Cory Kim

Heart of Darkness
Part 1:
Light vs. Dark

The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther

back still seemed condensed into a mournful
gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and
the greatest, town on earth. He resembled a
pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness
personified. It was difficult to realize his work
was not out there in the luminous estuary, but
behind him, within the brooding gloom. (1)

Civil vs. Savage

It was only months and months afterwards, when

I made the attempt to recover what was left of the
body, that I heard the original quarrel arose from a
misunderstanding about some hens. Yes, two
black hens. (6)

Illusion vs. Truth

It had known and served all the men of whom

the nation is proud, from Sir Francis Drake to Sir
John Franklin, knights all, titled and untitled -- the
great knights-errant of the sea the adventurers
and the settlers; kings' ships and the ships of men
on `Change; captains, admirals, the dark
"interlopers" of the Eastern trade, and the
commissioned "generals" of East India fleets.
Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had
gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and
often the torch (2)

Chapter 1 (Every trip is a quest)

No single quote can describe a developing quest.

Rather, Marlow explains his initial intent of
making money by going to the Congo, but then he
realized the sad truth of imperialism.

Chapter 7 (Biblical allusions)

resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its

head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a
vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the
land...Dash it all! I thought to myself, they can't
trade without using some kind of craft on that lot
of fresh water -- steamboats! Why shouldn't I try
to get charge of one? I went on along Fleet Street,
but could not shake off the idea. The snake had
charmed me. (6)

Chapter 12 (Symbol?)

One ship is very much like another, and the sea

is always the same. In the immutability of their
surroundings the foreign shores, the foreign faces,
the changing immensity of life, glide past, veiled
not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly
disdainful ignorance; for there is nothing
mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself,
which is the mistress of his existence and as
inscrutable as Destiny (3)

Chapter 13 (Political)

The great man himself. He was five feet six, I

should judge, and had his grip on the handle-end
of ever so many millions. He shook hands, I
fancy, murmured vaguely, Was satisfied with my
French. Bon voyage. (8)

Chapter 19 (Geography matters)

Sand-banks, marshes, forests, savages, -precious little to eat fit for a civilized man,
nothing but Thames water to drink. No Falernian
wine here, no going ashore. Here and there a
military camp lost in a wilderness, like a needle in
a bundle of hay -- cold, fog, tempests, disease,
exile, and death -- death skulking in the air, in the
water, in the bush. (4)

Light vs. Dark

Then I noticed a small sketch in oils, on a panel,

representing a woman, draped and blindfolded,
carrying a lighted torch. The background was
sombrealmost black. The movement of the
woman was stately, and the effect of the torchlight
on the face was sinister. (21)

Civil vs. Savage

I remembered the old doctorIt would be

interesting for science to watch the mental
changes of individuals, on the spot. I felt I was
becoming scientifically interesting (17)

Illusion vs. Truth

Then, alluding with a toss of the head to the

tumult in the station-yard, When one has got to
make correct entries, one comes to hate those
savageshate them to the death. (16)

Chapter 1 (Every trip is a quest)

No clear quest in this part of the reading; all of

it is Marlows dialogue on how he got to this
point.

Chapter 7 (Biblical allusions)

They wandered here and there with their absurd

long staves in their hands, like a lot of faithless
pilgrims bewitched inside a rotten fence. The
word ivory rang in the air, was whispered, was
sighed. You would think they were praying to it.
(20)

Chapter 12 (Symbol?)

over the rank grass, over the mud, upon the wall
of matted vegetation standing higher than the wall
of a temple, over the great river I could see
through a sombre gap glittering, glittering, as it
flowed broadly by without a murmur. (23)

Chapter 13 (Political)

Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees

leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth,
half coming out, half effaced within the dim light,
in all the attitudes of pain, abandonment, and
despair. They were dying slowlyit was very
clear. They were not enemies, they were not
criminals, they were nothing earthly now
nothing but black shadows of disease and
starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish
gloom. (14)

Chapter 19 (Geography matters)

Beyond the fence the forest stood up spectrally

in the moonlight, and through that dim stir,

through the faint sounds of that lamentable
courtyard, the silence of the land went home to
ones very heartits mystery, its greatness, the
amazing reality of its concealed life (23)
Theme: When an individual who has a basic moral foundation encounters an environment with frequent
inhumane actions in a situation where the individual did not expect the condition initially, the result may
be severe disgust and a development of opposition.