So far, Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" has used so many adjectives to describe the river, the ship and the people that I genuinely have developed multiple headaches. I noticed that on the cover, it indicates that this version is the unabridged version, which in turn makes me curious as to how many piles of adjectives the abridged version uses.
I have noticed several recurring themes throughout these fifteen pages, the main theme being religion. From the very first page, there are allusions to Jesus such as, "...and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol" (page 1). In keeping with the religious attributes of this story, the deal that Marlow describes making in order to join a ship reminds me vaguely of the stories of making deals with demons at crossroads. The whole situation seemed very sketch to me, from the way the two ladies out front kept looking at him like they could see inside of him to the way Marlow described meeting the man in charge of the company for which he was signing up. By how he described him, I mean the utter lack of description the reader is provided.
The next theme I noticed was not really a theme, but more along the lines of a reference. The reference was to Dante's Inferno. "It seemed to me I had stepped into the gloomy circle of some inferno...an uninterrupted, uniform, headlong rushing noise filled the mournful stillness..." (page 14), seems to reference the wind that was rushing through certain circles of the Inferno that Dante had described. The dark-skinned people that Marlow keeps seeing being hit or forced to work while he is describing his time in this jungle-type place also remind me of the sinners in the Inferno, being forced against their will to take part in some kind of pain or general unpleasantness.
Finally, the "...his books, which were in apple-pie order" (page 15) line makes little sense to me. Normally one would hear A to Z order, but in this case Marlow is using "apple-pie order" instead. I'm not one hundred percent sure as to why, but I think the order in which apple pies are set down at a baker's shop would be that the freshest are closer to the customers, so it could be that the man's books are arranged so that the newer ones are more easy to reach, as opposed to having them all in alphabetical order.
-Sarah Meirose
Sarah, what is the effect on the reader of Conrad's descriptions? Does the feeling you get seem to match with anyone in the story or with ideas you think Conrad conveys?
ReplyDeleteAs to the "apple-pie order" it seems a strange description, especially since we Americans think of apple pie being distinctly American. But to me, anyway, it seems like apple pie is about as wholesome and good as it gets. And that is about as diametrically opposed to the situation outside the accountant's hut as possible. I think it's just one super loud example of irony. so keep looking for more!