Please provide an example of light and dark imagery throughout the novella. Provide the passage from the text and then provide a 200 word response. Why did you choose this passage? What drew you to it? What does this passage reveal about the work as a whole?
Due: 1/29/12 by 11:59 PM
40 comments:
There is no doubt that Joseph Conrad made heavy use of light and dark imagery in his novel Heart of Darkness. One example of this that particularly interested me was a passage on page 153 which described Marlow’s final visit to Kurtz before his death. In this short scene, Marlow walks in with a candle and Kurtz rather shakily proclaims that he is “lying here in the dark waiting for death.” Marlow brings the light within a foot of Kurtz’s face and tries to comfort him weakly. At this point Kurtz is drowning, alone, in his sorrow and perhaps the regrets of his past. Marlow’s bringing the candle close shows his effort to help Kurtz and guide this great man out of the dark - but it is too late. Kurtz sees his approaching demise and his corruption which is expressed through the infamous line “The horror! The horror!” Ultimately, the brilliant ivory king cannot be saved and is given up to the dark as Marlow blows out the candle and quietly leaves him in the room. I was struck by the anti-climatic nature of this passage and the prodigy’s death as Marlow’s stands helplessly or even uselessly. He seemed to have held him so highly by this point yet does not, and perhaps cannot, offer help to Kurtz. This shows that in the end, the immortal Kurtz cannot escape himself and is not fit for the ‘civilized’ world outside the darkness.
"There remained a rude table - a plank of two posts; a head of rubbish reposed in a dark corner, and by the door I picked up a book. It had lost it's covers, and the pages had been thumbed into a state of extremely dirty softness; but the back had been lovingly stitched a fresh with white cotton thread, which looked clean yet." Page 111
This passage has always remained a highlight when I think about light a dark imagery in Heart of Darkness. The symbolism that this passage creates initially drew me too it but as I was reading I noticed Conrads use of light and dark to provide a feeling of good vs evil. The book Marlow sees is in bad condition but stitched together even still. The dirty, destroyed, used pages remind me a lot of Kurtz in this novella. I find that the white cotton stitching is how Marlow saw him, a good and brilliant man, while everyone else was only able to focus on the evil, dirty, inside of who Kurtz was. Light versus dark or good versus evil is a big part of this book but this passage reveals how Marlow thinks. The book is dirty and in terrible condition but the outside looks good so the inside is forgettable. This is much like how Marlow views Kurtz. He is getting his job done, it looks clean on the outside but the man is insane on the inside and Marlow still looks to him like a he's a hero. Overall this passage provides an example of light and dark imagery and has symbolic meaning to the main character in Heart of Darkness.
"'"You knew him best," I repeated. And perhaps she did. But with every word spoken the room was growing darker, and only her forehead, smooth and white, remained illumined by the unextinguishable light of belief and love."’” (Pg. 161)
I believe this passage epitomizes the eternal struggle between Light and Dark in the novella. As the darkness of Kurtz’s death consumes his fiancé, her untainted memory of him remains a beaconing light. To me, this signifies their co-existence. Just as Good would not exist without Evil, Light and Dark rely on each other for the sake of comparison.
The language that the author uses in this passage drew me to it. I like the idea that Kurtz’s fiancé’s love is an “unextinguishable light.” It reminds that one can kill the darkness that surrounds them by turning on a light, but even the most overpowering darkness can never extinguish a light. I think that is a really powerful idea, especially when one associates light with goodness.
I think that this passage is especially important because after a man that Marlow consistently described as dark has died, one would think light would surround his death. (Maybe for some, it does.) But because she loved him, Kurtz’s death is nothing but hopeless darkness in his fiancé’s life. I believe this demonstrates the importance of perspective both in the novella and in our own lives. For me, it reveals an underlying message in the work that Light and Dark, or Good and Evil, exist only in the eye of the beholder.
One example of light and dark imagery that stood out prominently to me was when Marlow first witnesses the power Kurtz holds over the other villagers. The passage from the text reads, “It was as though an animated image of death carved out of old ivory had been shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men made out of dark and glittering bronze. I saw him open his mouth wide—it gave him a weirdly voracious aspect, as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all the men before him,” (Conrad 140.)
