“An Outpost of Progress” evinces numerous stylistic elements for the invocation of an atmosphere of the mysteriousness, obscureness and sorrow, outlining the essence of Gothic stories. First, the reader experiences the overwhelming power of the symbolism of graves and crosses, as it encircles the story, being represented at the beginning and at the end of it. After illustrating rather monotonously the surroundings of the trading post, including the edifices where Makola and the two white men live, the narrator reveals the existence of “another dwelling place some distance away from the buildings” (Conrad Part I). Further, the narrator explains, “In it, under a tall cross much out of the perpendicular, slept the man who had seen the beginning …show more content…
Bensemmane; Conrad Part I). Evidence is given with the illustration of the enormous forest, which “hide[s] fateful complications of fantastic life, [and] lay[s] in the eloquent silence of greatness” (Conrad Part I). By means of this depiction, the narrator refers to the magnificence of Africa’s nature that Kayerts and Carlier are unable to see. Due to their lack of knowledge about this foreign and distant country, both are biased, ensuing in the inability to “[understand] nothing [and to care] for nothing” (Conrad Part I). Besides, towards the end of the story, the narrator evokes presumably the most striking creation of this claustrophobic feeling by using the symbolism of the mist for obscuring and darkening the scenery. Having shot Carlier to death, Kayerts feels himself in a hopeless plight and fears the consequences of his action. The narrator, therefore, employs the fog pattern to underscore his desperation and fear, …show more content…
By the usage of this particular vocabulary, the narrator reinforces Kayerts’ feeling of being confined and entrapped in this mist. Further, it clearly transfers not only Kayerts but also the reader out of everyday life experiences, emphasising the inability of explaining this peculiar event. Referring to Burke’s concept of the sublime, the narrator indeed dramatizes here the idea of pain and danger as encountering the mighty and powerful as well as the “deadly immaculate” (cf. Burke 13-14; Conrad Part II). Through the personification of the mist, this description changes into an imagination beyond reason, since a fog is, in fact, not able the ‘penetrate’ the character. Moreover, the reduced visibility, which Kayerts experiences, alludes anew to colonial criticism, meaning the Western exploitation of foreign countries. As Kayerts and Carlier reveal, while recording a print they have found in their home, that the Western judge the “Colonial Expansion” in a highly positive way. The narrator epitomises, “It spoke much of the rights and duties of civilization, of the sacredness of the civilizing work, and extolled the merits of those who went about bringing light, and faith and commerce to the dark places of the earth” (Conrad Part I). By means of the usage of ‘brining light’, the narrator ironically indicates the process of enlightening the uncivilised
Ozick's use of symbolism is very important to the story. The author uses symbolism abundantly to help the reader envision the setting. In the beginning of the story, Ozick refers to the baby Magda as, "someone who is already a floating angel" (Jacobs 299). Ozick refers to Magda as an angel throughout the story, "smooth feathers of hair nearly as yellow as the Star sewn into Rosa's coat" (Jacobs 300). Other symbolism within the story, talks of the shawl as the "milk of linen" (Jacobs 300). Beyond the concentration camp, outside of the steel fence, "there were green meadows speckled with dandelions and deep-colored violets: beyond them even father, innocent tiger lilies, tall, lifting their orange bonnets" (Jacobs 301). Past the steel fence was beauty or maybe heaven., but not the poor conditions of the death camp.
Imperialism has been a constant oppressive force upon societies dating back hundreds of years. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, illustrates this oppression by providing an instance of its occurrence in the Congo of Africa, while simultaneously setting the stage for The Poisonwood Bible, which is essentially the continuation of the story. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, demonstrates how the Congo is still affected by modern circumstances and ideology. Conrad’s novella acts as a sort of precursor to the events later depicted in Kingsolver’s novel, and this very connection between the stories illustrates the perpetual oppression of imperialism. This oppression is shown through the characterization of the pivotal characters of each respective text.
Conrad’s character Marlow describes the natives as having “a wild vitality” and their “faces like grotesque masks.” These remarks demonstrate his fear and reinforces the distinction between himself and the natives.
We have spent a good deal of this semester concentrating on the sublime. We have asked what (in nature) is sublime, how is the sublime described and how do different writers interpret the sublime. A sublime experience is recognizable by key words such as 'awe', 'astonishment' and 'terror', feelings of insignificance, fractured syntax and the general inability to describe what is being experienced. Perception and interpretation of the sublime are directly linked to personal circumstance and suffering, to spiritual beliefs and even expectation (consider Wordsworth's disappointment at Mont Blanc). It has become evident that there is a transition space between what a traveler experiences and what he writes; a place wherein words often fail but the experience is intensified, even understood by the traveler. This space, as I have understood it, is the imagination. In his quest for spiritual identity Thomas Merton offers the above quotation to illustrate what he calls 'interpenetration' between the self and the world. As travel writers engage nature through their imagination, Merton's description of the 'inner ground' is an appropriate one for the Romantic conception of the imagination. ...
