, when Marlow and the pilgrims are getting close to Kurtz’ station and are attacked by a tribe of Africans. The other black men who are on the boat, have a animal-like, savage attitude, where they are so consumed by their hunger they are willing to eat one of the people in the tribe. This is exemplified through the use of dialogue between Marlow and these black men, where the connotation from the blacks is not as formal as Marlow’s expressed through the phrase ‘catch ‘im’, alluding to the theme of non-civilized people in the story. The excerpt also contains an epistrophe, of the words “increasingly hungry” implicitly showing the abuse towards natives, and exemplifying again the theme of nutrition.

Reading Strategies:

For this excerpt, the reading of connecting and evaluating were used. The strategy of connecting served to create an association between natives once Marlow began his journey and natives that are now inside the ship. It can be concluded that the majority of natives in the novel were mistreated, and abused. Similarly, the reading strategy of evaluation was utilized to understand that Marlow’s perception of the world is completely changing in the novel. He is realizing that travels around the world are not full of wonders, and how human beings can behave as pure animals, which is why this passage was chosen.

“They are dying slowly-it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing earthly now-nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom. Brought from all the recesses of the coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away and rest. These moribund shapes were free as air- and nearly as thin” (83)

The excerpt demonstrates the cruel reality of slavery. One knows that the slaves are black through the description of “black shadows”. This word choice not only states that the slaves are indeed, black; but also how these people were not considered humans but a burden and something that is always there, behind, following the commands of the human who performs the actions. Moreover, there is also the repetition of “were not” to emphasize the idea of humanity. The slaves are not seen as people, they are not human and that they should not be any other categorization. Additionally, one can understand that the slaves come from various locations as they are “brought from all the recesses of the coast” and are unfamiliar with the location and even with the food. The author clearly does not take a stand against slavery and ads that the slaves were “free as air” to criticize their true state of freedom

“One evening as I was lying flat on the deck of my steamboat, I heard voices approaching - and there were the nephew and the uncle strolling along the bank. I laid my head on my arm again, and had nearly lost myself in a doze, when somebody said in my ear, as it were: ‘I am as harmless as a little child, but I don’t like to be dictated to. Am I the manager- or am I not? I was ordered to send him there. It’s incredible,”

(2.99)

Marlow is already on his travels to Africa. What happens in the quote makes him freak out since it is not normal or usual for someone to whisper in Marlow’s ear while he is trying to sleep. This can mean that the uncle and the manager do not like Marlow and are messing with him. The manager and the uncle make Marlow be confused about who is who with riddles while Marlow is in a “doze”. As a result this can be characterization for both characters who do not take things seriously and like to mess around.

” ‘Catch ‘im,’ he snapped, with a bloodshot widening of his eyes and a flash of sharp teeth—’catch ‘im. Give ‘im to us.’ ‘To you, eh?’ I asked; ‘what would you do with them?’‘Eat ‘im!’ he said curtly… had it not occurred to me that he and his chaps must be very hungry: that they must have been growing increasingly hungry for at least this month past” (73)

This excerpt is located in Part II of the novel, when Marlow and the pilgrims are getting close to Kurtz’ station and are attacked by a tribe of Africans. The other black men who are on the boat, have a animal-like, savage attitude, where they are so consumed by their hunger they are willing to eat one of the people in the tribe. This is exemplified through the use of dialogue between Marlow and these black men, where the connotation from the blacks is not as formal as Marlow’s expressed through the phrase ‘catch ‘im’, alluding to the theme of non-civilized people in the story. The excerpt also contains an epistrophe, of the words “increasingly hungry” implicitly showing the abuse towards natives, and exemplifying again the theme of nutrition.

For this excerpt, the reading of connecting and evaluating were used. The strategy of connecting served to create an association between natives once Marlow began his journey and natives that are now inside the ship. It can be concluded that the majority of natives in the novel were mistreated, and abused. Similarly, the reading strategy of evaluation was utilized to understand that Marlow’s perception of the world is completely changing in the novel. He is realizing that travels around the world are not full of wonders, and how human beings can behave as pure animals, which is why this passage was chosen.

“Suddenly around the corner of the house a group of men appeared, as though they had come up from the ground. They waded waist-deep in the grass, in a compact body, bearing an improvised stretcher in their midst. Instantly, in the emptiness of the landscape, a cry arose whose shrillness pierced the still air like a sharp arrow flying straight to the very heart of the land; and, as if by enchantment, streams of human beings-of naked human beings- with spears in their hands, with bows, with shields, with wild glances and savage movements, were poured into the clearing by the dark-faced and pensive forest. The bushes shook, the grass swayed for a time, and then everything stood still in attentive immobility.” (140)

Reading Strategies

The strategies used are inference and evaluation. One could infer that Kurtz might die but what would be left of the men? Also, it is possible to infer that Kurtz is going to die of natural causes based on the heavy description of nature before and after the foreshadowing. Evaluation because one is able to see that nature takes its own course and what will happen, happens. Obviously, relating to Kurtz’s potential death and nature being responsible.

