Table of Contents
What are the literary techniques used in Heart of Darkness?
Literary techniques such as delayed decoding and stream of consciousness are employed in Heart of Darkness in order to achieve fragmentation, while use of irony and controversial ending are employed to achieve defamiliarization.
How is Heart of Darkness an example of modernism?
Heart of Darkness as a Modernist Novel Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a great example of a Modernist novel because of its general “darkness” portrayed throughout the entire novel. The language that is used to describe the setting and important scenes is very thick and unclear.
What tense is the Heart of Darkness written in?
Much modernist fiction may be written in the past tense, as Heart of Darkness is, but a good deal of modernist fiction is narrated as though it were written in the present tense.
Is Heart of Darkness stream of consciousness?
Stream of consciousness is used in “Heart of Darkness” to describe the treasured memories of one of the most significant characters in the text, Charlie Marlow. The character reminisces about the times during his life when he thought highly about the colonial conquests in which he had participated.
What is the Nellie in Heart of Darkness?
Heart of Darkness begins on board the Nellie, a small ship moored on the Thames River in London. After describing the river and its slow-moving traffic, the unnamed narrator offers short descriptions of London’s history to his companions who, with him, lazily lounge on the deck, waiting for the tide to turn.
What is the first line of Heart of Darkness?
First Line: “The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.”
What does the wilderness symbolize in Heart of Darkness?
The wilderness is a very significant symbol in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The vastness and savagery of the wilderness contrast with the pettiness and foolishness of the pilgrims, and the wilderness also shows the greed and brutality that lie under the noblest of ideals.
How is Marlow telling his story?
Marlow, the protagonist, tells his own story from his own perspective. Thus, the reader experiences the story from Marlow’s point of view. Owing to the subjective nature of first-person narration, a certain degree of unreliability is unavoidable, and Marlow’s narration is no different.
What is Conrad message in Heart of Darkness?
Central to Conrad’s work is the idea that there is little difference between “civilised people” and “savages.” Heart of Darkness implicitly comments on imperialism and racism. The novella’s setting provides the frame for Marlow’s story of his obsession with the successful ivory trader Kurtz.
What does the river symbolize in Heart of Darkness?
The River. The Congo River is the key to Africa for Europeans. It allows them access to the center of the continent without having to physically cross it; in other words, it allows the white man to remain always separate or outside.
What is the horror to which Kurtz refers in Heart of Darkness?
And now for those famous final words: “The horror! The horror!” (3.43). Marlow interprets this for us, saying that these words are the moment Kurtz realizes exactly how depraved human nature is—that his inability to exert even a shred of self-control is the same darkness in every human heart.