ENGL 3653: English Literature II

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 11: Conrad

Revised 4-1-09

“The Twentieth Century and After”

To answer the questions about England’s monarchs, see also page A90 in back of book.

1. When did Queen Victoria die, ending the Victorian Period?

2. Who was Queen Victoria’s successor? What were the years of his reign? What name is given to the years of his reign? What tone did this king set for the decade of his reign?

3. Who was the next monarch? What were the years of his reign? What name is given to the first five years of his reign? What was the tone of these years? What international conflict occurred during his reign? During what years did it occur?

4. What are the years of World War II? Who was the monarch during these years?

5. At the end of the Victorian Period and the beginning of the 20^th Century, into what three levels did the reading public become fragmented? How did his fragmentation affect the writing of literature?

6. Identify each of the following 20^th-century phenomena, and explain how it is significant to 20^th-century English society and/or literature:

a. Pessimism

b. Stoicism

c. Anti-Victorianism

d. The Irish question, Irish nationalism

e. T. S. Eliot=s Waste Land

Joseph Conrad

1. What was Conrad’s real name? Where was he born? In what country did he become a naturalized citizen? Why is his mastery of English prose so remarkable?
2. In general, how do Conrad’s life experiences relate to the settings and plots of his prose fiction?
3. In particular, how do Conrad’s life experiences relate to the settings and plot of Heart of Darkness?
4. What is the approximate date of the events of Heart of Darkness? When did Conrad write the story? When was it published? Why does our textbook classify Conrad as a 20^th-century writer?

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is typical of the following elements of Conrad’s fiction:

• Plot / subject matter: related to the sea; plot less important than character
• Point of view: use of multiple narrators
• Main character: an isolated, introspective European among dark-skinned natives
• Setting: far away, exotic, often in the South Seas
• Mood, atmosphere: brooding, mysterious
• Theme: truths about human nature and character

Heart of Darkness is typical of 20^th-century fiction in the following ways:

• Experimentation with narration (in this case, with multiple narrators)
• Exploration of an individual human consciousness
• Theme of the alienation of the individual
• Loss of consensus of values
• Emphasis on symbolism

Point of View

Conrad uses multiple narrators in Heart of Darkness and in most of his stories.

1. The first narrator begins the story and introduces the second narrator.
1. The first narrator is not given a name, but what are we told about him?
2. Throughout the story, how can we distinguish the words of the first narrator from those of the second narrator and from the dialogue of the other characters?
2. The second narrator tells most of the story, interrupted only occasionally by the first narrator.
1. What is the name of the second narrator, who tells most of the story?
2. What is the second narrator’s relationship to the first narrator?
3. What is the second narrator’s relationship to Kurtz?
4. Throughout the story, how can we distinguish the words of the second narrator from those of the first narrator and from the dialogue of the other characters?

Setting and Plot

Conrad uses multiple settings in Heart of Darkness. Each setting has its own distinctive qualities and its own important characters (besides Marlow, who appears in all the settings).

