"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness' of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes”- Carl Jung. Stephen King, author of IT, depicts this principle by exploring embodiments of fear and corruption, that feed on the minds of the innocent. Using aspects from Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind, several characters and themes in the book are analyzed as physical embodiments of traits of the psyche. These traits can fully identify and support the …show more content…
Each Member of the Loser’s Club can only see and defeat Pennywise in their first battle by being consciousness enough and participating in a battle of restraint versus selfishness and defeat Pennywise by refusing to give him fear. During the final confrontation, Bill states “it’s scared! Scared of me! Scared of all of us” (King 635) and then the novel states “He felt it scream in his mind, a scream of frustrated petulant rage . . . but it was also a scream of fear and pain. It was not used to not having its own way; such a thing had never happened to it, and until the most recent moments of its existence it had not suspected such a thing could. Bill felt it writhing at him, not pulling but pushing—trying to get him away.” (King 635). The losers Club uses their power of friendship and restraint to rid the evil demon that is Pennywise. The good kids of the loser’s club defeat Pennywise and because of their conscientious decision to stop giving pennywise fear. Pennywise is the embodiment of the ID complex and the only way to suppress the ID is by using the Superego. All the Loser Club Member’s share a tragic past, which causes them to use restraint over indulgence as none of them had the chances to fulfill their true desires, but can seek restraint and morality in each other and swear to protect Derry, when Pennywise returned. Stanley is …show more content…
In the distant future, 27 years, Richie Toizer, of the Losers club cannot remember the threatening events that should’ve scarred their lives forever, due to repression of a threating memory trapped in his subconscious. Sigmund Freud, a founding father of Psychology, supports the theory of repression as he believes “our thoughts could be stimulated in the preconscious and may spontaneously fade away if subdued or can be too threating to the conscious brain and will reside in the unconscious mind unharmed (Freud 611). A conversation between Mike and Richie proves the repression as Mike asks ‘how much do you remember, Rich? and Richie responds “very little, for some reason I can’t seem to recall what it did to us, and how we stopped it…. It’s all a blur to me” (King 60). The fact that Richie cannot seem to remember how the events of his childhood played out leads to show that Richie is traumatic experiences have affected his conscious brain. To cope with the trauma, Richie’s brain suppressed all the bad Memories of Pennywise/IT, to mitigate the anxiety. This coincides directly with Freud’s theory of the sub conscious mind and the follows the diagnosis of repression in the mind. Similarly, in the future, Stanley Uris of the loser’s club is in Denial that the IT demon returns and causes him so much fear and disbelief, that IT
In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, the protagonist is a beastly creature, of whom the title of this novel takes after. Grendel closely follows a monomyth formed by Joseph Campbell. This monomyth is based on the belief that “the mind of each person has inherited archetypes that are either repressed or manifested through the experiences of the individual.” Something incredibly significant in the interpretation of this theory is “The Shadow.” Based on this monomyth, this is the part of the mind that contains our darkest desires and urges. The novel Grendel provides numerous examples of which the protagonist battles this part of his mind.
Fear resides within all of our souls and our minds in different forms wether it be mind, body, or spirit. Fear can be brought upon by actions, words or ever our mere imagination. Of course as one being younger your imagination can bring along fear that is non existent but, to one it may seem so vivid and tangible. In this Novel by William Golding we come to grasps with many different forms of fear being from the beast, the loss of humanity, and the fear of realization.
This Universal Human Condition is a very broad topic which can be analyzed from many perspectives. The human condition composes the essentials of human existence, such as birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality. In the Heart of Darkness, “darkness” displays the inability to see any description of the human condition and its has profound implications. The racism in the Heart of Darkness is the result of the failure to see others. Failing to see another human being, failing to understand different religions, philosophy, history, art, literature, sociology, psychology, and biology, means failing to understand that individual and failing to establish any sort of sympathetic communion with him or her. Joseph Conrad illustrates
a. Autopsy Room Four a man is lying on the table awaiting his living autopsy unable to scream.
Asking the right questions is indeed an art form . It is however an even bigger burden to try to answer from an analytical presepective these subjective questions which inspire answers and explanations to the ultimate “why” and “how” . As readers we are obligated to carry with us an open mind, an analytical eye and room for suggestive arguments when trying to dissect a piece of writing. Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness offers the perfect platform for interpretation. With a dozen shades of foggy gray's, the short story is begging for a set of eyes that can see it through. Without proceeding too far into the novella, one can draw out a great deal of analytical suggestions as to what the title itself implies. The word Darkness seems to be a consistent theme throughout the book. So much so, that the amount of weight it carries has given it a special place on the cover. Many critics have found common ground on deciphering the interpretation of the word .The concept of darkness could be respresenting evil. However, some significant subjective questions remain unaswered: Exaclty which character in the novella has fallen victim to this evil? Is it Conrad himself, Marlow, Kurtz or the natives? All of them? Are there different forms in which this evil can manifest itself? Is it talking about darkness in the literal or figurative sense? Would we be considered naïve if we thought evil could be contained or is darkness a necessary evil we all posses and an undeniable part of our reality?
A. Michael. Matin. Introduction to Heart of Darkness and Selected Short Fiction. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2008. Print.
