Thursday, October 2, 2008
Zeehan's Entry on Part I of Heart of Darkness
The first part so far is really boring. I had a very hard time understanding the book mainly because I had such a hard time focusing. The atmosphere and tone of the first part so far is very dark. The darkness of the book really annoys me, whether that’s the setting sun or the dying people in the ship who are being tortured by the European imperialists. Form my research on Joseph Conrad, I can see a lot of influences in this part from his life experiences. Conrad shows his love for the sea and river by making the Congo and other rivers a great theme in the book. I can see Conrad in Marlow’s character in many ways, both are smart men but are dark probably because of the hardships they faced in life. Conrad describe the people as suffering and dying, sympathizing with them. This shows that Conrad is against the influences of imperialism. From his description, it seems like he feels that Europeans left people suffering instead of helping them.
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I have to agree with you...I felt that there were many similarities and ways you can see Conrad's life in the novel. He absolutely did put his love for the sea into this book.
ReplyDeleteGood journal. =P
The darkness bothered me too, I am not one for mystery and that is what this book is all about so far. Conrad is against imperialism that's clear through the tone in which he describes the conditions of the African Americans. However Marlow isn't against it yet, so far he is just a bystander and has yet to come to a conclusion on it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, the beginning was very hard to keep focus. I sometimes had to read things over to keep up with whats going on. Also i agree that both Conrad and Marlow are similar. Marlow parallels Conrad in many ways.
ReplyDeleteDef to both of you guys!! Conrad is Marlow without a doubt. Like I said on Michael's entry, it almost seems like Conrad forget he was writing about book with chaacter's and a plot and started writing about himself. Doubt it though, haha.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little slow, and VERY dark, you're right. But I'm sure it'll get better!! Hang in there!!
The darkness of the book didn't bother me too much. There were some points where I was like, "Okay, time to go watch some bright and happy cartoons." But in general I think the story he's telling is a very dark topic.
ReplyDeleteYeah, like everyone else said, Conrad probably models Marlow after himself and it wouldn't surprise me is some of the things he's talking about actually happened to him.
I did notice that the atmosphere is very dark as well, though it didn't annoy me. I think Conrad uses this darkness to set a tone for the sea. Since the seamen believe there is a secret of the sea, "a secret that is not worth knowing," I believe the darkness symbolizes this secret and the unknown.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you, Zeehan, that Conrad must have not agreed with imperialism. It does seem like he was once how Marlow was and experienced working with imperialists first hand. Realizing that such actions are not right actually shows that Marlow (and Conrad) have a heart, though not one of darkness. But I guess we'll find out what Marlow really thinks as we read on.
Joseph Conrad did mension about dark light. That made me think a lot. I think the darkness can represent the imperialism. Colony under control by European.
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