I chose this passage because I feel it seamlessly embodies the power Kurtz held over the people he thought were his to have. Kurtz undoubtedly believed that he was an invincible, god-like man. Kurtz believed he was the light to lead the people into what he thought was the proper way of establishing a village. But what if before the European colonization, the Africans were the actual light? Did the Europeans add more light to Africa, or did they deepen the heart of darkness? I was drawn by the powerful image evoked from the passage. I personally view a carving out of bone much like those created for All Saints Day in Mexico. It amazed me to realize that a man as obviously weak and sick as Kurtz could still hold so much power over the people. I believe this example of light and dark imagery fully reveals the true meaning of this work of literature. The Europeans believe they are the light bringing civilization into the dark of the wild, but they do not think about how they are affecting the natives. They do not care to think they are invading the land the natives once thought was theirs. The Europeans choose to create the Africans as an “other” that can be used for the labor they do not want to complete. I believe this novella reveals a truth that many people would not want to admit still continues to this day. I think society still creates some form of an “other” that people attempt to dominate. Much like we discussed in the Socratic Seminar, my belief is that people of the twenty-first century still find ways of survival that end with the individual being part of “them” or as they would refer to it, “us,” the dominant group belonging to those who made their way to societal success. Is it not human nature to try to avoid seeing personal darkness, instead of always believing we are individual trying to spread the individual light we attain?
As I was looking through the novel for some sort of especially striking dark/light imagery I stumbled upon a line on page 162 which reads:
" 'Yes, I know,' I said with something like despair in my heart, but bowing my head before the faith that was in her, before that great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness from which I could not have defended her-from which I could not even defend myself.' "
I chose this passage firstly because it is beautifully written, but secondly because it speaks to the unfortunate predicament of good, and the inevitable failure of humans to avoid the darkness. What I mean by the first part about the predicament of good, is revealed by the state of Kurtz's Intended. Conrad has imbued her description with light imagery, and the source of the woman's light lies her naive devotion and faith in the man she perceived Kurtz to be. Marlow describes this faith as having a quality of saving her from the darkness, which implies that it is only the misguided, those that believe in an impossible ideal, that can ever know nothing of the world's darkness. Marlow further asserts this by stating how he alone could not have saved himself or her from the darkness, which simultaneously suggests the darkness is unavoidable. The major point that this particular passage elucidates about the novella is Conrad's permeating suggestion that there is no action that can cut us from our own darkness completely. Unshakable belief in a worldly ideal can preserve us for a time, but immutably, darkness lies under the vernier of all great men. I always thought this was interesting since Marlow never does anything particularly awful, the only evil that exists about him was adherence to the rules of an immoral company, and the perpetuation of a lie to preserve someone's innocence. Nobody would suggest that these actions make him a bad man, but if we are to disregard intention, the actions are evil regardless.
“Since I had peeped over the edge myself, I understand better the meaning of his stare, that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness.” (Conrad 119)
I believe this passage is perhaps one of the most powerful in the novel. Though short and quite simple, it epitomizes the contrast between light and dark. It also shows an important shift that Marlow experiences, as his view of Kurtz changes as the man slowly gives away to death. The reason I find these few sentences to be so incredibly powerful is because when I read it, it completely changed my opinion of Kurtz as well. In this passage, Marlow speaks about the effect Kurtz had on all those around him. He is often portrayed as being a very sinister and mysterious individual, words that are often associated with darkness. Conrad writes that Kurtz cannot see the light (“the flame of the candle”), but is able to embrace the darkness (“the whole universe”). His brutality is evident through the heads he displays on stakes outside of his home, and the methods he uses to satisfy his voracious thirst for ivory. However, his intensity is not purely evil, for the African people worship Kurtz almost as if he were a deity. That being said, there is something about his nature that is able to penetrate this “darkness” of theirs. I believe this passage helps to develop the theme of the novel more than any other. After reading the novel, I recognized that not everything can be defined. We search for symbols and try to put meaning to everything, but this isn’t always possible to do. Kurtz is neither good nor evil, and represents neither light nor dark. Trying to label Kurtz as a particular symbol is impossible because he is the very individual that helps us to realize that absolutes do not always exist.
