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Symbolic importance of "heart of Darkness
Thematic significance of imagery used in the Heart of Darkness
Symbolic importance of "heart of Darkness
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The Inversion of Buddhism in Heart of Darkness
In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow is described more than once as sitting in the pose of a Buddha while he begins his story. Even our first view of Marlow prepares us for the later comparison: "Marlow sat cross-legged... He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a strait back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol" (16). This is the very image of a meditating Buddha. Our suspicions are confirmed that Conrad is indeed making reference to the Buddha as he describes the pose of the Buddha of Compassion-- note the hand raised in blessing: " 'Mind,' he began again, lifting one arm from the elbow, the palm of the hand outwards so that, with his legs folded before him, he had the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes with out a lotus-flower" (20). Because of the repeated references I began to wonder if Conrad is hinting to his readers. On a superficial level, the comparison holds. In the sutras about the enlightened Buddha, he sits thusly and, like Marlow, sometimes tells stories. However, Marlow's story reveals him as not a Buddha but instead a sort of anti-Buddha, especially in light of Zen Buddhism.
The most basic myth of the Buddha's enlightenment tells of a prince, Sidhartha, who grows up entirely sheltered and content until he finally beholds suffering. Yet, at this same time, he sees an enlightened monk who radiates peace and joy. Sidhartha can not comprehend how in a world with such suffering one could be so happy, and so he leaves home to search for understanding. Marlow, on the other hand, as " 'a little chap... had a passion for maps' " (21). He departs for no better reason than to see wh...
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...ive, to all appearance indestructible solely by the virtue of his few years and of his unreflecting audacity' " (90). Furthermore, he is the only character in the book with any sort of cheerfulness and hope. His appearance has no darkness in it; he is covered with colored patches and stands in the sunshine (87).
Conrad's inversion of Buddhism is intentional, but I do not see it as a rebuttal or mockery of Buddhism. In class we discussed Marlow as an unreliable narrator, one purpose of which is to lead the reader to question what Marlow says and stands for. His search is not for enlightenment, nor are the motives for his search altruistic. In the jungle, he found what he took with him.
Works Cited
Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.
Watts, Alan. Tao: The Watercourse Way. New York: Pantheon Books, 1975.
...Conrad removes Marlow’s bias, but through the inclusion of careful details he is able to establish his themes. The cruelty of white man to the natives, appearances being deceiving, the nobility of the Africans – all are clear messages of this text that come across not from Marlow’s opinion, but rather the careful inclusion of details and symbolism. No bigger symbol helps Conrad reinforce his theme than the continuous battle of light and dark, and his use of the two is the cornerstone from which he builds meaning from symbolism.
Conrad's racism is portrayed in the actions and perceptions of Marlow along his trip up the Congo. Marlow's views of the area during the beginning of the trip are given as inhumane, and uncivilized. The Heart of Darkness for Marlow is the ignorance and brutality that he witnesses from natives as well as Whites that are met upon his trip.
Today, half of state prisoners are serving time for nonviolent crimes. Over half of federal prisoners are serving time for drug crimes. Mass incarceration seems to be extremely expensive and a waste of money. It is believed to be a massive failure. Increased punishments and jailing have been declining in effectiveness for more than thirty years. Violent crime rates fell by more than fifty percent between 1991 and 2013, while property crime declined by forty-six percent, according to FBI statistics. Yet between 1990 and 2009, the prison population in the U.S. more than doubled, jumping from 771,243 to over 1.6 million (Nadia Prupis, 2015). While jailing may have at first had a positive result on the crime rate, it has reached a point of being less and less worth all the effort. Income growth and an aging population each had a greater effect on the decline in national crime rates than jailing. Mass incarceration and tough-on-crime policies have had huge social and money-related consequences--from its eighty billion dollars per-year price tag to its many societal costs, including an increased risk of recidivism due to barbarous conditions in prison and a lack of after-release reintegration opportunities. The government needs to rethink their strategy and their policies that are bad
Throughout Heart of Darkness, the protagonist is constantly stating the importance of working and keeping busy. On pages 109 and 110, Marlow is travelling down the river with a fireman. Marlow is busy repairing various mechanical problems the steamboat is having. The fireman is helping him and Marlow comments on how good of a job he is doing. This indicates that Marlow appreciates a good worker.
Lung cancer is arguably the most devastating of all cancers, leading to more annual deaths than breast, prostate, and colon cancers combined (Crosta). 228,000 new cases are found every year (Marks) and there are approximately 1,370,000 deaths per year. Cancer in general accounts for 7.6 million deaths all around the globe. Cancer alone stands for thirteen percent of global deaths (Crosta). The percentage for the survival rate of lung cancer is a devastating sixteen percent (Marks)! More females are diagnosed with this cancer over men, but does not mean men cannot get this cancer as well. Actually, my uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer this past Summer. Shockingly, a couple of months later, my cousin, who I call my grandmother was diagnosed
Imprisonment is to keep those non-violent offenders from becoming violent. To the contrary, non-violent offenders often become violent once imprisoned, because of the sense of hierarchy and masculinity sustained in the prison system. There are many aspects of life in prison that might cause non-violent offenders to become violent. The fear and stigma that surrounds being a man in prison can cause violence, as well. In Manhood & Violence: Fatal Peril, inmates at a federal prison were invited to be immersed in a program called ‘manalive.’ The program required men to examine their personal beliefs of what it meant to be a man and how that led to their violence. Although all of the men involved in the program were violent offenders, the program was designed to help them realize why their masculinity became a determining factor in their violent acts. (Manhood & Violence: Fatal
Conrad’s main character Marlow is the narrator for most of the story in Heart of Darkness. He is presented as a well-intentioned person, and along his travels he is shocked by the cruelties that he sees inflicted on the native people. Though he is seemingly benevolent and kindly, Marlow shows the racism and ignorance of Conrad and in fact of the majority of white people in his era, in a more subtle way. Marlow uses words to describe the blacks that, though generally accepted in his time, were slanderous and crude. He recalls that some of the first natives he saw in the Congo looked at him “with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages” (80; part 1). Marlow casually refers to the Africans with the most offensive of language: “Strings of dusty niggers arrived and departed…” (83; part 1). To Marlow, and thus to Conrad, the Africans are savages, dogs, devils, and criminals. Even the stories that Conrad creates for Marlow to narrate are twisted and false. The natives that Marlow deals with in the book are described as cannibals, and they are even given dialogue that affirms th...