1. The initial setting is the Thames River outside London.
1. Why are the first narrator and his companions stranded on a boat in the Thames?
2. What details are given about this setting? What kind of atmosphere does this setting create?
3. What does Marlow mean when he says, “And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth”? To what time period is he referring?
4. What is the connection between this setting and the Congo River in Africa? How did Marlow first get interested in going to the Congo?
2. Marlow then tells about visiting the Company office (presumably in Brussels, Belgium).
1. Why does Marlow go to the Company office?
2. What relative of Marlow helps him achieve his goal in Brussels? What is this relative’s understanding of Marlow’s intentions in going to Africa? What are Marlow’s actual intentions?
3. What two women does Marlow encounter at the Company office? How are they described? Extra-credit research: What mythological figures are these characters meant to suggest? What do these women have in common with the mythological figures they suggest? What does their presence at the Company office indicate?
3. Marlow tells about his time at the Company Station in the Belgian Congo in Africa.
1. You will understand this story much better if you can see the settings on a map. Extra-credit research: Find and bring to class maps that show the settings of Heart of Darkness. (I have one map.)
2. How does Marlow get to the Company Station? Where is it?
3. On the way to the Company Station, what does Marlow observe a French man-of-war (ship) doing? How does this symbolize European colonialism in Africa?
4. What European man at the Company Station makes a strong impression on Marlow? How do this man’s clothing and behavior contrast with his surroundings?
5. At the Company Station, what does Marlow hear about Kurtz from a first-class agent (1903)?
6. What horrible scene does Marlow witness in a grove (1901)? What does this scene reveal about European colonization of Africa?
4. Marlow also tells about his time at the Central Station.
1. How does Marlow get from the Company Station to the Central Station?
2. Why does Marlow have to stay at the Central Station longer than he intends?
3. What kind of person is the manager? How does Marlow respond to the manager?
4. While Marlow is at the Central Station, what does he hear (and overhear) about Kurtz? How do these conversations create suspense about Kurtz?
5. What is the motive of the Eldorado Expedition for being in Africa?
5. Marlow then describes his boat trip to the Inner Station.
1. What people accompany Marlow on this voyage? With whose “restraint” is Marlow impressed? Why?
2. What scenery does Marlow observe on this voyage? What activities on shore does Marlow observe? What kind of atmosphere do these observations create?
3. Along the way, what items does Marlow find in a hut and take with him? What is the significance of these items?
4. What happens to Marlow’s boat as it nears the Inner Station? Why?
6. At the climax of the story, Marlow visits the Inner Station, where he finally meets the mysterious Kurtz.
1. Who meets the boat and talks to Marlow when he arrives at the Inner Station? What does Marlow learn about Kurtz from him? How has Kurtz been so successful in getting ivory?
2. What are on the poles outside Kurtz’s tent?
3. What is Kurtz’s physical and mental condition?
4. How does Kurtz get onto Marlow’s boat?
5. What does Kurtz do in the middle of the night before the boat leaves the Inner Station? What does this episode reveal about the relationship between Kurtz and the Africans?
6. Who is the woman who comes to see the Kurtz’s departure on Marlow’s boat?
7. Marlow then describes the trip back from the Inner Station.
1. What does Kurtz entrust to Marlowe=s keeping? What does Marlow learn from reading this?
2. What are Kurtz’s (now famous) last words? What do you think he means? How do these words apply to his personal experience? How do these words apply to the universal human experience?
3. With what (now famous) words is Kurtz’s death announced to Marlow?
4. In Marlow’s “choice of nightmares” between the manager and Kurtz, why does Marlow say he prefers Kurtz over the manager?
8. Marlow finally tells about visiting the home of Kurtz’s Intended (fiancée) back in Europe.
1. At what time of day does Marlow visit the Intended? How does the time of day contribute to the atmosphere or mood of this scene? How does this atmosphere relate to the title of the story?
2. What illusions does Intended have about Kurtz’s intentions and behavior? How are her illusions similar to those of Marlow’s aunt before Marlow goes to Africa?
3. What lie does Marlow tell Kurtz’s Intended? Why?
4. Why is Kurtz’s fiancée always referred to as “the Intended” rather than by her name?
5. How are the Intended and the woman at the Inner Station foils to each other?

The Big Picture

1. Heart of Darkness demonstrates how individual Europeans react differently to their experiences in Africa. Identify the reactions of each of the following:
1. the chief accountant
2. the manager
3. Kurtz
4. the Russian at the Inner Station who wears multicolored clothing
5. Marlow
6. other Europeans whose reactions are different from these
2. The story does not give a straightforward, unified account of what happens to Kurtz. Rather, it requires the reader to piece together fragmentary clues about him. Putting these clues together, explain what we know about Kurtz:
1. What are Kurtz’s original intentions and aspirations in going to Africa?
2. What factors could have caused Kurtz to change his intentions? (The answers to this question are not spelled out; use your own reasoning.)
3. What “unsound methods” does Kurtz eventually use to get ivory? Why are the company officials so concerned by his use of these methods?
4. How do the Africans come to regard Kurtz? What is their relationship to him? What details are we given about the ceremonies in which Kurtz and the natives take part?
5. At one point (before Marlow gets to Africa) Kurtz apparently makes the decision to leave the Inner Station, travels some distance in a canoe toward the mouth of the Congo River, and then suddenly turns around and goes back. Why does he decide to leave? Why does he change his mind and go back to the Inner Station?
6. What is revealed by the book that Kurtz started to write?
7. What is the definition of “megalomania”? Is Kurtz a megalomaniac? Why or why not?
3. Critics frequently say that Conrad’s depiction of women in Heart of Darkness is sexist.
1. What evidence from the story supports this charge of sexism?
2. What could be said to defend Conrad against the charge of sexism?
3. What is your own position on this issue?
4. Critics frequently say that Conrad’s depiction of Africa and Africans in Heart of Darkness is racist.
1. What evidence from the story supports this charge of racism?
2. What evidence from the story and the times supports the counterclaim that the book actually takes a strong stand AGAINST racism?
3. What is your own position on this issue?
5. The plot and the title of Heart of Darkness can be interpreted on at least 3 different levels. For each of these levels, explain the meaning of the title:
1. An adventure story about a journey to an unexplored part of the earth (the Congo River in Africa)
2. An exposé of colonialism and imperialism (European exploitation of Africa)
3. An exploration of the potential for evil within human nature

Extra-Credit Movies

• A movie closely based on Conrad’s story: Heart of Darkness, early 1990s, starring John Malkovitch as Kurtz. This video is on reserve in the NSU-BA library and should also be available for rental. If you have this video, please bring it to class (more extra credit), cued, if possible, to a scene you would like to show.
• Loosely based on Heart of Darkness: Apocalypse Now, set in Vietnam during the War in Vietnam, starring Marlon Brando as Kurtz
• A comic parody of Heart of Darkness: Porklips Now, in which the Mad Butcher of the Ventura Freeway (based on Kurtz) is selling pork so cheaply that his competitors want to close down his operation. (Porklips Now is also included in Hardware Wars and Other Film Farces.)