“The point was in his being a gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the one that stood out preeminently, that carried with it a sense of real presence, was his ability to talk, his words-the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the most exalted and the most contemptible, the pulsating stream of light, or the deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness.” (Conrad 126)
I believe that this passage encompasses the conflict between “light” and “dark” throughout The Heart of Darkness. Upon hearing the possibility that Mr. Kurtz was dead, Marlow realizes that all he wanted from him was to hear him speak. Since Marlow got to the Congo, he has heard much about Kurtz without ever seeing him for himself. Until he hears of his possible death, Marlow was not sure of his reason for wanting to see him. The realization that Marlow might never be able to meet Kurtz uncovers his true reason for going out of his way to get to him. This passage in the Heart of Darkness expresses how spoken word can be seemingly good, but is evil at its core. This passage also applies to Kurtz as a character, as we find out in part three. This passage could also mirror what Marlow says earlier in the book that he hates lies and that truth embodies good. A lie is a disguised truth. Something interesting about this passage is that a “gift of expression” is quickly described as a “deceitful flow from the heart of an impenetrable darkness.” Conrad may be showing how dark and light are intertwined. Without dark there is no light and vice versa.
“She came forward, all in black, with a pale head, floating towards me in the dusk. She was in mourning. It was more than a year since his death, more than a year since the news came; she seemed as though she would remember and mourn forever. She took both my hands in hers and murmured, ‘I had heard you were coming.’ I noticed she was not very young—I mean not girlish. She had a mature capacity for fidelity, for belief, for suffering.The room seemed to have grown darker, as if all the sad light of the cloudy evening had taken refuge on her forehead. This fair hair, this pale visage, this pure brow seemed surrounded by an ashy halo from which the dark eyes looked out at me.” (Conrad 160)
When I read this passage, I mostly enjoyed the vivid imagery expressed by Joseph Conrad. When he described Kurtz’s fiancé with so much detail, I noticed the light and dark annotation in this passage. Different light and dark references have been previously mentioned throughout the novel. This light and dark image reveals the fact that the standard representation of light and dark imagery are not always as they seem. Light is usually a symbol for purity or good while darkness is a symbol for evil. Kurtz’s fiancé is described with a “sad light” on her forehead. This disregards the original meaning of light and dark, which forces the reader to get a different perspective on the novel. To think of light as a “sad” or dark force shows the opposition present. The fact that Conrad illustrates Kurtz’s fiancé with both light and dark images also shows that maybe she represents both good and evil. Her face was described as pale, while she was dressed in all black and her eyes described as dark. She seemed a little condescending when Marlow lied to her and claimed Kurtz’s last word was her name, which shows the small portion of darkness within her. There could be a possibility that she was a light or good force, but Kurtz’s dark nature may have changed her and affected her character. I believe that this passage shows that this possibility could be true and that light and dark images can be observed through different lenses or perspectives and can reveal more about a character or a novel.
“The mind of man is capable of anything–because everything is in it, all of the past as well as the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valour, rage—who can tell?—but truth—truth stripped of its cloak of time.” –page 109
This passage exemplifies the theme that the novella is revolved around. Throughout the novella, a mixture of light and dark images are used and combined to prove that nothing can be described as purely good or purely bad. The passage on page 109 proves this to be true because it states how much the man’s mind can create, including the idea of time and most importantly, the idea of things and people being either good or evil when in reality, it is all a viewpoint created in our minds. This passage explicitly reveals this theme to the reader. It allows the reader to see Kurtz’s main flaw: he allowed his mind and desires to take over his morals. In his mind, stealing and brutality were necessary actions for him to succeed and he genuinely believed that it was okay. This leads the reader to question whether Kurtz is truly an evil man or if he just lost his grip on reality, again proving that nothing is ever purely good or purely evil and there are no absolutes in life.
I was drawn to this passage not only due to its relativity to the novel but because of its importance in life. In order to live a happy life, we, as people, need to understand and accept the fact that a majority of the ideas our lives revolve around are manmade. We have the ability to choose how we live and how we perceive the people and things that pass through our lives.
""One evening coming in with a candle I was startled to hear him say a little tremulously, ‘I am lying here in the dark waiting for death.’ The light was within a foot of his eyes. I forced myself to murmur, ‘Oh, nonsense!’ and stood over him as if transfixed."
In this passage, Marlow is speaking about Kurtz in the moments before his death. I chose this passage because I feel like the light and dark references are very symbolic. I liked the way light and dark were put with the characters instead of the setting. This allows the reader to relate the contrast to Marlow and Kurtz, which is an important part of understanding the work as a whole.
