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The Darkness of Silence
Prompts:
Heart of Darkness (1899)
pagination
from 2006 Norton Critical Edition
edited by Paul B. Armstrong
"to
[Marlow] the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside,
enveloping
the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze . . ." (5)
Heart of Darkness, Chapter One
- the tale opens with the frame narrator's asserting that nearby London is "the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth" (3), that its inhabitants have gone forth across the earth "bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire" (5). Is this narrator's nationalism and ardent imperialism echoed by Charlie Marlow himself throughout chapter one? How does Marlow characterize the “darkness” faced by ancient & explorers? What of the “silence”?
- though thoroughly excited about getting onto the Congo River as soon as possible, Marlow does begin to feel some uneasiness during the hiring process. What about the situation in Belgium unsettles him?
- with what classical figures does Marlow obliquely link the two knitters in the waiting room (10-11)?
- why might the old Belgian doctor wish to measure Marlow’s skull?
- does Marlow’s aunts perspective on the proper motivation behind this venture echo Marlow’s own perspective on the matter?
- Marlow’s trip down the coast of Africa fails to take him closer to what he’s seeking, instead “seem[ing] to keep [him] away from the truth of things, within the toil of a mournful and senseless delusion” (13). What characteristics of this trip contribute to this surrealistic sense of isolation?
- what elements of the Company’s station—the first Marlow stops at—validate Marlow’s comparison of it with Dante’s Inferno (16 bot)?
- with what tone does Marlow describe the central station’s General Manager as “great” (22)?
- how does Marlow end up finding an appointment as a steamboat captain so quickly, and what is the state of the man he is replacing, and the boat he is appropriating, when he arrives?
- does Marlow uniformly disparage all the European explorers we meet?
- is Marlow at all similar to the white imperialists he encounters?
- how does Marlow react to the suffering he hears of and that which he witnesses directly?
- why do you imagine the first-class agent at the Central Station categorizes Marlow as “‘of the new gang—the gang of virtue,’” saying he can tell by looking in Marlow’s eyes (25)?
- does Marlow like work (29)?
- does Marlow interrogate the rampant racism of his age, or indelibly reinscribe it?
- how do the explorers justify enslaving the African population?
- why is it difficult for Marlow to tell the age of those on the chain gang?
- what elements of the absurd does Marlow uncover during his journey, and upon arrival in Africa?
- is the Darkness of the novel’s title everywhere, or limited to one particular locale?
- what do we learn of Kurtz in chapter one?
Heart of Darkness, Chapter Two
- describing the practical dangers he must avoid during his trip, Kurtz notes that "'When you have to attend to things of that sort, to the mere incidents of the surface, the reality--the reality, I tell you--fades. The inner truth is hidden--luckily, luckily. But I felt it all the same'" (34). Do the physical, "surface" events of chapter two force Marlow towards or away from the "reality" and "inner truth" he's alluding to here? That is, does he learn something profound (prior to meeting Kurtz), or does the entire experience roll off him as merely absurd?
- a slightly different spin on option two): either defend or attack the following claim: Marlow's ongoing struggle to discover meaning in this voyage down the Congo River--with its strange inhabitants, environs, and happenings--fails.
- at three separate points in this chapter, Conrad captures the act of perception, describing with uncanny accuracy the process by which Marlow realizes that what he initially perceived while gazing at some event or object is incorrect, and that the truth of the matter is dramatically different. Why might Conrad include such moments in this particular story?
- Marlow’s lighting of a match as he takes a break from his story reminds us that he is telling this story in complete darkness (47). Could his story have been as effectively delivered during daytime?
- Conrad briefly plays with chronology by jumping ahead to Marlow’s encounter with Kurtz and surrealistically describing what he found (48-51). Is this an effective narratological strategy, to introduce key revelations about Kurtz before he has been bodily revealed to the reader?
- does the manner in which Marlow describes the indigenous inhabits of the Congo constitute racism? Is your response inflected by historical considerations? By apparent tone or narrative voice?
