Heart of Darkness Syllabus Pt. 1

Tue 4/14 Introduction to Heart of Darkness
Things to watch for and think about as you read Heart of Darkness:
• How does Marlow portray Africans, African culture, and Africa?
• How does he portray Europeans, European culture, and colonialism?
• What euphemisms does he use for colonialist enterprises?
• What do we learn about Kurtz as the book progresses? About Marlow? Does Marlow seem like a reliable narrator?
• What different meanings does the idea of the “heart of darkness” take on in the course of the novel?
• How are images of darkness, whiteness, and light used?
Time in class to read for Thursday

Wed 4/15 Listen to Podcast in class / assign position essay

Thur 4/16 Heart of Darkness, pp. 185-98 (“. . . one of Marlow’s inconclusive experiences”). Vocab: ascetic (185), diaphanous, august (186), lurid (187), lugubrious, drollery, catacomb (194).. How does the anonymous frame narrator describe Marlow in relation to other seamen? What images does he use to describe Marlow’s conception of meaning? What do these suggest about the story we’re about to read? Consider Marlow’s descriptions of Africa and African people in this opening section of his narrative: what seems to be his attitude? Is it simple? Complicated? Conflicted? What reasons does Marlow give for mentioning the company’s chief accountant? Why does he call him a “miracle”? (“I shook hands with this miracle, and I learned that he was the company’s chief accountant” [197]).

Fri 4/17 Book talks and independent reading.

Mon 4/20 Heart of Darkness pp. 198-208. Vocab: inscrutable (200), entrails (201), rapacity (202), prevaricator, supercilious (203). Why is Marlow forced to stay on at the mouth of the river, instead of going “up country”? What is his opinion of the Europeans running the operation in the place he’s stranded? How does he view the Eldorado Exploring Expedition?

Tue 4/21 Heart of Darkness pp. 208-22 (“He was silent for a long time.”) Vocab: pate (213), incontinent (215), pensive, precarious, recondite (216), shoal (218). Why is “the worst of it” Marlow’s “suspicion of [the Africans] not being inhuman” (212)? Why does Marlow think his listeners won’t be able to understand his story? Topic sign-up in class / Meet in Siebel 0218

Wed 4/22 Heart of Darkness pp. 222-27. Vocab: prodigious, wraith (223), peroration (224, if you can’t find “peroration,” check “perorate”). What does Marlow mean when he says “All England contributed to the making of Kurtz” (223)? (Consider his specific meaning and more general possible meanings). Why is it ironic that Kurtz has been assigned to write a report for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs? What does Marlow find “ominous” about the report? Meet in Siebel 0218

Thur 4/23 Heart of Darkness pp. 227-38 (to page break). Vocab: fatalism (228), jocose (230), hovel (231), tenebrous (233), aspiration (237). Marlow tells us that “the manager said afterwards that Mr. Kurtz’s methods had ruined the district” (230). What are some of Kurtz’s highly unorthodox “methods”? What are some of the reasons Marlow considers to explain why Kurtz’s “unlawful soul” has gone “beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations” (237)?

Fri 4/24 No School—spring holiday