Heart of Darkness by Ajay Patel https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx Literary Analysis and Notes en-us 2019-02-19 19:41:10 UTC 2019-03-15 16:39:41 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Diskette.png Edward W. Said's Response to Achebe's Critiques (1993) 420793 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/332906856 This short essay essentially addresses Achebe's assertions that HoD was racist and perpetuates a prejudicial and ethnocentric perception of African identity. He defends Conrad as one of the only writers of his time to thoughtfully address imperialism from the perspective of the oppressor by recognizing his own impact on the oppressed. Very insightful and well written.]]> 2019-02-19 19:56:17 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/332906856 Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno) 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333433167 “...I had stepped into the gloomy circle of some Inferno.  The rapids were near, and an uninterrupted, uniform, headlong, rushing noise filled the mournful stillness of the grove, where not a breath stirred, not a leaf moved, with a mysterious sound-as the tearing pace of the launched earth had suddenly become audible” (83) "

]]> 2019-02-20 23:48:48 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333433167 Whited Sepulchers 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333438786 "In a very few hours I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchers. Prejudice no doubt. I had no difficulty in finding the Company’s offices. It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade"]]> 2019-02-21 00:17:00 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333438786 El Dorado 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333443698 "This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, and I believe they were sworn to secrecy. Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage; there was not an atom of foresight or of serious intention in the whole batch of them, and they did not seem aware these things are wanted for the work of the world. To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe" ]]> 2019-02-21 00:40:22 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333443698 The Fates 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333445026 "I slipped through one of these cracks, went up a swept and ungarnished staircase, as arid as a desert, and opened the first door I came to. Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool"

The women correspond to the mythological Fates who spin, measure, and cut the thread of life. It is in the offices of the Company that Marlow’s life is being measured out as he begins his journey into the heart of Africa.]]> 2019-02-21 00:45:55 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333445026 Mephistopheles 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333448496 "“I let him run on, this papier-mache Mephistopheles, and it seemed to me that if I tried I could poke my forefinger through him, and would find nothing inside but a little loose dirt, maybe."

Mephistopheles is a reference to the Legend of Faust, a German piece of folklore later adapted and altered by many artists including Goethe.  Faust is bored and depressed with his life as a scholar. After an attempt to take his own life, he calls on the Devil for further knowledge and magic powers with which to indulge all the pleasure and knowledge of the world. In response, the Devil's representative, Mephistopheles, appears. He makes a bargain with Faust: Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a set number of years, but at the end of the term, the Devil will claim Faust's soul, and Faust will be eternally damned. 

By calling the colonist a “Papier-mâché Mephistopheles”, Marlow likens him to a soulless demon; hollow and fabricated, perhaps nice looking on the outside but inside dark, evil, and empty of any virtuosity. If this description sounds oddly familiar, that’s because it should--this is another appearance of the Whited Sepulcher motif.

]]> 2019-02-21 01:01:28 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333448496 Ivory 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333462487 2019-02-21 02:01:11 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333462487 The Congo River 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333474540 The river symbolizes movement toward a goal. It's the only way the British have of getting to the center of the continent where the most ivory is, so it steers them towards their goal. It also moves Marlow toward his goal of reaching Kurtz.

The river also symbolizes the separateness of the outsiders, the colonizers. Marlow and the other people on the steamboat rarely go ashore. In many cases they simply can't because of the dense vegetation. The river physically and symbolically keeps them separate from the natives, who live on shore. Other than Marlow's crew, when we encounter natives it is almost exclusively onshore

]]> 2019-02-21 03:03:32 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333474540 Fog 295484 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333475947 Fog is a sort of corollary to darkness. Fog not only obscures but distorts: it gives one just enough information to begin making decisions but no way to judge the accuracy of that information, which often ends up being wrong. Marlow’s steamer is caught in the fog, meaning that he has no idea where he’s going and no idea whether peril or open water lies ahead.]]> 2019-02-21 03:11:41 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333475947 Juxtaposition in Depiction of Setting 420793 https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333843787 When describing the land itself, Marlow oscillates between depicting the physical environment of the Congo with language relating to decay and desolation, while also incorporating language that evokes a tone of awe or reverence. Marlow's depiction of the setting and the range of his language reflects his indecision and inability to reconcile his presuppositions of Africa with his personal knowledge. The ancestral majesty of the landscape is encapsulated, as Marlow depicts how imperialism and methods of empire have compromised the purity and sacredness of the land. ]]> 2019-02-21 19:28:43 UTC https://padlet.com/2981411/ot2bdsguz7cx/wish/333843787