This passage starts out by saying "One evening..." this implies that, since Kurtz dies a few moments later, he dies at nighttime. Kurtz dies literally in the dark. This shows that there is no going back once power has corrupted a person so completely. This is supported when Kurtz says that he is "Lying here in the dark waiting for death." He has transformed so completely because of the power that the only way he can find relief is through death, or he will always be laying in the dark.
It is also important to notice that Marlow is holding the light, and that the light illuminates Kurtz but not his eyes. Marlow is bringing the light to Kurtz. Marlow is trying to help Kurtz by taking him out of Africa in the hopes that it might heal him. This proves impossible. Eyes are often seen as the windows to the soul. Kurtz has been entirely consumed by the darkness, which is corruption, so much so that Marlow's light cannot reach him. He is too far detached from society, which may also be represented by the light. In this passage the light and dark contrast between Marlow and Kurtz is clear.
“It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery-a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness.” (Conrad 71)
There is no doubt that Joseph Conrad uses light vs. dark imagery in Heart of Darkness. He knows exactly how to get his point across in such an artistic way. I chose the passage I did because of how powerful the words are all put together, and because I can picture vividly what he is trying to say. In this passage, he is describing the river that Marlow and the crew is traveling down. I’m taking this a little farther than what it is probably meant to be, but I feel like he is talking about the lack of civilization there is once people started to live on certain parts of the river. When nobody lived there it was “self-explanatory”, people knew what to expect. But once tribes started to gather around their areas, it became a place nobody really knew anymore. When people didn’t live there, it was recognizable (light), and when people began making their homes that’s when it became dark. There are many examples about the lack of civilization once we are introduced to the native tribe. Once people start to form a society, all of the places around them don’t know what really goes on inside that certain place. I am picturing the example of neighbors. You live next door to each other, so you think have an idea of what’s going on inside. But when you really think about it, do you really? You don’t really know unless you are in that house hold. So it is darkness, while you being in that environment is the “light”.
“But with every word spoken the room was growing darker, and only her forehead, smooth and white, remained illumined by the unextinguishable light of belief and love.” (Conrad 161)
Throughout the novella, Joseph Conrad uses light and dark imagery to contrast the ideas of good and evil. In this passage where Captain Marlow is speaking to Kurtz’s fiancée, she is described as her forehead being white while she is surrounded by darkness. I think that this is used to reinforce the idea that there is both good and evil in the world. They coexist, and there can never be one without the other. If there is no evil, then nobody would know what good is. Kurtz’s fiancée may love him and mourn for his death, but the question arises as to whether she would still love him if she was told of the “evil” he had done. It is also interesting how she is experiencing sadness while her forehead is described as being “light.” Emotions originate from the brain, right behind the forehead, and although it is considered to be the brightest part of her, she is very sad. This could represent the overlap between good and evil, and how what is good and what is evil is never completely set in stone.
I chose this passage from the novella because I found it to be very powerful. When looking back, this was the passage that stuck out most in my mind. It helps to tie together the main ideas of the novella, and especially all of those related to the idea of there always being both good and evil in the world.
“The sun set; the dusk fell on the stream, and lights began to appear along the shore. The Chapman lighthouse, a three legged thing erect on a mud flat, shone strongly. Lights of ships moved in the fairway- a great stir of lights going up and down. And further west on the upper reaches the place of the monstrous town was still marked ominously on the sky, a brooding gloom in sunshine, a lurid glare under the stars. ‘And this also,’ said Marlow, ‘has been one of the darkest places on Earth.’”
I chose this passage because it caught my attention right off the bat. It was one of the first post-its I had marked in my book. I like this passage because not only is it a perfect representation of contrasting dark and light imagery, but it is also a bit ironic.
Conrad shows, with much success, the dark and light imagery just by describing the setting. The setting sun creates the image of darkness, and then the lights of the town and the ships begin to appear. Also significant, the lighthouse perched in the middle of said “darkness” shines bright and guides all of the ships and people of the town despite the darkness. The stars are also mentioned, which would be light in the dark. What I found most striking about the passage was the last line. It could be a reference to the title; the town described as “the darkest place on Earth” could be the “Heart of Darkness”. To me, the “brooding gloom in sunshine”, as the town is written as, represents darkness in light, even if that light is merely the lighthouse and lights of the ships.
I think this passage can also be seen as ironic because Marlow is calling it one of the darkest places on Earth, but he just described all of the other sources of light in the area.
