Patrycja Zalewska

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Patrycja Zalewska

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 ENG 2850

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Essay #2

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 Dear Reader,

¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 In this paper, I was trying to prove that the short passage describing Kurtz’ madness, deeply reflects on the overall theme of the novel. My central thesis was that Kurtz embodies the evil of imperialism in the Heart of Darkness. I think that managed to make my main point best, I the paragraph talking about morality. My ideas developed through analysis individual elements of the passage. I believe that as I revise I need to look more closely into symbolism and connect my analysis in more detailed way to the thesis. I also need to work on the length of my paper.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 1 Soul! If anybody ever struggled with a soul, I am the man. And I wasn’t arguing with a lunatic either. Believe me or not, his intelligence was perfectly clear—concentrated, it is true, upon himself with horrible intensity, yet clear; and therein was my only chance—barring, of course, the killing him there and then, which wasn’t so good, on account of unavoidable noise. But his soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad. I had—for my sins, I suppose—to go through the ordeal of looking into it myself. No eloquence could have been so withering to one’s belief in mankind as his final burst of sincerity. He struggled with himself, too. I saw it—I heard it. I saw the inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith, and no fear, yet struggling blindly with itself. I kept my head pretty well; but when I had him at last stretched on the couch, I wiped my forehead, while my legs shook under me as though I had carried half a ton on my back down that hill. And yet I had only supported him, his bony arm clasped round my neck—and he was not much heavier than a child.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 1 Madness and numerous crimes accompanied humans since the dawn of time. What provokes a man to making a cruel deed? Is it the environment, outside factors or is it his own, hidden, undiscovered yet nature? In the Heart of Darkness, Conrad eloquently exposes the face of civilized, white people, who under the guise of change civilization in Africa, make it a land of slaves and free source of material gain, contorting the original mission. Kurtz himself embodies the entire civilizational of evil through his failure to comply with the standards of the west and his lust for power. He unknowingly crosses the thin line between sanity and madness, reflecting on one of many themes of the novel, madness. The absurdity of insanity plays many functions in the novel, but most importantly is connected to the ideas of absolute power and moral consciousness.

¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 2 The short passage is a good representation of those themes. Marlow fights a battle with himself and the reality. He quickly discovers the brutal world of slave labor and the existence of natives and greed, cynicism and vulgarity of functioning here Europeans. He says “If anybody ever struggle with a soul, I am the man”. Everything he experienced in the West has led him to believe that colonization and imperialism were acts of madness. It is a real struggle to him, because as an intelligent, bright European he entered Africa thinking, that Europeans are here with a purpose. Not only the mission of enlightening the undeveloped yet cultured, but most importantly the duty of helping a human being, by passing that knowledge. Yet, Marlow’s biggest disappointment which simultaneously aroused terror in his soul is the character of Kurtz and in a huge part his idea of exterminating the natives, presented in the report. How can such eloquent man of so many talents come up with such a disgraceful conclusion? Yes, that was the real struggle for Marlow and he faced it on so many different levels. In addition he realized that the words once heard in Brussel did have very deep meaning- when there is now law and a man consorts himself with absolute freedom of deed, psyche can be easily deformed. If anyone ever struggled with himself in a soulless world, it was definitively Marlow.

¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 3 Absolute power and lack moral consciousness are the reason for Kurtz’ transition towards the evil. Although, one can form a really good judgement on this character at first, there is no doubt that Kurtz impersonates the sinful and immoral part of Conrad’s book. We read “his intelligence was perfectly clear”, followed by “but his soul was mad”. Africa has changed him. We must be assumed that the desire of high profits prompted Kurtz to reach for drastic methods to conquer the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Absolute proceedings brought considerable income, and it had to confirm Kurtz in the belief that the method used is correct. And To Kurtz there was no cost of his actions, which we were taken with complete conscious. He lost control over himself, having absolute power. What in Europe was impossible, insulting human dignity, in Africa was regarded with impunity. Only physical exhaustion and fatal disease can put an end to his madness. Surrendering to his desires, rejecting the principles of the civilized world, reveling in unlimited possibilities Kurtz lost his sense of reality.

¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 1 Symbolism is present throughout the whole book, starting with the title. Darkness has very wide set of meanings, but is most associated with evil. It is interesting that even Marlow

¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 determines the state of the psyche of agent Kurtz as “This man stuck in impenetrable darkness.” It almost gives a sense that it is Kurtz who is responsible for the evil in Conrad’s novel. Also, wilderness is very symbolic to the story. It is not only the background of the story but the character of the story itself. It shows the brutality hidden behind grand ideas of great people. By “being alone in the wilderness” Kurtz finds himself extremely lost in the journey he has been through, the journey which left him a soulless tyrant with no control. To add to that, in some way the wilderness destroyed European aspirations and showed the truth about themselves.

¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 3 Reading Conrad’s book we should question the meaning of morality. Generally, this means a set of rules defining what is good and what is bad. What Marlow faces in Africa really terrifies him because it reveals double morality of Europeans, different in colonies and different in their home countries. In the west legal norms no longer exist, it is just a human being versus himself and his sense of principle ad purity. Why does Marlow erases Kurtz’ note regarding exterminating the natives? Because he believed that it was uncivilized. Yet, this is exactly what the superiority over the African culture showed about Europeans, their lack of civism. Even Kurtz in his last moments was full of it. Therefore, we can conclude that the passage perfectly reflects on the general mood and theme of the book. Madness conquered not only Kurtz but the idea of imperialism. That single character has gone insane and lost the sense of humanity, just like the idea of imperialism terrifies and brings horror, most importantly is far from officially declared mission and idea of bringing the progress of civilization.