" “I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams” (133)"

This excerpt shows Marlow’s perception once coming back from his first trip to Africa to Brussels. At this point, there is a change in the perception of the narrator, where he realizes that people in Europe identify themselves about knowledgable about the world,but do not know the reality in continents such as Africa. This is expressed the ironic diction in the excerpt, where the narrator states “their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams” in order to describe through the use of an antithesis that the dreams of people are ‘silly’ and ‘insignificant’ when seeing the reality of the natives of Africa, full of abuse, violence and psychological damage.

For this excerpt, the reading of connecting and evaluating were used. The strategy of connecting served to create an association between natives once Marlow began his journey and natives that are now inside the ship. It can be concluded that the majority of natives in the novel were mistreated, and abused. Similarly, the reading strategy of evaluation was utilized to understand that Marlow’s perception of the world is completely changing in the novel. He is realizing that travels around the world are not full of wonders, and how human beings can behave as pure animals, which is why this passage was chosen.

“...seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth.” (pg. 66)

The opening lines of this novel serve principally to characterize and set the scene for the subsequent voyage that is discussed. Yet, the opening lines are also exemplifications of the irony and one of the major themes throughout the novel: the dismissal of supposed benefits of civilization as defined by industrialized and sprawling cities, as well as the counterparts to supposed savage villages established by natives. First, the opening lines suggests that the society in which the novel is set evaluates worth, prominence, and grandeur based considerably on the mere physical size of the city being evaluated. This is evidenced in that the last line in the excerpt describes London as the “biggest” and “greatest” town on Earth in very close succession, seemingly suggesting that this greatness is derived from its size. Yet, the most pertinent significance of the quote is the ironic devices and juxtaposition it implements so as to introduce the major, recurring theme of the degradation of mankind due to corrupted civilizations. This theme is first introduced both in the excerpt and in the entirety of the novel in the description of the town as both “gloom”, “mournful”, and “great”. This juxtaposition and irony in turn suggests that Conrad believes that town’s and nations’ power is no longer being evaluated by far more relevant factors such as populace morale, efficiency in governance, or exploitable labor, but only in size. Seemingly, as towns become more “civilized” and grand, they are judged by increasingly black and white measures, resulting in the dehumanization of the society striving for power. These values are represented and valued in other texts, particularly that of The Great Gatsby. In this novel, wealth and prominence in society is valued far above the moral integrity of an individual. Similarly, towns that lack this wealth are described in similar ways; the crossroads between East Egg and New York is similarly gloomy and ash-ridden.

Reading Strategies Used:

• Visualize:
• The ominous, sombre, and fogged tone of the passage serves principally to characterize not only London, the town being described, but also what the town has come to represent; essentially, humanity and civilization.
• Connect:
• Upon analysis of this quote, the reader may draw parallels between the manner in which towns, and therefore the corruption of civilization, are symbolized in Heart of Darkness and The Great Gatsby.

“Now when I was a little chap I had a passion for maps. I would look for hours at South America, or Africa, or Australia, and lose myself in all the glories of exploration. At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly inviting on a map (but they all look that) I would put my finger on it and say, ‘When I grow up I will go there.’” (1.70-71)

Reading Strategies Used

Predict:

• The reader can predict that Marlow will go to more adventures soon because of his passion and desire to travel

Marlow states how he wished as a little kid to go to all those places that he is attracted to in the map. This can be considered foreshadowing because of the use of the words “When I grow up I will go there.” and how he implies that he has gathered all the experience necessary and is ready to go in new adventures. This is also characterization for Marlow since he is described as driven and determined even as a little kid with passion for maps which mean a passion to travel the world through the seas.

Visualize:

• The reader can clearly visualize Marlow's flashback of him as a kid looking at maps and being inspired by them.

Reading Strategies

The skills used in this case were visualization again but also questioning. There is dense use of imagery which produces a clear image of the setting and through the image, one is able to understand how hard the journey is and how identity is lost. This leads to questioning as one may think, what different morals and ideologies are present in the island. Also questions like what part of the island or the situation made identity go away? What do they identify with?

“Some fifty miles below the Inner Station we came upon a hut of reeds, an inclined and melancholy pole, with the unrecognizable tatters of what had been a flag of some sort flying from it, and a neatly stacked woodpile. This was unexpected. We came to the bank, and on the stack of firewood found a flat piece of board with some faded pencil-writing on it.” (110)

Reading Strategies

Question

• The reader questions himself about the managers and the uncle's attitude towards Marlow.

The quote is full of imagery to describe the path to Krutz but also provides insight into the community in the island. The description of the reads show desolation. This is not necessarily bad as desolation caused the island to be vegetated and full of plants but also how dense the area was of vegetation that it was hard to move along. Through the description of the “inclined and melancholic” pole, one can see that the island was, again, very desolated. Nevertheless, in a greater scale, it shows how the identity is lost in the island. This is later emphasized with the contradictory image of a perfectly stacked woodpile. Everything was very “natural” and this is perfect and man-made. This proves that identity is lost and a sense of survival is predominant in the island.

Predict

• The reader can foreshadow their future relationship as sea companions in their mission towards Kurtz

“Well, you know, that was the worst of it- this suspicion of their not being inhuman.”