Speaking for the novel as a whole, I would say that those two points make it seem pretty dark. The irony and contrasting light and dark images might represent the fact that Marlow and his crew aren’t really sure what they’re getting themselves into, by going into the “heart of darkness” and trying to take Kurtz away from his post.
"We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness. It was very quiet there. At night sometimes the roll of drums behind the curtain of trees would run up the river and remain sustained faintly as if hovering in the air high over our heads till the first break of day." (Conrad 108)
This passage caught my attention obviously because the title remained in the sentence. The light vs dark imagery is clear in this piece of the novella. Conrad describes the place as a heart of darkness that almost makes the air still until it is light again. This to me makes it feel like he's saying the darkness has an eerie feel to it. It gives chills and makes the air seem still and creepy almost. It hovers over them like a fog or something until the light comes again the next day. Even then, he describes it as a "dim light," which makes me think that it isn't even a bright light that is portrayed. This description is very important since Conrad describes this place as a heart of darkness. This means that not only is it physically dark, but it's dark in mentality as well. This "heart of darkness," also foreshadows how shady and foggy this whole business that Marlow and Kurtz are involved with. I think that Conrad wanted us to see past the physical meaning and look deeper into what he was trying to show and display. I think as a whole this just reveals that the book may seem unclear at points throughout it, but all in all the meaning is to display the differences and main points to something that is considered light or dark in someone's opinion.
“Curious, this feeling that came over me that such details would be more intolerable than those heads drying on the stakes under Mr. Kurtz’s windows. After all, that was only a savage sight, while I seemed at one bound to have been transported into some lightless region of subtle horrors, where pure, uncomplicated savagery was a positive relief, being something that had the right to exist – obviously – in the sunshine” pg 139
I chose this passage because it showed that even amongst savagery deep in the Congo, there could still be even darker places than some. This revealed that Kurtz’s ability to convince the natives to treat him like a god, to crawl to him instead of walk, and to fear him is a darker, more sinister work than pure savagery displayed by the heads on stakes. This realization makes Kurtz even more mysterious and unnatural compared to Marlow’s views of the natives being ‘pure uncomplicated savagery.” This puts lots of power into Kurtz’s personality and degrades the natives’ way of life. I chose this passage because it showed that even in the midst of what Marlow believed to be darkness, there was more darkness that is of a different kind. It describes the complexity of what is considered light and dark in the novel. In the beginning we see the Europeans and Imperialists and Ivory to be light and The Congo, the Natives, and the Suffering to be dark, but when this passage comes, it explains that Kurtz is the man that “All Europe contributed to the making of” (Pg 127), who has lots of ivory, and who is the quintessence of imperialism, but is so dark in contrast to the natives. It reveals that there are no absolutes of light and dark.
“The room seemed to have grown darker, as if all the sad light of the cloudy evening had taken refuge on her forehead. This fair hair, this pale visage, this pure brow…” (Conrad, 160).
I choose this passage because it was one that I continued to think about after I finished reading the novella. In this passage, Kurtz’s fiancée is being described when Marlow goes to give her Kurtz’s possessions. Everything around this woman is dark. Earlier she was described wearing all black, continuing to morn Kurtz’s death a year later, but she was light. The part of the passage that intrigued me the most was “this pure brow”. The lady was light and pure and it made me think of innocence and staying true to one person. She obviously loved only Kurtz and would never cheat on him. She had been mourning his death for over a year and had yet to accept his death. On the other hand, as a reader you are lead to believe that Kurtz was having an affair with the woman on the Dark Continent. Kurtz had also been described as dark and with the idea of lightness being purity/innocence; we conclude that Kurtz was not pure. This passage is significant to the work as a whole because no matter if you liked Kurtz or not, when you got to this passage and saw the difference between Kurtz and his fiancée, you had to think of Kurtz as dark/bad. I think this is noteworthy because Conrad wrote the novella that way, so I believe he intended for readers to dislike Kurtz.
“We were within thirty yards of the nearest fire. A black figure stood up, strode on long black legs, waving long black arms, across the glow. It had horns—antelope horns, I think—on its head. Some sorcerer, some witch-man, no doubt: it looked fiendlike enough.” – Page 148
While reading through the text, this passage really jumped out to me above all others. To me, it is one of the most important images in the entire text. This is when Kurtz is forced to choose between total insanity and possibly killing Marlow, and trying to go back to Europe with Marlow and the others. When I read this, an incredible image develops in my head of Kurtz between Marlow on one side, and a black figure on the other. The black figure most certainly is representative of evil. Marlow describes him as wearing horns on his head and thinks him a witch-man. These both are things that are closely associated with the devil. I feel like this really sets the story up so that Kurtz’s decision says a lot about who he truly is. By choosing to go with Marlow instead of over to the witch-man, Kurtz in a sense chooses good over evil. He chooses sanity over insanity. It shows he isn’t totally crazy and bad, but is in fact very intelligent and wants to do good. I feel that making the witch-man out to be so “black” or evil also makes Marlow naturally into a “light” or good symbol. Kurtz chooses to go the “light” path when he goes with Marlow and light takes on a very traditional symbolism of righteousness. I think this passage is crucial to the work as a whole as it is the defining moment of Kurtz’s character and makes him out to be, in my opinion, a good character. This in turn allows me to think of Marlow as a better character for relating to him and kind of provides me with a new sense of disappointment for all of the people who misjudged Kurtz.
In response to Ethan:
I like the passage that you picked. It stuck out to me as being very evil as well. I like the point you made about this part of the novel representing the "turning point" almost of Kurtz being on the border of sanity and insanity.
In response to Kelly Bradley's blog, I thought her point was quite interesting. Maybe people are what bring "darkness" or the evil to a place. Like someone said during our discussion a book is a book, light or dark. So is a place not a place without light or dark? Are people the ones who bring a bad reputation to a place? I thought that Kelly's blog was very thought provoking and well written with very interesting points.
In response to Emily Shriver's post, I definitely agree with how the statement shows that there are no absolutes. It proves not only the complexity of good and evil, but also the human race and what we are capable of doing. The quote also proves how, throughout various parts of the novel, the reader is inclined to both fear and respect Kurtz. This again proves that there are no absolutes within human society.
In response to Cindy's post, I like how she didn't just use the typical "light vs. dark". She took a sentence and applied it to the imagery Conrad was using. I completely agree with her in the fact that nothing can be just good, or just bad. In the real world, one isn't labeled as one or the other. Humans are usually spontaneous. We do what satisfies us at that exact moment, and not what we will claim in the future as good or bad. So, I agree with what she has to say and take what we have learned from this novella and pertain it to our regular, daily lives.
In response to Amber: “She came forward, all in black, with a pale head, floating towards me in the dusk. She was in mourning. It was more than a year since his death, more than a year since the news came; she seemed as though she would remember and mourn forever. She took both my hands in hers and murmured, ‘I had heard you were coming.’ I noticed she was not very young—I mean not girlish. She had a mature capacity for fidelity, for belief, for suffering.The room seemed to have grown darker, as if all the sad light of the cloudy evening had taken refuge on her forehead. This fair hair, this pale visage, this pure brow seemed surrounded by an ashy halo from which the dark eyes looked out at me.” (Conrad 160)
This was a really strong choice of light versus dark imagery, Amber! I really hadn't taken the time to notice it before. I like how you said that light and dark images are not always what one perceives them to be. I find it interesting that Conrad describes the woman in both light and dark. I feel that this emphasizes that she is a real person, neither good nor bad. She's made her mistakes, but she also tries to amend them. I also agree that Kurtz's own personal darkness might have added to his beloved's own darkness.
In response to Brianna: "There remained a rude table - a plank of two posts; a head of rubbish reposed in a dark corner, and by the door I picked up a book. It had lost it's covers, and the pages had been thumbed into a state of extremely dirty softness; but the back had been lovingly stitched a fresh with white cotton thread, which looked clean yet." Page 111
I found your passage to be extremely interesting. When I first read it, I didn't really acknowledge the references to light and dark. Your comparison between the book and Kurtz was really eye-opening. I feel that the book also symbolizes how the Europeans viewed their colonization of Africa; they thought Africa was a dark, dirty place that they could "stitch up" into something wonderful, while really the Europeans didn't think of the consequences to the African people or their culture.
In response to Sarah H...
I agree with you in that this is such a powerful image. The main idea of the novella is prominent in this. It shows how something that was once good may become corrupted and turn into something completely different. When Kurtz set out on his mission, he was respected. He may have set out to do great things, but in order to obtain them, he had to do deeds that aren't considered "good."
