Reader's Response #3

At Part III of Conrad's Heart of Darkness we have reached the core of the novel, where the buildup of the first parts leads to: it is a revelation of truth sipping from the Congo's wilderness, tragedy, a voice of a Shadow, a lie - truth deeply anchored in the heart of darkness. It is vast and complex, full of chaos and darkness, hard to grasp in its entirety. Therefore, concentrating of certain aspects of this part permits the reader to gradually piece together Conrad's overall message about life, the world. Kurtz is the centerpiece of this passage, around which the whole tale evolves: an better understanding of the character, and his words, is what helps the reader further understand the extent of his demise - and thus start to understand Conrad's conclusion.

(...)
Kurtz is the dark, raw side of humanity. His desires, such as attaining a godlike status where he would be veneered by all, go to the extreme without any proper limits. He is not afraid to go beyond those boundaries, where the "unsound" awaits him- on the contrary, trespassing them is the only way for him to reach the fulfillment of his aspirations. He is the man without the restraints of society. The wilderness along with the 'primitive' culture of the natives have brought this out if him, they have "beguiled his unlawful soul beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations" (p.82). This is why he is so dependent on these people. They have not only given him a sense of power, but they are also what permitted him to 'decivilize' himself, letting loose his most profound desires. It is only through them that he can live with this notion that he can achieve what he wants to achieve: it is through/with them that he can finally live as he wants to live. His ultimate passion is to 'consume' the world: not just gain a dominance over it, but embrace its every aspect, fully grasp its complex integrity, be it.

Close Reading

I pick passage 2 !

"The horror! The horror!"

Here's my response to Kurtz's words, "The horror! The horror!". I didn't write about what I said in class today...I didn't exactly have that opinion or think about that when writing...

“The horror! The horror!”

“The horror! The horror!” is the last phrase uttered by Kurtz before he dies. There can, of course, be several interpretations for why Kurtz says this before he dies. First, it could be that he senses his death approaching quite fast, and he says “The horror! The horror!” because he doesn’t want to die (which would be an obvious reason), or because he thinks of his life, how he went about his business, and he knows he’s being punished for havoc he caused in the Congo and for taking advantage of the natives. He may regret everything he’s done: “Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge?” (86)

Secondly, this phrase could be a way to warn Marlow about what he has yet to experience: life after the Congo. Already, life in the Congo is not so pleasant for Marlow, riddled with horror, disease, and death, but it is life after the Congo to which he may need to readjust to. Indeed, the Congo may change the individuals who explore it, but how do they go back to rational thinking after having experienced such life-changing visions?

close reading

I call passage 3...

RR #3

In the whole of the book, I think Kurtz represents the dark side in our selves that is admiring because our dark side is always in a way thrilling and appealing. There is a certain admiration that people feel for him even when they know he is highly capable of doing dark things. The harlequin is in complete admiration of Kurtz even though he threatened to kill him. Even Marlow who knows what Kurtz is capable of and has no boundaries, still thinks highly of Kurtz. When he talks about the “choice of nightmares” which represents either following the manager and the company or Kurtz, Marlow chooses to follow Kurtz because by choosing Kurtz, Marlow will be able to discover himself in the purpose of his life, just as Kurtz did in the forest since he was shown to be so attached and interdependent of it. Marlow also chooses to keep Kurtz story safe because the story deserves to be told in an honorable way.

In the end, when Marlow meets Kurtz fiancée to present her his letters, she equally shows a strong admiration from Kurtz. We also see that Marlow was indeed affected by Kurtz’s death because he was mad at himself for just having sat there eating while Kurtz was dying in the next cabin. I think when she asks Marlow what his last words, Marlow does not want to tell her the truth about his last words being “The horror! The horror!” and says Kurtz’s last word were her name, because he does not to stop the illusion that Kurtz was this amazing and admirable person. In reality Kurtz was not thinking about his fiancée but rather that he was leaving his home forever and that his home no longer resided in Europe.

Excerpt from 3rd RR

The idea that Kurtz wanted to stay in the Congo in the forest with the natives relates to when he crawled into the forest from the steamer to go back to the natives. I think that that really showed that he wanted to stay because it took him so much physical effort since he was crawling on all fours and he doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would do something like that if it weren’t important. During this scene, Marlow talk about how he followed Kurtz into the forest towards the fire made by the natives and that he wanted to beat him up. I think that the relationship between Kurtz and Marlow is complicated and child like on Marlow’s part. First of all, their relationship is very one-sided seeing as Marlow was obsessed with Kurtz before they ever even met and Kurtz had never heard of him. Marlow had great admiration towards him and could not wait to meet him but once he heard about how he conversed and was ‘liked’ by the natives, he became angry that Kurtz did not live up to his standards. It was like a child meeting his idol for the first time and him not living up to his expectations and the perception that they had of the idol. And also in a childish way, Marlow became angry with this and wanted some sort of revenge for Kurtz not being like Marlow had expected so he became violent with him or at least wanted to.

Mystery in the Congo- they're all Colonel Mustard

A wee selection from my Reader Response
The locals treat Kurtz as a source of wisdom, of genius and of knowledge in the Congo, a sort of beacon. I think this is particularly interesting as it really represents Marlow’s descent into the Congo and the madness that takes Europeans there. This helps to paint the Congo even further as an element of Change, as it deeply changes the Europeans who set foot there, of which Marlow and especially Kurtz are the typical examples of this. For me, this definitely is the key element to building the air of mystery of the Congo in Heart. The book is heavily themed on the fact that the Congo is something unknown, dark and mysterious. Kurtz is similarly unknown and shady character and is thus a personalization of the Congo itself. Over the course of this passage, Marlow’s character is seen to begin degrading and getting used to life in the Congo, and as his mind degrades as well we can see him becoming more and more on the level of the natives. I also thought that Marlow’s commentaries on the cannibals were very interesting- he is wary of them and unsure why they haven’t eaten him, this adds to the tone of madness that pervades this part and adds some paranoia to Marlow’s character, which certainly helps to reinforce the tone of his loss of reason. Another important factor is Marlow’s loss of respect for Kurtz when he finds that he has lost his “Europeanness” and has “gone native.”