Children in the Dark

"We talk with indignation or enthusiasm; we talk about oppression,
cruelty crime, devotion, self-sacrifice, virtue, and we
know nothing real beyond the words" (76).
Joseph Conrad's "An Outpost of Progress" (1897)

does Conrad set the artist and scientist at loggerheads with one another?
to what qualities in the audience does the artist address him/herself, according to Conrad?
does Conrad believe that art serves a socially unifying or fragmenting function?
is Conrad elevating or disparaging undeveloped countries in the following declaration? "[T]here is not a place of splendour or a dark corner of the earth that does not deserve, if only a passing glance of wonder and pity" (1).
why might Conrad appear to value temperaments, emotions, and the senses more than thought and reason?
what "truth" does Conrad believe the fiction writer should pursue?
what response does Conrad offer to those seeking didactic or entertaining literature?
is Conrad an advocate of Realism, Romanticism, or Naturalism?
Towards the end of his essay, Conrad concocts a hypothetical scenario about a menial laborer whose efforts fail at some physical task to provide a picture of the challenges facing the fiction writer. Does this scenario also capture key features of Conrad's own stories?
does Conrad believe that Art compels humans to look towards the future, the past, or the present?

do you imagine that either “Makola” or “Henry Price” is the true name of the black man from Sierra Leone hired to run the trading station’s storehouse?
does Conrad forward a particularly optimistic, or pessimistic, vision of human nature in this novel?
do Kaverts and Carlier complement one another well; are they, together, an effective team?
identify an example of the director’s “grim humour” (64).
with what tone does Conrad describe Gobila and his religious views?
how does the camaraderie of Kaverts and Carlier morph over time?
according to Conrad’s narrator, our individual sense of identity leans most heavily on what factor?
does the colonialist project injure the colonialists as much as the colonized?
in what ways do Kayerts and Carlier backtrack on their flimsy principles about the horrors of slavery?
trace those moments where objective narration dips into sarcasm.
why does Kayerts decide not to give the sugar to Carlier, only an instant after deciding to relent?
on what subjects is the narrator willing to declare his opinion without equivocation?
what immediately happens after Kayerts cries for God to help him (82)?
what use does Kayerts make of the cross over the grave of the station’s first chief?

Two large shapes, black and violet, face each other while surrounded by shapes and lines
Black and Violet (1923)
Wassily Kandinsky