In response to Madeline's post, I think I agree with what she was saying. Good and evil exist because they are compared with one another. They must be together in order to be determined or there is nothing to compare it to. I think had Kurtz's fiance known of his past she wouldn't love him any less. I think she would just view him in a different way, it's like what we talked about in the socratic. It all depends on who is viewing the good and evil and how they perceive it. I enjoyed reading Madeline's post on this topic, good job!
In response to Kelly:
I love the part in the passage you chose describing the place as a "space of delightful misery". That is a pretty powerful and telling line, and I think it speaks for the dark continent/river that Marlow was traveling through, and for the theme of the novel as well. The nice "white" facade of the place had faded and it's true darkness was showing through.
In response to Sarah Mye:
I really liked your connection to purity and innocence. I think when considering what role light plays in the novel, it is important to think about what role innocence plays as well. I also like how you pointed out that, like Kurtz, the woman was both light and dark. Perhaps this is the reason why they got along together?
Great job!
In response to Bri's comment. I also noticed that passage and thought it was quite interesting. I think your point of view on the passage is very interesting. I think it makes quite a bit of sense how you refered to Kurtz being just like the book. Clean on the outside, but worn and dirty on the inside. Good thoughts.
-In response to Megan's post
The line that you sighted is definitely one of the most, if not the most insightful and powerful lines in the novella. I agree with your interesting point about how Conrad's intention in creating Kurtz wasn't to create asymbol for the darkness, but rather to show us that evil and good are linked. I think this point is particularly interesting because I feel it provides a valuable summary of the unique human predicament. None of us can be entirely good or evil, we are destined to be confined to a sort of gray morality, even though most of us attempt to lean towards the good side. In the end, your post was really insightful.
In response to Ethan's post:
I found it very interesting that you chose this passage, since it doesn't use the dark and light imagery right out. I also found it interesting that the fire (which is light) is associated with the black figure. Perhaps this is implying that evil can sometimes be covered with a sense of being good. I liked how you interpreted this passage. It really sheds a new light on Kurtz. Maybe Kurtz consciously chooses to be good, and he doesn't know that he has done evil things in the past. Does this make Kurtz an overall good man or is he evil due to his ignorance?
In response to Emily HW:
I liked the passage you chose because it is very closely related to Kurtz and Marlow and gives insight into their characters. You mentioned that the words can be seen as light (since they were called illuminating) but are really evil. Like in Ethan's passage, this shows how evil can be disguised by good so it is hard to tell which is which. Like you said, a lie is evil disguised as good. This passage shows a lot about Marlow.
" 'Yes, I know,' I said with something like despair in my heart, but bowing my head before the faith that was in her, before that great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness from which I could not have defended her-from which I could not even defend myself.' "
Jordan posted this and I thought that it was a great quote. I agree that it is beautifully written. I believe that this passage can allude to the idea of imperialism because simply the idea of going and making some other culture's life better and profiting from this seems like a win-win situation for everyone involved, just like the Intended's ideas about Kurtz. He was talented and he devoted his life to spreading his ideas, and he was rewarded with ivory. This passage shows the naive qualities in the people who sometimes do not wish to think poorly about someone or something that is dead, maybe even spiritually.
“It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery-a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness.” In response to Kelly's post:
I liked the relation to the settlement of houses as dark, and it goes along with Jordan's quote. People like to have their own ideas about a person or place because there are generally better expectations than realities. To quote a cliché, "the grass is always greener on the other side" people like to think that what they do not know or what they have not experienced is better than what has been discovered. This wonderment has been crushed by Marlow who has seen the dark, he has seen the complicated mixtures of what was once a mystery. This can be very disappointing for some, or even more intriguing for others.
Responding to Madeline's blog, I believe that what she had to say is entirely true. Even though I believe one isn't just good or just evil, I still think that there is always going to be a negative to the good. People will always find a way to make "the other" or "the antagonist", because society cannot function without it. So, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and I believe that what you had to say tied in very nicely with the overall theme of this story and the things we discussed in our Socratics.
In response to Ethan S...
This passage was very powerful to me as well. I think it shows how Kurtz would have liked to be good, but succumbed to the evil in order to do what was expected of him. He chooses to try to change instead of going back to the dark figure, a representation of evil. It supports the idea that people can change and that there is good and evil in all of us.
In response to Julie:
I find out comment very interesting. I especially enjoy the imagery of a candle "extinguishing" the dark. I also believe that good and evil in the book are intertwined, and tht one cannot exist without the other. This concept can also be applied to the creation of the "other" as well. One cannot exsist without the other, thus the "other" can never be fully "extinguished."
