Heart of Darkness Reading #3

‘"It was unearthly, and the men were - No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it - this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity - like yours - the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar”’ (Conrad 108).

            In this section of the book Conrad is describing his trip to the Congo and the people that he sees on his way. Conrad throughout the beginning of the book expressed his racist view of the Africans and how he in some ways did not consider them to be humans. He viewed himself as superior to them. Now as he continues to go deeper into the Congo he is forced to reconsider his preconceptions of these people. This quotation expresses the change in his view of them because he now is describing the people from the Congo as humans. He goes even further by realizing that these people are similar to the Europeans. He explains that these people are still savages, but that being a savage is part of being a human. Conrad still cannot see the Africans as equals, but he does see that they are similar to him because they have real relationships and families just like he and the other Europeans do. He realizes that they are capable of having human relationships.

Heart of Darkness: Reading #1

“The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a spec, was a benign immensity of unstained light[…] Only the gloom to the west, brooding over  the upper reaches, became more somber every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun” (Conrad 66).

In this quotation Conrad is beginning to express his feelings about imperialism and in particular his view of how Europe takes part in imperializing other countries. This is illustrated by the way the light falls everywhere except on Europe. The light is also pure because of its white color. This illustrates that the other countries are being enlightened and improved by imperializing, but Europe is not experiencing the same benefit. The darkness is illustrated as having more depth than the white light, because there is more that is not seen under darkness. This description exemplifies that Conrad is not concerned about how imperializing affects the people whose land is being taken over, but how imperializing is affecting Europe.  The quotation begins to explain the complexity of Imperialism during this time period.

Figurative Language in Introduction to Poetry

In Introduction to Poetry a teacher expresses his frustration towards his students, as he describes through figurative language how he wishes his students would read a poem. The author writes “I want them to water-ski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore” (lines 9-11). If one were to take these lines literally, the poem would make no sense at all, but the author uses figurative language to express that he wants his students to have fun and jump into the poem just like they would on a water-ski. These lines also expresses that he does not want his students to go right into analyzing the poem, but he wants his students just read them poem for what they see on the surface of the poem. This relates to how a water-ski just skims the surface of the water. At last they are waving at the author, this is used to illustrate that a student should acknowledge the poet who wrote the poem, but the poet does not have to be right on the water with the reader as they experience the poem. By using figurative language the author expresses his message, but not in such a direct manner, and this makes the poem more visually pleasing and fun to read.

Poem Outline for Pathedy of Manners

Poem Outline for Pathedy of Manners

Thesis: Through point of view the author gives a summary of a woman’s life as she views it. This gives a somewhat slanted opinion of what occurs during this woman’s life. The author illustrates a contrast from when the woman was a young adult to a middle aged woman. She creates this sentiment by creating symbols that reflect specific parts of the woman’s life.

Point of View: The life of this woman is told from a bystander, who seems to be observing the change in the life this woman lives.

-“At twenty she was brilliant and adored” (line 1)

The first line is reminiscent of the past, and it appears that the point of view is told from a woman who knew the girl in the poem, but not at a personal level. The opinion of the poem is from someone who observed the girl and knew of her, but was not actually friends with her. This is important because it is not the girl in the poem defining who she was, but someone doing that for her.

-“I saw her yesterday at forty-three, Her children gone, her husband one year dead” (line 17-18).

The author’s point of view is important in this line because her tone is not one of surprise but comes across as someone who knew this would be the woman’s fate. It was as if she expected the woman to end up alone all along.

Contrast: The poem is made up of seven stanzas and at the fourth stanza there begins to be a change in tone. In the first three stanzas, she is the girl who has everything, in the fourth stanza the flaws of her life are beginning to be shown, and in the last three stanzas it appears that she is not happy with her life, and that everything did not turn out as she had planned.

-“She hung up her diploma, went abroad, Saw catalogues of domes and tapestry” (line 9-10).

In this line it illustrates that this young woman is creating a life and that she has a direction of where she is moving to. The woman appears to be happy and she has the world at her fingertips.

-“But afraid to wonder what she might have known With all that wealth and mind had offered her” (line 21-22).

These two lines are from the 6^th stanza, and this is part of the contrast in the poem. The woman described in these lines is not the same girl from earlier stanzas. This woman looks back at her life with regret, and she does not see the life that she had envisioned as a young girl. At the same time she does not reflect on her life because she is scared of what she is going to see. This woman is no longer brave, but she is scared of the live she has lived.

Symbol: In the poem the author makes symbols to represent who the girl is attempting be, and most importantly who she want to be.

-“Phi Beta Kappa, sought for every dance” (line 2).

“Phi Beta Kappa” is a sorority and is also a symbol to a young girl who is happy and enjoys life This line is significant because this represents the overall girl in the first three stanzas. She is outgoing and is constantly around people.

-“And learned to tell real Wedgewood from a fraud” (line 12).

This line makes a reference to “Wedgewood” which is a type of China plates. In this line it is important that the girl had to learn which plate is “real Wedgewood”.  She did not know which plate was which until she taught herself. This illustrates that the girl is working her way up to be part of a lifestyle she was not born into.  “Wedgewood” is a symbol of the life she wants.