Literature of the Picaresque – Writing

Cheuk Hei Leung’s essay 2 1st draft

c.leung1

November 14, 2016

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Cheuk Hei Leung

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Eng 2850

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Professor Jeff Peer

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 14 November 2016

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities.  One of the short passages is the most important part in the book. It can show the central theme of the book which is the Kurtz’s death on page 68-69.  The death of Kurtz is the main idea of the book to show that people should be contented by what they already have and don’t become greedy and lose control from the huge ambition of human beings.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 The author wants to use the experience of Kurtz to show the consequences of rapacity from human beings. Kurtz tells Marlow that he is waiting for death and right before Kurtz’s death his last words were “the horror! The horror!” which is significant because he ends his life in hopelessness and despair. The main idea of the whole book is telling the readers that Kurtz was a bad example in living because he was losing control by the unlimited desire and ambitions. Instead of living like Kurtz, living like Marlow is better because Marlow is the one who can control himself not falling in the trap of darkness. The feelings from author can be shown when Kurtz dead. “Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath-‘The horror! The horror!’”(69) The author wants to show the importance of Kurtz’s death by using the keywords “Desire”, “temptation” and “horror”. “Desire” and “temptation” are hidden in the heart of darkness from all human beings. There are lots of things that are unequal and all people will have desire to get some new things because this may make us have a better life. If we don’t have good control, we will lose everything from desire also. “Horror” becomes the best result to “Temptation” and “Desire”. Just like Kurtz, he was the one who was controlled by “Temptation” and “Desire” and the result from him is dying from some weird disease. ” The cause-and-effect relationship is perfectly shown by the author by using this short sentence.  The author uses contrast in comparing Marlow and Kurtz in the book. They are similar person but their life are totally different because the determination of Marlow and Kurtz are different. This leads them to have different life. The story from Kurtz reminds the readers that the consequences in living with “Temptation” and “Desire”. If we don’t want to be Kurtz, we should know how to control ourselves from falling into the trap of greedy.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 The style and the content of the whole book is special and the author’s writing style make readers have better understanding to his ideas. The main idea of the book can be found easily from the selected passage. The author likes to express his idea from some specific actions or scenes in the book. In the chosen paragraph, it shows how the author thinks about Kurtz’s death right before his death.

¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 “Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror- of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,-he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath-‘The horror! The horror!”(69)

¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 Marlow’s feelings represents the author’s thinking. Marlow felt disappointed obviously because of Kurtz’s life in Africa. Kurtz is a remarkable person to Marlow but the author uses the emotion changed from Marlow to explain the darkness side of Kurtz. The author’s writing style can be seen easily from this quote. The author wants to show the regretless from Kurtz. Kurtz was a remarkable person and he was really success in Europe. However, he was done by his own ambition. He could have a good life originally. His health, his beloved finance and even his pure soul. However, he just lost everything. Those things are not taken by others but by himself. He showed the helpless and speechless through him said “Horror! Horror!” Through the death of Kurtz, the author is also expressing the idea that people should not become greedy otherwise we will have similar ending with Kurtz. This is how the author express his idea. He won’t just write the emotion changed of one character directly. Readers have to read the character’s emotion by different actions or scenes or conversations. There are a lot of advantages in this writing style. The readers can learn how to read people’s feelings from their conversations. This is a good way in writing rather than others because it will not make readers feel bored. The readers’ thinking will become more objective because readers think in the way the character think.

¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 Another way for the author in expressing his idea is using figurative languages. There are different figurative languages in the book such as metaphor and simile. The simile in the book showed the idea of the reminder to readers that the consequences of being greedy. “The brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea with twice the speed of our upward progress; and Kurtz’s life was running swiftly too, ebbing, ebbing out of his heart into the sea of inexorable time.”(68) “The brown current” is the simile in this passage. The author wants to use it to represent the desire and temptation of human beings. Also, the name of the book “Heart of darkness” is a metaphor. The title not only means the physical location of the story in Africa but also the consequences of imperialism and the dark capabilities of humans. Joseph Conrad uses literary devices to bring his story to life and that works to his advantage. He describes the characters so well and the experiences in the story that you get a real visual picture of the story and become engaged in the story. He uses metaphors so that we as readers can get the intensity of what he is trying to express.  Foreshadowing was also a huge part of the book because Marlow told the story from a looking-back standpoint. Another figurative language is hyperbole. The author uses hyperbole on Kurtz to show that people should not live like him. “Kurtz-Kurtz-that means short in German-don’t it? Well he name was as true as everything else in his life- and death.” (59) The explanation of the name Kurtz shows the life of Kurtz and Kurtz had to bear the consequences if he did some bad things. I believe that Mr. Kurtz is supposed to be a hyperbole because of the contradiction of his name with his height. Mr. Kurtz is apparently seven feet tall, yet his name means “short” in German, and the author wants us to know that. The author uses figurative languages to lead the readers to think about the idea from the book instead of just telling you directly. There are different figurative languages used to prove that people should not live like Kurtz because he didn’t overcome his huge ambition.

¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 Joseph Conrad wants to reveal the cruelty which is covered by civilization and the darkness which is hidden under the white skin. Kurtz is the best example. The author wants to remind us we can’t live like Kurtz. We should be satisfied by what we have and don’t become greedy and lose control from the huge ambition of human beings.

You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.