Exerpt From my RR

What I first realized directly after reading these first two parts was the ambiguity of the character of Marlow. Marlow is a character that has travelled around the world, but I have no idea what his job entails, and I don’t know why he decides to embark on these trips, other than to satisfy his desire to fill out the blank spots on maps. Other than Marlow’s motive to travel, I’m drawn to Marlow’s view on colonization, which remains extremely ambiguous. I’m sure Marlow is a character who is critical of the way the Belgian Congo is run because of his repeated use of irony. Throughout the first part of the novel, Marlow relies heavily on showing the inefficiency of the way the colonies are run. The opposition of the colonizers to the vastness of the African continent is described in order to show the futility of dominating and colonizing efficiently the entire continent. When Marlow encounters the French battleship off the coast of Africa, he is surprised by their inefficiency. They hope to simply eliminate a small “enemy” village (savages) by destroying the entire environment surrounding them, and shooting blindly onto the African continent thought the hope of destroying a small village. The French warship is describe in a semi-humorous way, using the diction of small and insignificance, compared to the immensity of the African landscape stretched in front of it: “Pop, would go one of the eight-inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech- and nothing happened”. Through this, Marlow provides an indirect criticism of the ways of colonization. Its as if this small French vessel was fighting against the entire continent, hoping to destroy it. Marlow takes a more direct approach quickly after: “There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery (…)”. Marlow remains critical of the process of colonization throughout this part, and the means by which colonization is carried out.

However, if Marlow is actually critical of colonization, he never offers any sort of alternative way of governing, or never puts into question the European presence in Africa in the first place. He talks indirectly about every thing he is critical of, and I’m not sure what side he is on. Personally, I don’t think Marlow is a fervent racist but he doesn’t take into account the effects of colonization on colonized people. For example, when he see’s the group of African prisoners chained together, and being guarded by another African, he feel’s uneasy. He is critical of the treatment of the African workers, when their masters beat for the slightest wrongs. However, Marlow is more concerned by the effects of Africa on the colonizers than the effects of the colonizers on Africa. Marlow hears the story of Freslevin, the man who held his position before him. He was always described as a tender man, yet he was “changed” by Africa, and died in a conflict with local people. In truth, Freslevin died because he killed a local villager over hens, and the local village revolted. Freslevin wasn’t as tender and gentle a person as one could have believed.

Close Reading

I shot the passage on p. 50.

RR #2 pgs 57-59

Marlow doesn’t explicitly show his emotions, but there is a sense that he is concerned and just doesn’t know how to deal with his emotions. He isn’t acting impressed like the other fellow there with him or showing that he is shocked in any way. The way the helmsman died “without uttering a sound, without moving a limb, without twitching a muscle” reveals to be unexpected for the two white men because they are just standing over him. It looks as If they are waiting for the helmsman to act in response. It is not until the helmsman frowns that Marlow reacts. Marlow is affected by this death in a strange way. He eagerly asks the other guy to steer the wheel with no other choice, so that he can take his shoes and socks off that are soaked in blood. In addition, Marlow adds “to tell you the truth”, which shows that he is conscience of affection towards this death. Marlow is trying to get rid of the thought of this death by eagerly trying to take his shoes off, “tugging like mad at the shoe-laces”. This reminded me of Lady Macbeth washing “the blood” off her hands to try to rub off her guilt , and here Marlow is trying very hard to forget what happened and lose all evidence of the death. The noun “mad” reveals how and concerned he was. This can also be a foreshadowing of what the journey is going to do to Marlow and how it will affect him in becoming somewhat “mad”.

Towson's Book R+R 2

Marlow, who refers to himself as "not particularly tender", does quite often show his disgust periodically for his surroundings, yet indeed does not seem particularly emotive or passionate during the length of his trip (of which he doubts the purpose). However, upon finding the "dirty soft" confines of the book within the hut, it is as though he is reborn. He is filled with fierce pride and happiness at the image of the simple book on navigation, feeling as though he has once again come into contact with mankind, with civilization as he knows it. The worn quality of the book and the stains this brutal wilderness has inflicted on it does not remove the spell that has been cast on Marlow.

He even notes what he believes to be a cipher and once again marvels at human ingenuity (this later is revealed to be Russian). This is revelatory of Marlow's deep yearning for his own civilization, his own culture where he can bask in the evident sense of things, in the rewarding realm of logic and literacy. As he mentions before, he feels as though he were living in a dream, out of touch with reality as long as he is in the Congo. Any mark of his own society, whether the accountant's glossed appearance or this withered book, sparks his fervent admiration and nostalgia.

RR : Close Reading

In the first paragraph the first thing that Marlow notices is the heavy machinery at the top of the hill as well as the regular explosions. The contrast between the “grass [and] path leading up the hill” contrasts well with the “pieces of decaying machinery.” This explicit contrast implicitly suggests the contrast between the European industrial footprint with the local natural environment. So already we get the sense that the Company’s presence in the region is not one that benefits, meshes with its environment but one that denies the locality and imposes itself. Meanwhile the adjectives such as “carcass” “dead” “decaying” and “rusty” all serve the same purpose: to show the physical condition of the station but also the psychological. As if stuck in a timeless purgatory, the machinery has become obsolete and is slowly disintegrating with lack of use. Later in the passage he makes a reference to “the devil” as if this were hell and the devil was presiding over all the banished souls. Of course the reproach is on the devil himself: devil of “violence” “greed” “hot desire” all refer to highly appointed generals, business men and politicians in the European sphere. Of course only the devil would be able to condemn such innocent people to work for nothing.

one more thing...

a super smart and helpful lecture on the challenges (and rewards) of reading Heart of Darkness.  If you're feeling lost, give it a try.  It's great!
http://mural.uv.es/rosegar/critica1.htm

RR passage The accountant

First of all, he is one of the first men that Marlow has recognized as an actual human being that is similar to him and on the same level as him because since then, he was just describing the indigenous people and he seemed to strip away all of their human qualities from them until they appeared to be animals. And we see that when he says that he respects the accountant. He respected the fact that this man took the time every day for three years to dress the way he did and to have that appearance. But I don’t think that Marlow really saw why he was doing this.
The accountant does this everyday and has his office all neat to get away from the insanity that affects the people who come to the Congo form Europe. When he keeps his routines, he keeps his sanity. He even goes as far as to try and teach one of the native women how to press the suits. It is like the expression out of sight out of mind. The accountant does not wants to keep his routines alive because if he doesn’t, the Congo and all its insanity will come rushing in and take him over like it has so many other men who have not lasted as long as him. His job of keeping the Congo out of him also comes with being rather heartless when it comes to the natives. For example when the weak dying man comes into him office, he seems indifferent and he only complains about the man’s moaning.