Forthwith, Conrad seeks not to spin a realistic tale of imperialism in the Belgian Congo, but rather to profess an omniscient and ambiguous tale that is worthy of the world of which it speaks. That being said, Heart of Darkness paints a vividly ambiguous landscape that exposes the human incapacity to escape himself. I.e. in his moments of absolute confidence of benevolence, man is most blind and vulnerable to the incumbent Darkness of nature that irks all men. Furthermore, motivations of benevolence and malevolence are often inextricably linked, identical even.
I collected it myself at a very great personal risk” (68). Kurtz’s thoughts have completely been taken over by his need to extract the most ivory. His need to collects the most ivory is for himself, not for the company. The growing desire for power that Kurtz experiences becomes appealing to Marlow, and is the reason for Kurtz’s selfishness that leads to his downfall. The people of Africa are completely controlled by Kurtz and he has no sympathy.
The cannibals action is "one of those human secrets that baffle probability." This helps Marlow keep his restraint, for if the natives can possess this quality Marlow feels he certainly can. Kurtz is the essence of the lack of restraint Marlow sees everywhere. Kurtz has "kicked himself loose from the earth." "He owes no allegiance to anything except those animal powers, those various lusts, those unpermitted aspirations lurking in the
Such is how he is able to fully observe the darkness of Africa, of white men’s hearts, and of himself—both initially driving him towards insanity, yet ultimately saving him from it. Whereas most of his fellow Europeans journeyed to Africa “for profit” (pg. 19), Marlow did so out of adventurous spirit, “charmed” by the snaking river of the Congo to pursue the once “blank space of delightful mystery” that is his childhood dream (pg. 10). It is only as such was he able to see the sheer absurdity in the behavior of European colonists in their newfound land, but more importantly, observe and realize the distant kinship he shares with the ‘savages’—a truly unthinkable idea at the time, and especially, at the location.
Edward Hyde, the evil counter part of Henry Jekyll, is portrayed as an unpleasant young man of stocky and slightly deformed appearance, who inspires instant dislike or hatred on the part of the other characters who set their eyes on him(''There is something with his appearance; something displeasing, something downright detestable. I never saw a man I so disliked [...] he must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn't specify the point. He's an extraordinary looking man[...]'' ) None of them can explain the origins of this deep dislike: ''I never saw a man I so disliked and yet I scarce know why [...] he's an extraordinary looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way''. The
Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel; the wet eyes of sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart; and it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent inhumanity, the mask of cruelty”(Baldwin, 496). Most readers will probably fall somewhere in the middle of these two extreme opinions. No matter if one enjoys the book or loathes it, it can’t be denied that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a very influential American Classic. Some people even go as far as to speculate that Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped prompt Abraham Lincoln to start the Civil War (Ohio History Central). Even if the influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the civil war is just a blown up myth, the book definitely had an impact on how people thought about how their religion and slavery were related.
The structure Eliot uses in this first section has no obvious rhyme scheme and seems very irregular, which shows us that the hollow men are lost, and cannot escape, yet again showing stasis and the oddness of the “purgatory” they are in. He also uses caesura and enjambment with “Alas!” and “have crossed. With”. His use of these techniques gives the first section a slow and awkward mood and portrays the sadness of the “hollow men” who are stuck in this stasis. The form of section 1 seems to be very disjointed and especially Eliot’s lack of information on where the “hollow men” are.
Again this presents the idea of being the unreliable narrator as he fails to perceive the sinister way of Heathcliff’s living. As an audience a feeling of mistrust and even dislike is built for Lockwood as he constantly misjudges events, which could even evoke frustration from the audience as his complete incompetence and lack of understanding immediately allows him to fall out of favour with Heathcliff, and furthermore presents his clumsy character. In addition to this, Lockwood also misreads Heathcliff is by being totally unaware of his body language: ‘my heart warmed..when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously’ this quotations presents how Lockwood is completely oblivious to the recluse body language of Heathcliff, which strongly suggests he is uncomfortable in Lockwood’s presence. Furthermore, the fact that his ‘heart warmed’ when seeing Heathcliff react so strangely to
Kurtz had lived in the Congo, and was separated from his own culture for quite some time. He had once been considered an honorable man, but the jungle changed him greatly. Here isolated from the rest of his own society, he discovered the evil side and became corrupted by his power and isolation. He takes his pamphlet for the “International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs” and scribbles in, at the very end, the words "Exterminate all the brutes!" He induces the natives to worship him, setting up rituals worthy of a tyrant.
The Conversation’s absence of sound in many shots represents the ambiguity and absence of the reality in the line “He’d kill us if he had the chance” and the lack of love and emotion in Harry Caul’s life. Sound and speech is incredibly subjective and is very dependent on perspective. For example, screams can often be interpreted in two ways; one being out of fear, and the other being out of excitement. This sort of misconception is extremely similar to that of which occurs in The Conversation. The misinterpretation of the line “He’d kill us if he had the chance” causes an extreme amount of confusion and drama.