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Heart of Darkness as a historical and philosophical novel
Heart of Darkness as a historical and philosophical novel
Heart of Darkness as a historical and philosophical novel
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Heart of Darkness and Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
Knowledge Leading to Insanity in H.P. Lovecraft's "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" and the influence of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"
"Science, alrady oppressive with its schocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of our human species-if separate species we be-for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world."
--H.P. Lovecraft, "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family"
Both texts, "Heart of Darkness", and "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family" are about the limits of the human mind. Some are able to contain powerful universal truths and some are not. Lovecraft, twenty-one years after the publication of "Heart of Darkness", uses it as a partial basis for the exploration of the dangers of Darwin on the human psyche. Therefore, I explore Conrad's imagery and ultimate purpose in order to show how it is repeated in Lovecraft's story.
European progression into Africa can be summarized as attempting to draw a straight line to the center. In "Heart of Darkness", Conrad gives two important descriptions of European exploration to support seeing it as a linear, penetrating movement. One is the importance of rivers in exploration, which I will discuss in more detail. The other is one of the European managers description of the ideal goal of the stations on the river: to each link up in a line and ferry civilization and goodness into Africa.
Turning to rivers, they appear first when Marlow is discussing the blank spots on the map. He says that these yellow spaces are filled...
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...s lineage back to its origin led Arthur Jermyn straight into death, just as extending the line of stations into the Congo led Kurtz into death. Twenty-one years after the publishing of "Heart of Darkness", its effect on the perception of Africa can be clearly seen. Lovecraft is an American commercial author, without the colonial perspective of a 19th century English author, so his appropriation of Conrad is based solely on the power of the text. Together, both stories make a very powerful statement on the true state of the average human being and what his or her mind might be capable of understanding.
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1899
Lovecraft, Howard Phillip. "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family." Dagon and Other Macabre Tales. Arkham House: Sauk City, WI. 1965. orig. pub. 1920. pp 73-83
Lovecraft, H.P.. “The Beast in the Cave.” The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft: The Road to
...o, while the novella’s archetypal structure glorifies Marlow’s domination of Kurtz. These two analyses taken together provide a much fuller and more comprehensive interpretation of the work. Conrad presents the idea that there is some darkness within each person. The darkness is is inherited and instinctual, but because it is natural does not make it right. He celebrates – and thereby almost advises – the turn from instinct. By telling Marlow’s tale, Joseph Conrad stresses to his audience the importance of self-knowledge and the unnecessity of instinct in civilization.
Heart of darkness is a book composed by Joseph Conrad This novel is about a journey in Congo is based on Conrad's experience of the Congo region of West Africa. Conrad was sent to Congo to rescue a company. The story is spoken in the words of Charlie Marlow in the time of imperialism the work itself as one criticizer puts it might most functionally be believed hyper-canonized. Countless forms of criticism have seized on the subject matter inside the book. Feminism, psycho-analytic, Marxism have all had things to say concerning the novel. It debates things such as imperialism, the psychology of Marlow and Kurtz, the act of women in the novel both factually and symbolically, all these subjects are vital cases in the novel. In this essay I am
As Marlow assists the reader in understanding the story he tells, many inversions and contrasts are utilized in order to increase apperception of the true meaning it holds. One of the most commonly occurring divergences is the un orthodox implications that light and dark embody. Conrad’s Heart of Darkness brims with paradoxes and symbolism throughout its entirety, with the intent of assisting the reader in comprehending the truth of not only human nature, but of the world.
Along with tradition, there are also many theories about dreams. Sigmund Freud, the first psychologist to study dreams in-depth, hypothesized that dreams were just subconscious thoughts. He believed that dreams show wants and thoughts in symbolic form that aren’t acceptable on a conscious level. He used the term manifest content to describe the contents of dreams, and the term latent content as the concealed meanings behind symbolic dreams.
The truth can be ambiguous (either a beacon of hope or a terrible secret), and although man prefers to believe that the more personal truths of humanity exemplify ingenuity worth remembering, some truths are rather kept hidden. Inherent with the conception of the first villages and settlements, and imparted from one generation to the next, mankind has strived to suppress their unsavory beginnings. Preferring humanity to radiate an image of tranquil cultured democracy, society masks the barbarous acts of instinct that imbue the past, and resonate in the present. In his novel Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad proposes that the construct of civilization is only a safeguard against man’s awareness of his own savagery.
When read at face value, Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, is a portrayal of white, imperial, oppression of the African natives of the Congo. However, when we view the writing through the lenses of psychoanalysis and feminism, a story focused on one character, Marlow, emerges. Each theory presents a new way of interpreting and understanding the character development and imagery within the story. Psychoanalysis provides a look into the mind and dreamlike setting of Marlow. Feminism examines the binary gender roles of the characters, Marlow and Kurtz. Both theories examine how these two characters are in some way the same person.
The journey reveals the true evils of imperialism. Instead of bringing imperialization to Africa, the Europeans
Where do dreams come from? What actually are dreams? Do they mean something that is related in our real lives? All these questions can be answered by learning about the history of dreams in various cultures throughout time.
For thousands of years humans have experienced a phenomenon which we describe today as dreaming. It has puzzled and sparked interest to all whom experience it. For as long as people have been dreaming, there have been people trying to understand and interpret them. This research paper examines the causation and deeper meaning of dreams. It will compare and contrast the differentiating ideas on the subject by famous psychologists and also examine first-hand accounts from real individuals. The objective of paper is to shed some light on this complex and bizarre behavior.
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
* Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, M.H. Abrams, general editor. (London: W.W. Norton, 1962, 2000)
The concepts of light and darkness have become synonymous with good and bad, especially in the realm of literature. Light is associated with Heaven, happiness and hope, while darkness symbolizes Hell, hatred and harm. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness however, these general conventions are broken in that light symbolizes a far more menacing evil than any form of darkness. While readers seek to view light in a positive way, Conrad’s progressive use of darker examples of light reflects the inner conflict and confusion of the novel’s protagonist, Marlow, and his continued search for light in the world.
Dreaming has always been more of a controlled thing. In a way, dreams can determine what he want to eat, what they want to wear, or even who he may be marrying one day. An Australian doctor has found that dreams are not messages from the spirits but dreams are messages from ourselves (Andre-Clark). In most cases dreams do reflect reality, because dreams are communications from yourself rather trying to contact a person through their dreams, and tell them something that may happen in the future. Dreams may or can reflect things that have happened to anyone. Dreams do not say anything about the future nor predict anything. Dreams may comfort someone or help them understand something that has happened to them in the past.
As the body sleeps, reality becomes replaced with the dream world, a fanciful place where the innermost being is found cowering like a creature vying to be freed. Some people have vivid dreams that are life-like; others cannot recall having dreamed. One concept is for sure, the dream world is one where the mind runs a free course. Images buried deep inside, thoughts avoided throughout the day, and unrealistic situations take hold. These images may turn into a peaceful dream of amazement and wonder, or they may take a frightening turn, dragging the mind into a state of horror and dread. The situations can become all too real, grasping at the outer edges of the mind, pushing the dream over the boundaries the body normally allows.