The novel, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is literally about Marlow’s journey into the Belgian Congo, but symbolically about the discovery of his heart and soul during his journey, only to find that it is consumed by darkness. He realizes that the man he admired and respected most, is really demonic and that he may be just like him. He is able to come to this realization however, before it takes the best of him.
...to be done is our facilities should emulate Mckean prison. Mckean's inmates are denied freedom but they have the ability to teach themselves trades, get drug treatment, and meet god. If we treat convicts like humans they will respond as humans. We cannot dehumanize them anymore and expect our communities to benefit from it. It does not work. There is no need to build more prisons, they need to decrease the rate of throwing non-violent offenders in prison. These offenders could do community service and be under house arrest where they still have the ability to hold their families together, so the vicious cycle does not continue. All I can stress is our system needs reform soon. We can only prepare for it, society's ills has already created these predators. Therefor, we need to push for new plans and theories on how we can shape tomorrow's flowers before they bloom.
...he certainty of restitution, by requiring monetary payment, takes the profit out of crime (Carson).
In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Marlow can be seen as the hero of the story despite his alternating morals and the fact that Marlow ultimately does nothing to improve the situation in Africa. Throughout the whole narrative Marlow finds himself thrust into many shocking situations yet chooses the path of an observant bystander, giving his own opinion at the time, but no lasting action or motivation is conceived. On top of this fact Marlow’s morals are anything but set in stone; they waver innumerable times over the course of the plot. Yet Marlow is more often than not seen as the prominent hero of the plot. How is this possible? This is because readers aren’t looking for perfection in a character, but depth, and Marlow achieves this level of depth through his epiphanies and the changes that take place in his perception of the world. These revelations in turn challenge the reader to reevaluate themselves.
Despite the opinion of certain critics, Conrad did not create Marlow to be a prejudice character. One of his first Marlow?s first Reactions to the villagers is the exact opposite, ?They were not enemies they were not criminals??(Conrad, 189) While his initial response may not seem altogether accepting, it is far beyond the understanding of his peers. As the story continues Marlow is slightly sarcastic in his understanding of the villagers, ?Fine fellows-Cannibals-in their place. They were men one could work with, and I am grateful to them. And, after all, they did not eat each other before my face? (189)? Marlow shows his ability to be sarcastic in the face of popular criticism, even making the mold step to refer to these African?s as ?Fine Fellows?(189), ?They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of they humanity-like yours-the thought of your remote kinship with this wild??(189) Although the natives...
Incarceration has not always been the main form of “punishment” when it comes to doing an injustice to society. In fact, in the early 1600’s common forms of punishments for doing wrong in society included social rejection, corporal punishment, forced labor etc. (“Prison History.”). It had not been until the 18th century where it had been determined that incarceration could actually be a form of punishment correlating with a set amount of time in which an individual had to serve dependent on the severity of his actions. The logic behind incarceration is to restrict a person of his liberty as retribution for the crime he has committed (Prison History.”) Prisons that were created in the 18th century gained their recognition because of their high goals in perfecting society. But, the truth is as people were focusing on perfecting society prisons soon became overcrowded, dirty, and most of all dangerous. By the late 19th century many more people had become aware of the poor prison conditions which had led to a “reformatory” movement. The reformatory movement was put into place as a means of rehabilitation for inmates (“Prison History.”) Prisons would now offer programs to reform inmates into model citizens by offering counseling, education, and opportunities to gain skills needed for working in a civilian world. However, with the growing amount of inmates each year prisons are still becoming overcrowded. Because prisons are so overcrowded there are not enough resources being spent on achieving the rehabilitation of inmates and reintegrating them into society in order for them to survive in the civilian world once released from prison (“Prison History.”)
The "Heart of Darkness," written by Joseph Conrad in 1899 as a short story, is about two men who face their own identities as what they consider to be civilized Europeans and the struggle to not to abandon their themselves and their morality once they venture into the "darkness." The use of "darkness" is in the book's title and in throughout the story and takes on a number of meanings that are not easily understood until the story progresses. As you read the story you realize that the meaning of "darkness" is not something that is constant but changes depending on the context it used.
Nonverbal communication surrounds us all the time. “Nonverbal communication is all aspects of communication other than words” (Wood, 2016, p. 135). It is not communication with words, but we use nonverbal communication when we talk. We use nonverbal communication without even realizing it in every facet of our lives. This type of communication can be challenging depending on someone’s culture. Something that means one thing in America, can mean something totally different in another country. It is important to know this so that you don’t offend someone from another culture (Wood, 2016, p. 149).