Heart of Darkness Flashcards
What does Achebe call Conrad? Why?
A “thoroughgoing” racist. In using Africa as the backdrop to explore the white man’s existential horror eliminates the human factor in Africa. Conrad didn’t invent this idea of Africa, but he did participate in it, and to ignore that facet of the novel is to perpetuate racism.
What is Kurtz doing in Africa? What is his position?
Collect Ivory; he is The Chief of the Inner Station
Who is Kurtz’s Last Disciple?
The Russian
Where was Conrad born?
Polish Ukraine
How is this book a bridge between victorian and modernist values?
- Women occupy traditional roles, but home is not thought of as a safe, or even necessarily positive, place
- The idea of a great hero (Kurtz) who turns out to be all kinds of fucked up
- Themes of alienation and confusion
- about the “emptiness at humanity’s core”
How was the book originally recieved?
Very well; Conrad’s critique of imperialism was not picked up on by many early readers, who felt that the novel critiqued a particular kind of greedy adventurer rather than imperialism. This was particularly easy for readers to do because Conrad sets the book in a Belgian colony, not an English one.
What are Kurtz’s last words?
“The Horror, the Horror!”
Who ordered the attack on the Belgian steamer?
Kurtz
What lie does Marlow tell Kurtz’s finace?
That his last words were her name.
