ipl-logo

Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Rhetorical Analysis

1634 Words7 Pages

POWER is something most people desire in businesses, politics and companies as one wishes to expand or go up the chain of command in order to acquire greater authority, even in social life where individuals interact with each other. The novel ‘Heart of Darkness’ By Joseph Conrad is an adventure in the interior of Africa. The adventure in the novel can be recognized on page 45 lines 7-10 “There was an old hippo that had the bad habit of getting out on the bank and roaming at night over the station grounds. The pilgrims used to turn out in a body and empty every rifle they could lay hands on at him.” The hippopotamus harmful disturbance on the ship resulted to individuals continuously trying to shoot it down almost every night. In this novel …show more content…

Joseph Conrad uses imagery to describe very cruel and brutal aspects of Charlie Marlow’s journey inside Africa. On page 95 line 27 through page 96 line 17 “ Now I had suddenly a nearer view, and its first result was to make me throw my head back as if before a blow. Ten I went carefully from post to post with my glass, and I saw my mistake. These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbing— food for thought […] and there it was, black, dried, sunken, with closed eyelids—a head that seemed to sleep at the top of that pole, and, with the shrunken dry lips showing a narrow white line of the teeth, was smiling, too, smiling continuously at some endless and jocose dream of that eternal slumber. “ Marlow does not just say there was head on a stick straightforward, rather he explains the event in a visual manner. He started by explaining his first impression and how it appeared as he got a better view, gently incorporating his reactions to what he saw that slowly enabled him realise that the ornamental knobs were actually heads on sticks. These heads on sticks indicate that colonizers also exert power on native Africans by beheading them and mounting the heads of the deceased stationary on sticks to symbolise their capability, thus coercing the native Africans to submit themselves to the colonizers as a result of

Show More
Related
1556 Words | 7 Pages

The book serves as a sharp contrast with the deception of Colonists as well as a symbol of solid realness within a fantastical dream where truth is impossible. When describing the book, Marlow’s diction are highly positive, using words like “honest”, “humble” and “simple”. The direct expression and singleness of intention serves as a contrast with the lies the Colonists tell to conceal the reality in Africa. Europeans justify their bloodthirsty conquest as something they did for a greater cause. In 1876, at the Geographical Conference on Central Africa, King Leopold justified “To open to civilization the only part of our globe which it has not yet penetrated, to pierce the darkness which hangs over entire peoples, is, I dare say, a crusade worthy of this century of progress” (Cleary).

Read More
337 Words | 2 Pages

Imagine if you were in a world that the only way for newborns to survive, the mother and father had to have a volunteer to die so the baby could live. Would you want to live in that kind of world? That is the kind of world that is in 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut. The theme/ claim of this excerpt, 2BR02B is life isn't always happy and amazing. One piece of evidence to support my claim/theme is, according to 2BR02B, by Kurt Vonnegut, it states, “The law said that no newborn child could survive unless the parents of the child could find someone who would volunteer to die.

Read More
473 Words | 2 Pages

The human race is beginning to evolve and change faster then anyone has seen before, although it can bring many positive things such as new innovations, it can also damage our world. The pollution of light grows and grows every year, many people do not care or do not pay attention to it at all but as the author stated it is most definitely important for our future. Bogard's claim reaches his audience by showing credibility; he worries that the nights natural darkness will soon end so he explains that he has seen that darkness and has experienced it for many years. Bogard connects technology being the main problem for the loss of darkness by station that artificial light in our homes also effects our brain and the way we sleep since darkness is needed to produce melioration. Loss

Read More
1381 Words | 6 Pages

Growing up a swimmer, I know how much work it takes just to swim 0.1 seconds faster in a race. From hours working on technique, to a couple minutes of sprints after practice, the chances of change are gradually increased. If any athlete is asked if it takes dedication to achieve his or her goals, almost all will answer yes. Progress is not made without determination. Like athletes, people during the time of Chicago World’s Fair possessed a lot of ambition.

Read More
701 Words | 3 Pages

The unknown not knowing where you are, how you got there or the purpose of being there. The Maze Runner written by James Dashner, is a fictional novel based in the future. Dashner uses many literary devices to help portray his imaginative story, and paint a picture in the reader’s head. The characters are described in great detail and the reader can quickly imagine their personalities and appearance. The theme used is very basic but, is fully expressed throughout the book.

Read More
577 Words | 3 Pages

At a time when loosing nights natural darkness was a problem, Paul Bogard tries to emphasize to his audience on how having natural darkness helps with not only people but nature creatures, and other things as well. Bogard wants to persuade his audience by trying to come up and invent something that will reduce the lights for humans and others and be able to have enough darkness that we all need. Bogard persuades his audience by explaining on how the rest of the world depends on darkness as well. Explaining and giving evidence on how at night, some of the world has really bright nights, and has no darkness at all. It also explains on how some places around the world have way too much darkness, and not a lot of light, and vice versa.

