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Please finish the Season of Migration to the North for our next class meeting.

Continuing on from page 59 in “Season of Migration to the North”, “Effendi” our narrator reverts back to describing in detail how his grandfather’s behaviors and memories have been instilled in him. Everything down to the scents around him, his constant praying, even his pray beads and how he constantly plays with them. These descriptions bring me back to a discussion we had in class about how even though one may die, their legacy still lives on in you through memories, and so forth.

I was quite surprised to read about the grandfather and his elderly friends discuss their intimacies with one another so loosely, being a part of such a conservative culture that frowns upon “uncircumcised European” women;  especially since these discussions also took place in front of a lady and a grandson.

We do get a better understanding on how their culture works as far as divorcees and widows are concerned. It becomes clearer that it is quite common for a brother or a cousin to take on a deceased husband’s wife and children to “better care for them and treat them well”. Being that the “effendi” is technically in charge of Mustafa’s wife, one of the grandfather’s friends would like to ask for her hand in marriage, yet this proposal infuriates him! Could it be because he feels ashamed that a man 40 years her senior wants her hand? Maybe it’s because he wants to swoop in and marry her to care for her and the children in order to carry out a promise to Mustafa? I guess we’ll just have to keep reading to find out!

 

People outside the developed countries of the U.S. or European countries always have dreams of grandeur. They see the developed countries as a place to achieve the wildest dreams. It is assumed that riches and success is guaranteed once one makes it to a developed country. It is almost as though outsiders believe that people have no ailments of third world countries, such as illness, death or poverty.

They think everything is easy, such that everyone in the developed country is rich and they view it as such and hope and respect all who have been there. I relate to this since I grew up in a third world country in Africa and have been exposed to the expectations and rumors about developed countries.

Nevertheless, it is true to the extent that there are a lot more opportunity than there are in third world countries, and there is less corruption or hindrance of opportunity. Mustafa was secretive towards Salih because he had endured the same broken dreams of the developed country abroad. After such huge dreams of wild success abroad, he awoke to the reality of the hardships present too in the developed country.

Salih like Mustafa had both endured and suffered the phenomenon of failure in the developed countries. That is most probably the reason why Mustafa hid his past from Salih. Everyone therefore held Mustafa with high regard because he had been and lived abroad in the developed country. So they put him in the committee and looked unto he for good advice and sounder counsel.

Remember that your essay#2 proposal (and outline) is due. The essay proposal should be a complete idea written out in several sentences, something like a thesis paragraph. The outline may be very general – the point is to show that you have some idea where the essay is going.

The essay assignment may be found here.

Please read Season of Migration to the North to page 59. Thanks!

For our next class meeting, please read Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih, at least through page 17, and as far into the second section of the novel as you can. Thanks!

Blog post- Finishing the Heart of Darkness

Heart of darkness is a complex exploration of the beliefs people hold on what constitutes a barbarian versus a civilized society and the stance on colonialism and racism that was part and parcel of European imperialism. Heart of Darkness is a chilling tale of horror set in the Congo during the period of rapid colonial expansion in the 19th century, more than a century after its publication (1899), it remains one of the best Conrad’s finest work.

In chapter 3, Marlow meets with Kurtz becomes one of the most important scenes in this chapter. When they finally, Marlow realizes Kurtz has done evil with threat and violence to the natives and yet so brilliant as to get labor, ivory and even respect from the victims, despite his depravity. He dies with the words “The horror! The horror!”, which is exactly the summary of the darkness of human and the exploitation of the colonists who claimed to explore. Kurtz is the one who wants to bring the European civilization to the African originally. However, he is totally lost because of the unlimited desire of human being. We can see that the cause-and-effect is unavoidable. Kurtz is the best example to explain it. Kurtz was controlled by the darkness side in his heart and this makes him to kill people and do all the bad things. The retribution of Kurtz is dying from some weird diseases. “Kurtz-Kurtz-that means short in German-don’t it? Well he name was as true as everything else in his life- and death.” I like the way to explain Kurtz’s name from the book. The explanation of the name Kurtz shows the life of Kurtz and Kurtz had to bear the consequences if he did some bad things.

While I was reading this book, I keep thinking about why does this book named “Heart of Darkness”. I think the title contains double meanings. The first one is the poor geographical environment in African hinterland, and the second one is referring to the colonists in the dark.

Regard Marlow’s experience as an ivory transporter down the Congo River in Central Africa. The river is “a mighty big river, that you could see on the map, resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land”. In the journey of Marlow, poor geographical environment can be seen anywhere. Poor geographical environment, laggard economy and culture, all will be set to the success of Kurtz, and later Marlow becomes obsessed with Kurtz.

In my opinion, the title of the novel “Heart of darkness”, refers to Mr. Kurtz apparently and to the colonialism of Europe in nature. Throughout his journey, he realized that Heart of Darkness has become a symbol of European colonialism. It’s just what the writer Conrad wants to reveal and criticize. Kurtz’s heart of darkness was presented by Marlow’s gradually changed emotions. At first, Marlow aspire to see the so-called first-class agent and very remarkable person, who oversees a very important trading-post. He could send in as much ivory as all the other agents put together. Finally, Kurtz manages to be the leader of the African natives and plunders ivory at all costs even by annihilating a whole tribe. Losing his health, his beloved finance and even his pure soul, he becomes a devil with heart of darkness.

In conclusion, one of the themes in “Heart of Darkness” is the hypocrisy of imperialism. Through this theme, Joseph Conrad wants to reveal the cruelty which is covered by civilization and the darkness which is hidden under the white skin.

• Why was Kurtz corrupted in the “heart of darkness” though he was recognized as an apostle of civilization?
• Why does Marlow tell lie to the woman in the final part of the book?

F0r our class on Monday, please finish Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Please also read the chapter from Adam Hochschild’s book, King Leopold’s Ghost, called, “Meeting Mr. Kurtz.”

When I read the part of the manager and his uncle’s discussion about Kurtz. I feel a twisted sense of morality.  They feel that Kurtz wants to take over the manager’s position. They are willing to do anything that will get him or his assistant the Russian hanged, so that the trading field might be leveled to their advantage.

For chapter 2, lots of things happen during Marlow is leaving on a two-month trip up the river to Kurtz, along with the manager and several “pilgrims”. The river is dangerous and the trip is difficult. Even though I trying to ignore racism in this book and focus on other things, in this scene, I still feel Africans in this book are mostly objects: Marlow refers to his helmsman as a piece of machinery. As narrator says,

“An athletic black belonging to some coast tribe. He was the most unstable kind of fool I had ever seen. He steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk, and would let that cripple of a steamboat get the upper hand of him in a minute.”

Africans become a mere backdrop for Marlow, against which he can play out his philosophical and existential struggles. It presents a set of issues surrounding race that is ultimately troubling.

I also found a symbol, fog that contributes to this theme. Fog is a sort of corollary to darkness. Fog not only obscures but distorts: it gives one just enough information to begin making decisions but no way to judge the accuracy of that information, which often ends up being wrong. Marlow’s steamer is caught in the fog, meaning that he has no idea where he’s going and no idea whether peril lies ahead. And the further meaning is what seems to be right, just and enlightened now are actually wrong, unjust and guilty.

My question is: What does the title “Heart of Darkness” mean? Is it the darkness which is hidden under the white skin?

 

For our meeting this Wednesday, please read Chapter Two of Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”

Please prepare one discussion question to share with the class. I suggest focusing on a particular passage, as some of you have done already in your posts, and then asking a question that the passage raises for you.

You may write your question anonymously, but I will be checking to make sure everyone has prepared one.