...thern Literary Journal. Published by: University of North Carolina Press. Vol. 4, No. 2 (spring, 1972), pp. 128-132.
Asking the right questions is indeed an art form . It is however an even bigger burden to try to answer from an analytical presepective these subjective questions which inspire answers and explanations to the ultimate “why” and “how” . As readers we are obligated to carry with us an open mind, an analytical eye and room for suggestive arguments when trying to dissect a piece of writing. Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness offers the perfect platform for interpretation. With a dozen shades of foggy gray's, the short story is begging for a set of eyes that can see it through. Without proceeding too far into the novella, one can draw out a great deal of analytical suggestions as to what the title itself implies. The word Darkness seems to be a consistent theme throughout the book. So much so, that the amount of weight it carries has given it a special place on the cover. Many critics have found common ground on deciphering the interpretation of the word .The concept of darkness could be respresenting evil. However, some significant subjective questions remain unaswered: Exaclty which character in the novella has fallen victim to this evil? Is it Conrad himself, Marlow, Kurtz or the natives? All of them? Are there different forms in which this evil can manifest itself? Is it talking about darkness in the literal or figurative sense? Would we be considered naïve if we thought evil could be contained or is darkness a necessary evil we all posses and an undeniable part of our reality?
In her story “Currents” Hannah Vosckuil uses symbolism, and a reverse narrative structure to show the story of how unnamed sympathetic and antagonistic characters react differently to a traumatic event. Symbolism can be found in this story in the way that Gary does not mind sitting in the dark alone at the end of the day as well as how both of his girls are affected by the symbolism of hands. One holding a boy’s hand for the first time and the other becoming sick after seeing the dead boy’s hand fall off the stretcher. The sympathetic and antagonistic manner of these characters is shown when both girls are told by their grandmother that they must return to the water to swim the next day. The grandmother sees this simply as a way of encouraging them and keeping them from becoming afraid of the water. However, the girls see this as a scary proposition because of what had happened, showing the grandmother as an antagonist character to the little girls.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
But there is one more piece that ties together the personification of the Stations and forces the reader to introspect. The frame narration used by Conrad provides Marlow the chance to exit from the story and speak directly to his audience, and he often uses this occasion to remark, “No, 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” (Conrad, 130). The idea behind this comment is solipsism, that no man can really understand any experience but his own. Solipsism personalizes the story, forces the reader into his own heart to see what is there, to see the blackness that is
“The sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light” (Conrad 2). By using wording such as “benign” and “unstained”, it paints a picture in one’s mind of a kindly, pure environment. Since the story begins here, it seems as though the tale has begun in the light, and accordingly, honesty, and as the day progresses will descend into darkness and thus falsehood. As Marlow begins to speak, he contemplates the history of the land around him. “Light came out of this river since-you say knights? Yes; but it is like a running blaze on a plain, like a flash of lightning in the clouds. We live in the flicker-may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday” (Conrad 3). He speaks of our world as a “flicker”, a twinkle in the “darkness” that was present before our civilization arose. T...
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, something is always contrasted against something else. Within the title itself, the contrast of light and dark is made. Throughout the book, the contrast is made between good and evil, between the pilgrims and the cannibals that Marlow encounters. Using the ironic opposition of the pilgrims and the cannibals will present a way into a post-colonial analysis of the book.
Heart of Darkness describes a voyage to Africa, common for the British still, despite the horrific treatment which was apparent of colonization. The chaotic, stream-of-consciousness style Conrad took on helped to display the confusion, and made the reader have to interpret for themselves what they thought the writer meant. Conrad experiments with this style, leaving some sentences without ending: "not a sentimental pretense but an idea;…something you can set up…and offer a sacrifice to…." (Conrad, Longman p. 2195), a very choppy form of literature and causes the reader to fill in the holes and interpret themselves, alone. Conrad skips about from talking of the "two women knitted black wool feverishly" at the gate of the city (of hell), to his aunt which he feels women are "out of touch with truth," to how the British are as "weak-eyed devil(s) of a rapacious and pitiless folly" (Conrad, Longman pp. 2198, 2199, & 2202). Conrad's mind moves about as ours do along a large duration of literary monologue to convey to the reader the author's ideas, as interpreted by the reader.
In conclusion, the sublime and the beautiful are major topics in romantic poems and novels. Different authors bring out the different ways they can be seen and interpreted. In the novel Frankenstein and the poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, the sublime and the beautiful are shown through the feelings and the mind of the main characters. In the poem “Mont Blanc,” the sublime is shown through the complexity of nature and how man will never truly be able to understand it. In order to have something beautiful there must be something sublime, and in order for they’re to be something sublime there must be something beautiful.
In Modernist literature, much like painting, there is experimentation with form: narration style, tone, plot line. Instead of having Kurtz tell his story, or Marlow recite the tale of his journey, the actual narrator in the Heart of Darkness is an unknown passenger on the Nellie.