HEART OF DARKNESS—Part II

Close Reading (total points: 40)

Instructions: Answer in detail on a separate sheet of paper using complete sentences.

1. What does the image of the two men’s ‘tugging painfully uphill...their ridiculous shadows” suggest?

2. Marlow’s narrative makes a sudden shift to his traveling upriver. The abrupt shift, like the imagery he uses to describe the trip, is dreamlike and ominous. Quote passages that convey this feeling.

3. Give some examples of words used by Marlow that express his contempt for men.

4. “When you have to attend to . . . the mere incidents of the surface, the reality . . . fades.” Interpret the quote on the literal and symbolic levels of meaning.

5. Marlow compares Earth and humanity to a monster, a monster that, in civilized cultures, is shackled. What is his attitude toward the unshackled monster?

6. Shortly after they resume their trip on to the Inner Station and they spend the evening in the fog, savages attack Marlow and the pilgrims. What is most upsetting about the results of this episode for Marlow?

7. Marlow’s narrative becomes disjointed as he gets carried away with his memories of Kurtz. Obviously, the man, by his dual and contradictory personality, fascinates Marlow. Give at least two examples of Marlow’s observations about Kurtz.

8. What does Marlow find bothersome about the “red-haired pilgrim”?

9. According to the man dressed like a harlequin, why was the steamer attacked?

10.What does this attack suggest?

Analytical Essay Writing (total points: 20)

In Part 2 Marlow suddenly abandons his narrative and speaks of Kurtz in a general sense. He says of Kurtz: “You should have heard him say . . . ‘My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my—‘ everything.” He then says Kurtz “had taken a high seat among the devils of the land” and Marlow found it impossible to know “how many powers of darkness had claimed him for their own.” More striking than these descriptive hints of the character of Kurtz is Marlow’s sudden defense of him: “All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz.”

After examining the quotations above, choose one and write a brief analytical essay expressing your understanding of what Marlow means and how it connects to the story as a whole.