(pg. 108)

This quote is evidence of another central theme throughout the novel, that of racism and changing perceptions of superiority through increased exposure to other cultures. In this quote, Marlow is carefully observing the previously mentioned “cannibals” and “savages” that have been coerced into accompanying the expedition through their voyage on the river. Previously, Marlow has described these Africans as “brutes”, characterized by simplicity and barbarian behavior. Similarly, passages detailing the physical abuse faced by these servants utilized considerably passive diction so as to emphasize the habitualness of beating men of color. Yet, this perception and opinion by Marlow begins to change through this quote, as he no longer considers these men as “devils”, but rather as contemporaries that may be related to through their own culture practices. As such, Marlow begins to question the notion of racism. And, as an extension of this reconsideration, Marlow also attempts to gradually reformulate his personal definitions of “savages”, “cannibals”, and other derogatory terms utilized to insult these men. This in turn suggests that Marlow will continue to experinece moral and character evolutions throughout his stay in the Congo; the force of nature and darkness will eventually alter his personality, and this passage reflects the nascent stages of this transition

Reading Strategy

The reading strategies used were visualization and connection. First off, slavery has been used for various centuries and in various countries, including mine. Therefore, it is easy to create a connection between slavery in the island. In fact, Ecuadorians had the same treatment when the Spanish came to conquer “The Americas”. This connections provides a clear and easy depiction of the situation. Through the connection, one can create an image of the situation which is also contributed by the visual representations given by many films and recreated (some, not all) images.

Reading Strategies Used

• Infer:
• In this analysis, the Reading Strategy of inference was employed through the examination of details in the passage, so as to deduce that the quote marks the beginning of a transition in Marlow's character.
• Prediction:
• Subsequent to the use of inference, used to conclude Marlow is experiencing a transformation, the strategy of prediction was implemented so as to determine that Marlow is likely to continue changing as long as he remains in the Congo.

“...and to him the meaning of the episode was not inside..only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.” (pg. 68)

"I had no idea of the conditions, he said: these heads were the heads of rebels. I shocked him excessively by laughing. Rebels! What would be the next definition I was to hear? There had been enemies, criminals, workers—and these were rebels. Those rebellious heads looked very subdued to me on their sticks." (3.134)

Once more, the theme of darkness and light is augmented in its complexity and implications, as it ceases to be only a vehicle through which to represent supposed civilization that has in truth become corrupted and also begins to represent a universal balance or harmony of good and evil. This considerably abstract notion is reflected in the quote’s suggestion that light is needed in order to perceive darkness, and that darkness is required so as to appreciate light. This is evidenced in two parts of the quote, the first being the suggestion that only a glow highlights a haze, and the second being that halos of mist can only be appreciated through moonlight. This quote not only suggests that both of the aspects of this dichotomy are needed so as to appreciate the other, it also builds upon the previously established notion that light is in actuality negative because it represents the expansion of a corrupted civilization. This is reflected in that the quote seems to lament that light is needed so as to appreciate darkness through the use of the words “only” and “spectral”. This established light as ghostly and spooky; not only does this differ significantly with more traditional symbolizations of light, it also lauds darkness as its counterpart.

Reading Strategies

• Question:
• This analysis of the quote relies principally on the Reading Strategy of Questioning, as it seeks to examine commonly-used symbols and the manner in which these have been altered in the text.
• Identify:
• Through a close examination of the symbols in this passage, and through th use of the strategy Identify, the analysis was able to conclude that the author's purpose is to not only criticize civilization's corruption, but also argue that it is part of a necessary balance.

The Kurtz and Marlow are having a conversation about the savages in Africa. Africans have been referred to as savages and now rebels. Kurtz is a characte that has a mixed personality ad expresses his hate towards the savages. It is really sad and mean that Marlow and the other characters refer to Africans as animals with no manners when they are still people who have a different culture and act differently. Because there have been various names for them so they ask “What would be the next definition I was to hear?” because rumors and stereotypes spread fast.

Reading Strategies

Visualize:

• There is a mental image of the rebels acting in a criminal way by putting heads on a stick as mental and insane people.

Evaluate:

• The reader can evaluate the characters attitude towards the rebels. They are scared and disgusted by these kind of actions which had heard of before during the novel but had not seen so literal.

This quote is the moment Krutz is seen. The excerpt mainly talks about the natural state of the people as well as of the landscape. There is the narration again of the heavy grass that reaches their waist. The men emerge from the grass which emphasizes the idea of naturality. Man came from the Earth and this is portrayed through that specific sentence. Something important found in the excerpt is the sentence “emptiness of the landscape” which could relate to the lack of identity or the potential lack of identity if Kurtz is gone. There is a clear instance of foreshadowing when it says “a cry arose whose shrillness pierced the still air like a sharp arrow flying straight to the very heart of the land”. The arrow in the heart could mean that Kurtz is going to die, from natural occurrences as the cry and even the weapons are manufactured very naturally and primitively.

Heart of Darkness–Joseph Conrad "Mapping Marlow"

Alegria Echeverría-Alegría Bermeo-José María Baus-Juliana Gabela