Part+One+Topics.HofD


 * Heart of Darkness ** ** Topics: Part One **


 * 1) ** Narration and Story-telling: Liam, Teresa **
 * 2) ** Parallels & Foreshadowing: Daisy, So Yeon, Abhinav **
 * 3) ** Marlow’s attitude toward women: Crystal, TJ **
 * 4) ** Europeans in Africa and in the Congo: Evan, Alice **
 * 5) ** African Wilderness as Setting and Character: Maura, Emily **
 * 6) ** Marlow and Kurtz **
 * 7) ** Marlow’s Attitude toward Lies **
 * 8) ** Marlow, Work, and Rivets: Pamela, Adrian **

The unnamed //Nellie// narrator describes Marlow at various moments in the novel. Marlow says to him, “I did not see the man in the name any more than you do. Do you see him? Do you see the story? Do you see anything? It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream – making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is the very essence of dreams…” (30).
 * 1. Narration and Story-telling**
 * How does Marlow differ from the other me, his audience, on the //Nellie//?
 * What does the first unnamed narrator and the frame-story contribute to __Heart of Darkness__?
 * How does the unnamed narrator characterize Marlow’s tales?
 * What is the nature of such story-telling? Where does its meaning lie?


 * 2. Parallels & Foreshadowing**
 * Foreshadowing**: The technique of introducing into a narrative material that prepares the reader or audience for future events, actions, or revelations. Foreshadowing often involves the creation of a mood or atmosphere that suggests an eventual outcome; the introduction of objects, facts, events, or characters that hint at or otherwise prefigure a developing situation or conflict; or the exposition of significant character traits allowing the reader or audience to anticipate the character’s actions or fate.
 * In describing the Roman conquest of England, Marlow suggests parallels to the main story of __Heart of Darkness__: what seems to be foreshadowed?
 * How does Marlow define “conquerors” and what kind of “idea” might redeem such conquest?
 * Consider Marlow’s account of what drew him out toAfrica. What is suggested by his likening theCongo Riverto a “snake” and himself to a foolish, charmed “bird”.
 * Consider the following: the case of Fresleven, Marlow’s comparison of the city of his employers to “a whited sepulcher,” the two women knitting black wool and “guarding the door of Darkness,” and the doctor. What type of experience, what type of journey, do these signs seem to predict?


 * 3. Marlow’s attitude toward women**
 * Characterize Marlow’s attitude toward women like his aunt.
 * What is being suggested about Marlow?

a) the Company’s chief accountant – Why does Marlow respect him? b) The manager – Why is such a man in command? c) The “faithless pilgrims” – Why does Marlow call them that? d) The “manager’s spy” – Why kind of devil is this papier-mache Mephistopheles? e) The “sordid buccaneers” of the Eldorado Exploring Expedition – How does Marlow assess these men and their motives for coming to and remaining inAfrica?
 * 4. Europeans in Africa and the Congo**
 * Describe Marlow’s first impressions of the European presence inAfrica, captured in his observations regarding the French steamer firing into the coast and regarding the Company’s lower station.
 * Contrast the naming of the Africans as “enemies” to Marlow’s view of the Africans
 * Consider the Europeans that Marlow meets at the Company’s stations:


 * 5. African Wilderness as Setting and Character**
 * How does Marlow describe the setting: theCongojungle – the “wilderness”?
 * Consider imagery.


 * 6. Marlow and Kurtz**
 * Why does Marlow develop a strong curiosity about Kurtz ?
 * Analyze significant references about Kurtz.


 * 7. Marlow’s Attitude toward Lies**
 * What is Marlow’s attitude toward lies?
 * What is the consequence of his allowing the “young fool” to overestimate Marlow’s “influence inEurope”? Here we are returned to the “narrative present” of the narrative frame: how does the unnamed Nellie narrator feel at this point in Marlow’s narrative?


 * 8. Marlow, Work, and Rivets**
 * Analyze Marlow’s statements about his “work”: why is he so intent upon wanting “rivets”? Given his surroundings, the example of the other Europeans around him, his admission that he doesn’t really like work – why do you think Marlow now turns so avidly to the “battered, twisted, ruined, tin-pot steam boat”?