Read More
1917 Words | 8 Pages

Power is defined as the ability to do something or act in a particular way, especially as a faculty or quality. That impact of power can change the way one thinks. It factors into what changes people may want to make based on someone’s else's influence. In the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, two men, George and Lennie make their way to a farm in California during the Great Depression which in fact, gets Lennie in trouble for the numerous time. Hoping to have a good experience with their new job, they meet Curley, he uses his attitude which rubs off on others not in a good way.

Read More
979 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis The speech that was delivered by William Wallace in the movie Braveheart, was meant to persuade the soldiers to fight for their freedom even though they were grossly out-numbered by the English. In the early 13th century the Scottish and the English were fighting in the First Wars of Independence. This was the result of the death of King Alexander III in 1286, when he left no heir to the throne. King Edward I of England was successful in conquering this land an was trying to rid Scotland of their clans.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

Richard Louv, a novelist, in Last Child in the Woods (2008) illustrates the separation between humans and nature. His purpose to the general audience involves exposing how the separation of man from nature is consequential. Louv adopts a sentimental tone throughout the rhetorical piece to elaborate on the growing separation in modern times. Louv utilizes pathos, ethos and logos to argue that the separation between man and nature is detrimental.

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

Power is having the possession of control, authority, or influence over others. In our lives power can have a positive effect or negative effect depending on how it is used. People are always wanting power and are willing to do almost anything to gain it; one can do a tremendous amount with that power, both good and bad. When one is hungry enough for power, he or she will become greedy and a multitude of problems can arise just like it had for Koba in the movie “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”, a franchise of “Planet of the Apes”. “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” builds a satisfying movie through the theme of control and leadership which creates visual attraction and emotional characters.

Read More
1186 Words | 5 Pages

He claims “ten days [is] an eternity,”(18) when ten days of waiting is trivial compared the terrible lives of the slave labor, where Marlow observes the natives “dying slowly”(17) and likened their demeanor to the “deathlike indifference of unhappy savages”(16). Here, Marlow’s ignorance of the hardships of the natives is dreadfully obvious. He does not consider the struggles of the natives around him as toilsome as his own, even though the reader can clearly see the opposite is true. The native's lives are far worse than Marlow having to idly wait for 10 days before continuing his journey. Marlow represents the reader, so this is Conrad’s first step to making the reader self-aware of their own apathy and dehumanization of black people.

Read More
1366 Words | 6 Pages

Tryston Strickland Dr. Norwood Honors English IV March 8, 2018 The Flaw: Human Nature In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad shows human nature’s tendency toward callousness through the use of greed, imperialism, and darkness. Throughout the book the topics of greed, imperialism, and heartlessness give examples of the flaw that humans cannot fix. Humans tend to help others when there is a benefit for them to gain.

Read More
1320 Words | 6 Pages

Psychotic Darkness A gun gives you the opportunity, but a thought pulls the trigger. In this world, there are many life changing situations that can test one's sanity. Such situations can capture one's mind leading the mind to be on the verge of psychotic. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, grants the characters with a series of insane scenes that can generate question of psychotic characters.

Read More
1119 Words | 5 Pages

Into the Darkness: How and why is a social group presented in a particular way? Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness takes a multi-faceted approach to the issues that surrounded 19th century colonization and imperialism in Africa. Marlow’s journey into the heart of Africa serves to highlight the hypocrisy of this endeavor, and how this deceit followed the rhetoric utilized by the colonizers in order to justify their colonization of Africa and the treatment of the natives. As the novel progresses, Africa becomes more of a backdrop for Conrad to truly expose the depravity of European intervention in Africa. Through Marlow’s narrative, varying connotations of words and his own main character’s reactions,as well as copious amounts of descriptive imagery, Conrad casts Europeans in a negative light in order to criticize imperialism and colonists.

Read More
1041 Words | 5 Pages

The lights from the city reflected the Thames River because London is described as being light, the light symbolizes Conrad’s view of civilization. According to Conrad civilization is where evil is present but ignored. The light is the knowledge that is gained through exploring. Conrad uses Africa and the Congo River to represent the evil that waits in the unknown. The darkness is said to be full of savages and cannibals it is further emphasized as being the uncivilized part of the world where people eat people and the savages wait in the trees and in the darkness.

Read More

More about Heart Of Darkness By Joseph Conrad Rhetorical Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document