Color is used very effectively as a tool of symbolism in Heart of Darkness. Colors, especially black and white, are used to symbolize evil (black) and good (white). Other colors are also used, although less often than black and white. Throughout the story, people are thought to have white souls or black souls depending on their innate “goodness” or “badness” or the role they are fulfilling at the time. The color of a person’s soul is often contrasted to the color of their skin. A black- souled, white-skinned person is thought to be evil and dishonest. “I met a white man in such an unexpected elegance of getup…” (Conrad p.21). This demonstrates how a white man was not expected to be a good person. Elegance of dress was unexpected because the man was white. In comparison, a white-souled, black-skinned person is thought to be truthful and full of integrity. “An athletic black belonging to some coast tribe and educated by my poor predecessor….thought all the world of himself.” (Conrad p.45). People are described as black with hatred regardless of skin color. This is further evidence of black being used synonymously with evil. Black isn’t just used to describe evil people. “Often far away, I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall…” (Conrad p. 14.) The symbolism of black wool at the door of Darkness is clearly pointing to evil, and further supports black as evil. Heath 2 Colors other than black and white are used to describe moods and attitudes past the basic good and evil. Red signifies industry. “There was a vast amount of red - good to see at any time because one knows that some real work is done in there.” (Conrad p.13). Yellow is seen as a cowardly color. “I was going into the yellow. Dead in the center.” (Conrad p.13). Pale denotes Death. It is also used this way in the Bible, “the Pale horse and his rider Death”, Revelations 6:8. “She came forward, all in black, with a pale head, floating towards me in the dusk. She was in mourning. It was more than a year since his death…” (Conrad p. 72-73). The use of color is effective in the story for a variety of reasons. First, it is easy to understand.
Throughout its entirety, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness utilizes many contrasts and paradoxes in an attempt to teach readers about the complexities of both human nature and the world. Some are more easily distinguishable, such as the comparison between civilized and uncivilized people, and some are more difficult to identify, like the usage of vagueness and clarity to contrast each other. One of the most prominent inversions contradicts the typical views of light and dark. While typically light is imagined to expose the truth and darkness to conceal it, Conrad creates a paradox in which darkness displays the truth and light blinds us from it.
A lie is an untruth. It can be a false statement or a statement left unsaid that causes someone to be misled. In life, lies are told for many different reasons. In fiction, they thicken the plot. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow dislikes lies and therefore only tells two, both in extraordinary circumstances. The lies that Marlow tells show several things about him. For example, even though he has been touched by evil, he is still a good man. He never actually tells a lie, instead he lets others continue to believe what they already believe. This helps him justify his lies.
Without personal access to authors, readers are left to themselves to interpret literature. This can become challenging with more difficult texts, such as Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness. Fortunately, literary audiences are not abandoned to flounder in pieces such as this; active readers may look through many different lenses to see possible meanings in a work. For example, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness may be deciphered with a post-colonial, feminist, or archetypal mindset, or analyzed with Freudian psycho-analytic theory. The latter two would effectively reveal the greater roles of Kurtz and Marlow as the id and the ego, respectively, and offer the opportunity to draw a conclusion about the work as a whole.
Dintenfass, Mark. "Heart of Darkness: A Lawrence University Freshman Studies Lecture." 14 Mar. 1996. *http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~csicseri/dintenfass.htm* (2 Feb. 2000).
The reaper’s image is purposed to entertain the reader. There's no depth to the story or development. It does not exemplify any of the themes from the article. It can be inferenced that people go missing because of the Delver Glass. But there's no standing up to an opposing force, or about creativity. The story is simplistic but vivid. Stephen King can entertain his audience because of how descriptive his writing is. In the reaper’s image, the narrator uses imagery and detailed descriptions to give the reader a sense of depth. King’s writing is so descriptive that the reader can envision a movie in their head. In the Reaper’s Image, King uses long detailed descriptions like, “The gable room was explosively hot, lit only by one cobwebby, many-angled
When writers write, it is often to convey a deeper meaning or truth to it readers. With this in mind, we should first take the book at face value then analysis the story to see the point that the writer revels. In The Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad does this very well. The story goes from what we originally thought as just a story of a journey into Africa to a story of indeed a journey to the hearts of men. Conrad’s truth in The Heart of Darkness is multi-layered in dealing with imperialism and colonialism, but leads us to a critique of humanity as a whole. The biggest issue that Conrad shows in this book, is his philosophy of the dark nature of man. This paper will explore the evidence for the nature of man theory and then look at the proposed solution subtlety given by Conrad.
While Heart of Darkness offers a powerful view into the hypocrisy of imperialism, it also delves into the morality of men. Darkness becomes a symbol of hatred, fear and symbol of the power of evil. Marlow begins his story believing that these elements exists within the jungle, then with the natives and finally makes the realization that darkness lives within the heart of each man, even himself. People must learn to restrain themselves from giving into the "darkness." Marlow discusses at one point how even suffering from starvation can lead a man to have "black" thoughts and restraining oneself from these thoughts would be almost impossible in such hardship.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad may be a narrative about colonisation, revealing its drawbacks and corruption, but it may also be understood as a journey into the depths of one’s psyche, if taken at a symbolic level.