- does the inexplicable—that which cannot be easily comprehended or categorized—retain its attractive fascination for Marlow throughout chapter two?
- why does Marlow claim that his listeners might have an especially difficult time fully understanding/”getting” his story (47, 49)?
- what value does Marlow attribute to physical labor?
- what is the truest test of an individual’s sanity and courage, according to Marlow?
Heart of Darkness, Chapter Three
- in chp 1, Marlow directly critiques the messiness and greed which often characterize imperialism, at the same time esteeming the “unselfish belief in the idea” that occasionally (perhaps rarely) originates and motivates such enterprises (7). In chp 3, do we finally find any examples of such splendid, “unselfish belief” in the business at hand?
- assuming that what we actually see and hear of Kurtz in chp 3 is accurately reproduced by the storyteller, Marlow, does Marlow’s harsh judgment of Kurtz (57-58) seem just?
- which does Marlow believe is worse, the physical violence Kurtz has done to the natives, or the psychological subjugation under which he has placed them?
- why does Marlow choose to fix his attention on the “nightmare” that is Kurtz instead of the “nightmare” that is the Manager (62)?
- why does the ill Kurtz get back off the ship at night and make his way towards an impending ceremony, and why does Marlow tell him that, if he proceeds, he “‘will be lost’” (65)?
- is the reader encouraged to explain that mystery which Marlow himself cannot untangle, “the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself” (66)? Do we, ultimately, find ourselves sympathizing with Kurtz or not? Does Marlow himself?
- should the reader agree with Marlow’s conclusion that Kurtz’s famous last words “‘The horror! The horror!’” are indeed an inwardly directed “judgment upon the adventures of his soul on this earth” (69)?
- what exactly does Marlow mean when he says repeatedly that Kurtz was a “remarkable” man, and adds that he had “a soul as translucently pure as a cliff of crystal” (70)?
- earlier in the novella, Marlow told his listeners that he hates lies because they contain "a taint of death" (27). Why, then, does he lie to Kurtz's fiancée in the conclusion?
- what impact has this experience had on Marlow?
- are we to believe that Mr. Kurtz was truly an extraordinary man before he entered Africa?
- in chapter one, the first-class agent whom Marlow meets rehearses, self-consciously, the standard imperialist line, that the project in this part of Africa requires "higher intelligence, wide sympathies, a singleness of purpose" (25), and he notes that the cosmopolitan Mr. Kurtz is supposed to evince these qualities. Does the Kurtz described by Marlow indeed seem exactly what the European ivory trade needs? Is Kurtz's success (in finding ivory) dependent on the three qualities listed by the first-class agent?
- in chapter two, Marlow described the stillness, silence, and solitude he encountered along the Congo as if they were aggressive, not passive, forces. In chapter three, Marlow describes in close proximity both the triumphant wilderness and the vile, mean Kurtz (73), appearing to blame both for the darkness he (Marlow) has witnessed. Ultimately, does this narrative place the onus for Kurtz’s tragic transformation more on the man himself or on his environment?
- at what point (in chps 2-3) did Marlow begin to question Kurtz’s glorious reputation?
- do Kurtz’s ideas—his words—continue to exert a mesmerizing power on his listeners in chp 3?
- in the novel's opening, the frame narrator notes that the "bond of the sea" had the effect of making men not only "tolerant of each others' yarns," but tolerant of--or perhaps open to--their "convictions" (3). Does the tale which Marlow proceeds to narrate contain enough rhetorical power and persuasive evidence to change his listener's (the reader's) convictions about some topic or theme on which he has touched?
- apply Marlow's claim that "[w]e live in the flicker" to either his own experience in this story or to that of Kurtz (6).
- has Marlow's tale proven, or given the lie to, his earlier assertion that "'it is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence--that which makes its truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone. . . .'" (27).
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photo of the Roi
de Belges
Conrad's
steamer in 1899
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu