Heart of Darkness Test

Notice the descriptions of the tide, river, and ships. Who are the friends of Marlow who are on board the Nellie with him?

sunset brings in the contrast of light and dark

there is irony in that it gets dark but people light lights

A lawyer, an accountant and the captain are on board with Marlow

Do their various occupations signify a subject important to the novel?

The lawyer represents the moral standard that is "blindfolded"

Marlow is a sailor that is supposed to be sedentary but they're on a ship so he's not, he's a wanderer

The accountant represents the search for money and ways to get it

The Captain is brooding and foreshadows internal conflict

The whole lot of them represent white imperialists

Marlow is like the setting of the river- the "brooding" nature that he describes. The narrator says he sits like an "idol." What is suggested by his sitting position and his state of mind?

that he is "enlightened" or changed because he went into the heart of darkness and came back out

As the ship sits at anchor on the Thames, Marlow is reminded of the past. The Thames is a "waterway . . . to the utmost ends of the earth"; the river represents the "spirit of the past." Why has the Thames been "one of the dark places"?

Because before Britain was conquered and "civilized" they were in the "dark ages".

What is the significance of the reference to the invasions of the Romans?

The british conquering Africa is similar to the romans conquering Britain. Also the "center of the world" or Britain is immoral if unchecked. The british, like the romans lived in uncivil conditions to civilize the natives, but in trying to civilize them, became savage.

What does Marlow mean by his comments on the telling of a story? The "kernal"? and "the misty halo"?

Kernal :You have to take off the "shell" and only through true thought and introspection can you find truth.

Misty halo: Instead of looking at the story you need to look through it

Marlow is telling us the story has a deeper meaning

5. What effect is created by Marlow's interruption by the first narrator? The narrative technique in the novel is like a series of Chinese boxes - Conrad the author, an unnamed narrator who tells us about Marlow, Marlow who tells about his journey and about Kurtz, the voice of Kurtz who is the innermost voice.

What thematic and narrative purposes might be served by this layer on layer of narrative voices?

It reflects the layers of meaning and the layers of the trop, the idea of going deep and coming out changed

1. Look at the description of the map that Marlow studies as he contemplates his journey. Why is the river like a snake?

The snake is an archtype, a biblical reference to satan. The snake is also dangerous like the river. It symbolizes charm, evil, and choosing a sinful path in life.

2. In what way do "the women" help Marlow? As you read, notice the ways in which women are presented in the narrative. Try to develop a concept of what you think Marlow's attitude toward women is.

his aunt gets him the steam boat job.

Notice that even though his aunt gets the job for him, he observes near the end of this section that she is like other women "out of touch with truth." What does he mean?

he means that they are out of touch with reality, that women are naive and want to believe the world is a wonderful place and men have to protect them from the real truth. He also means that they don't know what the company is actually doing.

3. Who is Fresleven?

Fresleven is the previous steamboat owner. He was killed over a struggle over two black hens and his body was left in the jungle. They called him the "gentlest thing on two legs". The fact he gets so violent is foreshadowing and symbolism about what happens to morality when the checks are removed.

4. Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

a) "whited sepulchre"

the company is good on the outside but corrupt and filled with evil inside

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

:b) narrow street

staying on the straight and narrow good path is difficult so not many people take it

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

c) two women kitting

Greek mythology has the three fates, one spins thread (life), one measures it and one cuts it. The two women represent the fate who measures the life and the fate that cuts it. But there is no one who creates it in this story

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

d) the deadly snake

The biblical reference to the devil

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

e) the center of the map, of Africa, of the earth

layers of the truth , of the story CHECK

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

f) the color black

Darkness, death , evil

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

g) the doctor who prophesies madness

He is also one of the fates, he foreshadows the future and that Marlow will go mad

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

h) the sun

Light, but also harsh truth

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

i) the imposter character type

Marlow is an impostor because he acts like an imperialist but he really doesn't believe in it

Marlow builds a series of images to describe the Company Office. Many of these details have traditional symbolic meanings. Think about the meanings of the following, and if possible connect them to either the Bible or classical mythology:

j) the archetypal journey

symbolic of the spiritual and physical journey, the plot line

As Marlow rides down the coast of Africa on the French steamer he is struck by the appearance of the coastline, the brightness of the sun, the ridiculous shooting into the jungle of the warship, the mixture of death and trade. What feelings about Africa, about Europeans, and about the job he is about to assume are aroused by these first encounters of his journey?

The Europeans are just blindly going along and not fixing problems they are preoccupied with greed.

The forest is dark, an enigma and it draws him, he feels that the military ship is insane for firing over and over again.

They are killing the natives and the culture.

He doesn't like how the natives are being branded as enemies when its actually their country

He feels like he belongs with the natives more than the englishmen but he's still with them. CHECK

2. Look at a map of Africa. What river does he journey upward?

The Congo River

3. Describe what Marlow sees at the First Station. What is signified by the abandoned machinery, the chaotic appearance, the suffering of the slaves?

he see's the enslaved natives, their enslavement shown with chains. the man commanding them with a gun, a big hole thats only half finished. This symbolizes the fact that the companies aren't progressing and everything is falling apart, its the loss of civilization. Irony is that they are trying to civilize the natives by enslaving them.

What is the "devil of rapacious and pitiless folly"?

Imperialism and the imperalists

and colonialism which is greedy, violent, never satisfied and insane.