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Heart Of Darkness Annotated Bibliography Essay

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Annotated Bibliography
Brooks, Jennifer. “The Repression of Dream Work.” (2014): 1-10. Presidents Writing Awards. Web.
Jennifer Brooks associates Heart of Darkness with dreams and dream-like imagery through Marlow, Kurtz, and the Congo. The underlying truths for Marlow are repressed by him as his realization of Kurtz’ “Horror” is he is part of it himself. Brooks’ article is filled with associations of Sigmund Freud to the Conrad’s novella in which Marlow’s abstract narrative portrays dream-thoughts as it does in Interpretation of Dreams. Marlow is unable to grasp what he see’s in Africa and describes it in hazy-like imagery to the reader. Though, there is meaning to this dream-like presentation in that it is the truth of the Congo. Brooks backs …show more content…

Levenson explains the journey of Marlow wasn’t one through physical space, but a journey into the unconscious part of the mind or world. As the crew journeys into the Congo, they look for a center of the “darkness,” but in reality, it is only hollow in the kernel. This ideology shapes the “horror” new critics propose as not discovering this core, Kurtz, or the meaning of the novel, but there is simply not one meaning of the novel.
Levenson describes an “edge,” that they are all trying to get to, and as the Russian in the novella did--he went too far and didn’t know how he’ll ever get out of this border. Marlow goes to Africa from Europe and looks at the natives as the white man, the imperialist would, and as the European mind tries to discover its origins, he travels closer to the edge. The author describes Marlow’s growth towards the edge as stretching the mind out to the psychic interpretation of life and Marlow learns that there is no novelty within the interpretation. Wrongly stated by most critics, Levenson puts on the psychoanalytic lense to critic Heart of Darkness to the experience on the psychic side, not a journey to a definite

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“ It was the same kind of ominous voice; but these man could by no stretch of imagination be called enemies” (Conrad 19). Upon seeing the beaten and broken “enemies” Marlow realizes that the European subjugation is not all that it is cracked up to be. It causes serious pain and suffering for the natives of the country, which is particularly shocking to Marlow as Europe claims to be so elevated and

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It portrays his sadness and sympathy towards the situation. This can be seen in the novel when Marlow stated that the Africa land was such as “a creeping mist” and “the jungle being so dark green it is almost black”. The sensitivity of Marlow when he illustrated the surroundings around him brings a perception to the readers about his sympathy attitudes towards the situation in Africa.

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From a distance, most reader of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son may surmise that the two texts are not connected in the slightest. Heart of Darkness follows a white European, Marlow, as he travels deep into the African jungle in search of Kurtz, a man Marlow has never meet but captivated with immensely. On the other hand, Notes of a Native Son is a set of non-fiction essays written by James Baldwin about his life and experiences being an African American living in the United States as he narrates events in his life that had an impact on him and his thinking. Still, a quick synopsis still raises questions on how the two texts relate to one another, but an in-depth analysis uncovers that both texts are connected by a single word, “change”. Reading thoroughly through each text, the reader can witness the

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Hunt Hawkins presents the controversy that Joseph Conrad’s, Heart of Darkness, encounters, as its contents portray Africans as dehumanizing, savage, and uncivilized beings. In order to provide a sufficient amount of information with regards to the controversy, Hawkins introduces the analysis of distinct scholars to describe racism, imperialism, and human nature. As a result, an analysis of the characters are provided to the audience and allow an individual to understand why Conrad decided to write Heart of Darkness the way he did. Thus, during this process, Hawkins describes the manifestation of the darkness that eventually consumes Kurtz.

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For me it crawled towards Kurtz-exclusively.” The curiosity has instantly birthed a new obsession. The wilderness isn’t Marlows destination now; Kurtz is. With this confusion leading Marlow to allow his curiosity lead to a strange obsession. Likewise, Marlow appears to be an observant young man, who is confused about his own curious thoughts going on inside his brain.

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From the narrator Marlow the readers come to know about the Natives that they are actually innocent people who were under Europeans. In relation to this it deals with the theme of Good vs. Evil, in ‘Heart of Darkness’ which is presented when Marlow who is a good character encounters the situation where he is confused between good and evil, whether Mr. Kurtz is really a

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Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a story that centers around Marlow, an introverted sailor, and his treacherous journey up the Congo River in search of a man name Kurtz. Unfamiliar with the terrain and natives, Marlow faced many different obstacles that made his journey even more tough. Obstacles like the Congo River and the dense jungles that surround it not only limited the crew progress, but also aroused confusion as well. Joseph Conrad amazing use of descriptive wording and imagery help the readers understand why their surrounding was giving them uneasiness throughout their expedition to meet up with Kurtz. The readers can understand why nature was truly an adversary to Marlow and his crew.

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