Knowledge and the Descent into Darkness At the dawning of the 21st century, the term "forbidden knowledge" seems almost quaint. ... Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, tells just such a tale of two men: Kurtz, who became the devil incarnate, and Marlow, who came to discover that he had not the will for either extreme. Let us begin with Marlow, the first character in Heart of Darkness with whom we truly become acquainted. ... He became its embodiment, the heart of darkness itself in twisted human form, worshipped as a dark god by those who fear and love him. ... The darkness and sava...

• Word Count: 2372
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Mine My Precious The novel Heart of Darkness is a montage of many political and social themes appropriate to Joseph Conrad's era. ... "And it is precisely those desires, repressions, investments, and projections' that Heart of Darkness exposes in the discourses of imperialism."" ... The same can be said of Marlow's experience in Heart of Darkness although Conrad uses several tactics to avoid his experiences being directly linked with the experience of his main character. ... "The true center of Heart of Darkness is the subtly revealed psychology of an ethical human being s...

• Word Count: 2001
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

What is the nature and scope of the modernist crises as depicted in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"? ... This was accomplished in "Heart of Darkness" at least, by a new and innovative style of narration, and by the absence of definition and the addition of questioning of almost everything within the text. ... When considering the modernist crises as depicted in Heart of Darkness, one must not regard the idea's of colonialism as the only aspect, but rather one must also cogitate Marlow's own individual crises and the psychological journey that is undertaken. ... Wh...

• Word Count: 1769
• Approx Pages: 7

This personal experience into the interior of Africa came to provide an outline for a short novella, Heart of Darkness, which he would publish in 1899. ... There are two main characters of The Heart of Darkness, Marlow and Kurtz. ... In Kurtz's case, he enters the heart of darkness with the noble goal of bringing civilization and progress, but no sooner does he arrive than an intense sense of isolation from any consequence strips him of his civilized exterior. ... The themes of this novel are based around the idea of the "heart of darkness- and past a description of the unexplored part...

• Word Count: 1555
• Approx Pages: 6

Both Heart of Darkness and The Poisonwood Bible deal with white men leaving their white civilization to venture into what they view as black savagery. ... Kurtz, the character being sought by Marlow in Heart of Darkness, has deteriorated so far the he is no better than the savages he lives amongst. ... "You may be too much of a fool to go wrong - too dull even to know you are being assaulted by the powers of darkness." ... And I remember I confounded the beat of the drum with the beating of my heart, and was pleased at its calm regularity." ... ""Lord, grant that the worthy among us here shall...

• Word Count: 2335
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

This is revealed in the novel by the aunt when she describes Marlow's journey as a "Mission"; Marlow is the main character of the novel, Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness. ... Within Heart Of Darkness the reader is offered the choice of being taken gently by the hand and lead into the Congo where they can discover for their self, the realisation of the vileness that colonialism is. ... Marlow's journey of self-discovery begins in London on the "Nellie, a cruising yawl" surrounded by "gloom"; this is the opening scene that begins Marlow's journey into the darkness. ... Co...

• Word Count: 1884
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

He went into a cocoon himself working in the dark, trying to ignore the ticking of all the clocks around him and he drank a lot. ... Owen envied the butterflies freedom of flight soaring high in the sunny sky wishing he could escape the dark dreary clock shop for his own sense of freedom and light. ... When Owen was informed of Annie's engagement to Robert Danforth his heart broke. ... Completing his dream somehow healed Owen's heart and spirit. ... When the butterfly tried to return to Owen he responded, "Thou has gone forth out of thy master's heart. ...

• Word Count: 1481
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

On one side stood the peasants, the "dark people." ... While "privilege Russia," worked reluctantly to make themselves more western, the "dark people" had remained the same over the years. ... In the bottom of the peasant's heart, he or she carried a deep, imbedded bitterness and hatred for the government. ... Second, it split the revolutionary front, reconciling the most cautious elements among the moderates, who had no heart for violence, with a government which promised to end the abuses of autocracy. ...

• Word Count: 1882
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Certain poems in Songs of Innocence contain a darker tone that foreshadows, or predicts, the arrival of a more experienced perspective. ... The rhythm of the last verse becomes quicker and lighter as the sweep describes how his parents 'praise God' that everything is fine, but slows right down as the last line exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of state religion. ... Her heart is at rest within her breast', and she is glad to hear the hills echoing with the children's laughter. ... I believe that Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience do need to be read together...

• Word Count: 1564
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In Timothy Findley's Not Wanted on The Voyage Noah's wife asks " what else could heaven be ... but a world afloat ... nothing hard or real to fall against or stumble over; everything distant, everything benign," (pg 18) but at the end of the novel the Ark is hell where the innocent are shut in perpetual darkness and are devoid of God. ... In an existence so convoluted, a fallen angel becomes a beacon of hope and salvation in an otherwise dark journey. ... In her desire for "difference" she searches for an world where "darkness and light are reconciled," (pg 284) fully knowing tha...

• Word Count: 2467
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Moses prayed to God and the frogs died and when there was relief, Pharaohs heart was hardened again. ... Pharaoh would not listen to him and his heart was hardened. ... Ninth, darkness filled the land. ... The next plague was going to be like a dagger in the heart of Pharaoh. ... His heart was not hardened anymore, it was broken. ...

• Word Count: 1963
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Unlike the man she married, however, he is portrayed with images of a dark nature. ... His half-hearted attempt to secure Hester's confession is due to his fear of incriminating himself. ... When he grabs Pearl hand, the narrator states, "The moment that he did so, there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system- (137). ...

• Word Count: 1627
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School