In response to Brianna H: I really enjoyed reading your example. I never would have remembered that comparison, but I liked the light vs. dark and dirty vs. clean comparisons to represent the good vs. evil concept that has been referenced throughout the novel.
In response to Emily H: Your example was very interesting to me because it relates directly to the title. I've been wondering throughout the novel about that example and the mention of the "Heart of Darkness" in that passage if they truly relate to the good vs. evil concept or a more specific comparison.
In response to Jordan H: I like your post because it continues the discussion of Good vs. Evil in humans. The inevitability of evil surrounding Kurtz brings up the question: Can one get rid of the evil that we as humans may possess? I think this question will always remain unanswered, even when it is answered because it’s a generalized statement for such a wide variety of people. In Kurtz case, though, I think that because of how people viewed him and how he began to view himself that his evil was inevitable. It was always looming even when he was doing his job.
In response to Ethan S: I have always found myself tentative towards calling Kurtz an evil character because, to me, he didn’t seem evil. His battle was with those telling him that what he was doing was wrong. He was living a life that no one else was willing to live. Marlow on the other hand admired his insanity and his way of doing things even though his co-workers claimed that he was illegally gaining the ivory. It is hard for me to make a connection between Marlow and an act of “goodness”. I think this passage would lead me to believe that Kurtz was in fact a good man for choosing not to kill Marlow but I don’t know if Marlow himself could be considered good.
In response to Sarah Crawford's post, I love your quote because it is a perfect representation of the light and dark imagery used throughout the novella. The way the "heart of darkness" is described almost reminds me of a black hole. They consume all light and matter, and their complexity makes them incomprehensible. It seems quite similar to the use of darkness throughout the novella because evil cannot be clearly defined nor depicted, and the darkness of the human mind is limitless.
In response to Tony:
I like how you said that Kurtz could not escape himself and was thus subject to living a life in the darkness. This was a great point. Also, I appreciated how you pointed out that Marlow did try to help Kurtz escape his dark life; it was Kurtz's rejection of this that led, ultimately, to his downfall.
Sarah Mye -
Both of the passages we chose were from the same section, and I really enjoyed it. I found it interesting because the dark imagery that was usually associated with Kurtz was contrasted with the light imagery Marlow associated with his fiance. Why do you think this is? Kurtz's fiance's love was so pure and innocent that it shined like a light. But was her love naive or foolish? Would her love still shine as brightly if she knew about Kurtz's dark history? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts!
Cindy -
I really liked your response because it made me question Kurtz goodness for myself. Just because Kurtz's morals were replaced with his want for ivory, does that make him evil? Can anyone really define "good" or "evil"? Also, I'd be interested in hearing whether you think Kurtz really had a say in the type of person that he became. As we briefly discussed in the Socratic, if humans are isolated their usual sense of right and wrong, can they really help but replace those morals with what their new environment values?
-IN response to Cindy's post
I found everything you had to say really thought-provoking. Of course, we've spent so much time talking about how good and evil aren't absolute but instead mixed in everyone, but you're point about men creating viewpoints on good and evil and allowing that to effect their morals was great. In the end really, that is the basis of life and the associated problems in the world. What men choose to believe. Again great post.
In response to Laura’s comment:
I liked your point of how Marlow describes the setting with light images like the lighthouse, the sunshine, and lights on shore and from ships but said it is one of the darkest places on Earth. I think this shows how Marlow is subconsciously unsure of whether this place really is one of the darkest. He shows both light and dark so he can obviously see the light but doesn’t consider that when saying it’s one of the darkest places on Earth. This brings me back to the socratic and how we were talking about people’s views of anything are always different. Marlow saw the continent as dark but is that because it was called the Dark Continent by many people or because that’s what he actually thought to be true?
In response to Sarah Hanson‘s comment:
I liked the question you brought up in your comment: “Did the Europeans add more light to Africa, or did they deepen the heart of darkness?” I personally think that the Europeans deepened the heart of darkness. They did not go there to make the lives of the natives better. They did not go there to civilize the natives. The Europeans went to the Dark Continent to make a profit for themselves. They chained up the natives and used them as slaves. They forced the natives to work for them. The last time I checked, enslaving people and putting them to work was not civilizing people. The Europeans brought a deeper darkness to the natives.
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