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w.fernandez November 21, 2016 at 12:47 pm

Overall I think you do a really nice job coordinating your ideas which is totally great because it keeps the reader concentrated on your thesis. As far as your concern regarding the development of your paper, once you have completed your essay read your work carefully so that you find paragraphs where you can elaborate more on your ideas rather than leaving it to the interpretation of reader. For instance in paragraph 8 you can say more about Marlow’s struggle. This will indeed help you with the development of your paper.

Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:02 am

Excellent passage to choose. I don’t think you need to quote it in its entirety here at the beginning of your paper, however.

1 Comment on paragraph 7

Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 2:59 am

[ He unknowingly crosses the thin line between sanity and madness, reflecting on one of many themes of the novel, madness. The absurdity of insanity plays many functions in the novel, but most importantly is connected to the ideas of absolute power and moral consciousness.]

I think your analysis of “sanity and madness” in the novel should take up the question of Kurtz’s mad “soul.” There is something mysterious about the idea that his “intelligence was perfectly clear” but that “his soul was mad.” I think that you might interpret it in a number of ways, and some of them might be quite disturbing.

Perhaps Conrad is suggesting that Kurtz loses his “moral consciousness,” as you put it. “Absolute power” and the temptation it offers Kurtz plays a role in that loss, certainly. That has often been the case in the most horrendous of those crimes you mention we humans have been committing since the dawn of time. Perhaps this is what you mean when you say that Kurtz “embodies” the evil of an entire civilization.

I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “the absurdity of insanity” here. This might require some more explanation. Perhaps you mean that Kurtz sensed the absurdity of his own own situation, and therefore, was not a lunatic? Say more.

As nicely written as this introduction paragraph is, I’m not entirely certain what your thesis statement is. Perhaps it is the claim that Kurtz embodies the evil of Western Civilization? If so, you should emphasize his symbolic significance to drive the point home.

2 Comments on paragraph 8

w.fernandez November 21, 2016 at 12:30 pm

In my opinion a good way to expand your work would be by elaborating more on certain ideas that could be further developed. In this paragraph you can perhaps go more in depth with the different levels of Marlow’s struggle. You can continue by saying “and he faced it on so many different levels, for instance ……… ” and conclude your idea with sustainable proof.
Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:07 am

I think you can make Kurtz’s report the subject of this entire paragraph. Kurtz’s report and your analysis of it might then be the first point of your argument – one which seems clearly linked, to me, to that “perfectly clear” intelligence in your passage.

The fact that Kurtz could write this wonderful article – Marlow repeatedly praises it – is another example of how brilliant and talented he is; but the words he scrawls at the bottom of the report reveal how “mad” his soul has gone – that is to say, the loss of his moral consciousness. The passage you have chosen to analyze also mentions both his eloquence and sincerity, which seem also to be contrasted in the brilliant report and the devastating conclusion.

3 Comments on paragraph 9

w.fernandez November 21, 2016 at 12:37 pm

On this paragraph you definitely hit a “Grand Slam.” You did a great job relating Kurtz to the theme of the novel. The way you did it was with very smooth entrance and it definitely mixed and combine what you said in you first paragraph.
Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:15 am

I think you can define this lost “sense of reality” and rejection of “the principles of the civilized world” a bit more. This is one of the strongest paragraphs in your essay, but I still want to know how this madness is different from insanity. Is it a kind of moral insanity?

Also, you might tie this argument back to your passage more closely. When you say that he “lost control over himself,” does that refer to him “struggling blindly” with himself? How we are told that he “looked within himself?” What about all this makes him seem like such an “inconceivable mystery” to Marlow?
d.thompson1 November 24, 2016 at 5:08 pm

Yes!

It is as the old saying goes “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” I believe we are only as moral as our consequences,remove the consequences of our actions and most revert to a less evolved level,you know animals.

1 Comment on paragraph 10

Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:17 am

I wonder if you can make your reading of these symbolic elements more central to your argument. Does darkness represent the spiritual madness you have been describing? It is of course when he looks “within himself” into his inner darkness that Kurtz goes mad. There is a way in which this “inner darkness” blends into the “wilderness” that he finds outside himself, and the metaphor of the dark heart of the continent. Perhaps you can describe some of this symbolism beginning in your introduction.

0 Comments on paragraph 11

3 Comments on paragraph 12

Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:24 am

You might make this issue the thesis of your essay. How does the book lead us to “question the meaning of morality,” to see the “double morality” you describe, or to face the lack of moral clarity Kurtz experiences? Does it lead us towards the moral darkness of the title?
Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:26 am

[their lack of civism]

I’m not sure what you mean here. Civility? Or civilization? Perhaps it also shows the inner emptiness of the morality which the Europeans thought would be such a gift for all those unsuspecting peoples in distant corners of the world.
Jeff Peer November 22, 2016 at 3:29 am

Here you are back to the idea in your introduction: that Kurtz the character symbolically “embodies” the experience of Europe as colonizer around the world. I can’t help feeling that, if this is the thesis of your essay, you will have to keep it more in focus throughout the course of your arguments.

Remember one good strategy for doing this is to return to your thesis in transition sentences – that is to say, when making claims at the beginning and ending of each paragraph. I think all of your arguments can be made to show that this thesis is true, but there is work still to do.

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