MRS. CONTRERAS Language Arts 9 th Grade – Eng I Gifted/Honors Room C209

1. Welcome Braddock Bulldogs!!! MRS. CONTRERASLanguage Arts9th Grade – Eng I Gifted/Honors Room C209 2006-2007

2. Weekly Forecast3/26/07 – 3/30/07 • Monday – Introduction to Joseph Conrad & "Heart of Darkness" (1876-1892) • Tuesday – "Heart of Darkness" (1876-1892) Part I. Grammar usage: a-altogether through different from to regardless 219-224) • Wednesday –"Heart of Darkness" (1876-1892) Part I. Distribution of “Heart of Darkness” questionnaire & vocabulary. • Thursday – "Heart of Darkness" (1876-1892) Part II. Test (Dracula & transitions). • Friday – Teacher Planning Day

3. Home Learning By Monday, 4/9: • Read "Heart of Darkness" Read through Part III. • Complete “Heart of Darkness” questionnaire. • Read Frank Kafka's "Metamorphosis" pg 1108. Have a great week!

4. Class Response…Monday • What inferences can we draw from the text concerning Nature, Truth, and Evil?

5. Class Response…Monday • What inferences can we draw from the text concerning Nature, Truth, and Evil? There is life around us (Nature, Truth, Evil) that we cannot always perceive with our eyes but is none-the-less there. Jungle whispers “come and find out” (it is alive) 78; “In the immensity of earth, sky and water, there she was” (as silent witnesses) 79; carrier dead in harness and quiet all around and above 87 (as though the silence of the jungle had killed the man and now hovered over its prey);

6. Class Response…Monday • The forest stood up 95 (taking a stand); [evil or truth] takes shape around us (as though coming alive) 91, 97 Forest sent sound back (took its predominant role back) 100 Mgr’s uncle extends arm “for a gesture that took in the forest, creek, mud, river- seemed to beckon with a dishonouring flourish…a treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of its heart…the high stillness confronted these 2 figures with its ominous presence, waiting for the passing away of a fantastic invasion” 105

7. Class Response…Monday • The woods were unmoved, like a mask- heavy like the closed door of a prison- they looked with their air of hidden knowledge, of patient expectation of unapproachable silence 137 Kurtz asks Marlow to close shutter saying, “I can’t bear to look at this…Oh but I will wring your heart yet! He cried at the invisible wilderness” 152

8. Class Response…Tuesday • What evidence do we find in the text to suggest that Human beings and Nature are at odds?

9. Class Response…Tuesday • Sun is stricken to death by gloom of city 66 “In the immensity of earth, sky and water, there she was, incomprehensible firing into a continent” 79 Nature warding off intruders 80 I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck…connected together with a chain…these men could by no stretch of the imagination be called enemies. They were called criminals, and the outraged law…had come to them (man destroys itself) 81

10. Class Response…Tuesday • Flies don’t sting, they stab 85 carrier dead in harness and quiet all around and above 87 as though the silence of the jungle had killed the man and now hovered over its prey; [evil or truth] takes shape around us (as though coming alive) but waiting “for the passing away of this fantastic invasion” 91;

11. Class Response…Tuesday • Mgr’s uncle extends arm “for a gesture that took in the forest, creek, mud, river- seemed to beckon with a dishonouring flourish…a treacherous appeal to the lurking death, to the hidden evil, to the profound darkness of its heart…the high stillness confronted these 2 figures with its ominous presence, waiting for the passing away of a fantastic invasion” 105 Fire wants to clean out man’s transgressions 92; There was an air of plotting about the station…so they could earn percentages (men plot against themselves) unnatural carrying on 93;

12. Class Response…Tuesday • Forest stood up…the silence of the land went home to one’s heart; it’s mystery as wounded native cries out nearby (creation’s groans are not inaudible to man) 95; Wondering if stillness was meant as appeal or menace – would it handle them or would man handle it? 96; “Truth or evil” is taking shape “enveloping” them 97; Forest sent sound back 100; Wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity looking at us were meant as an appeal or as a menace 96

13. Class Response…Tuesday • “Truth or evil” is taking shape “enveloping” them 97; Entangled mass of shrubs ready to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence (like the tide erases man’s footprints on sand) but asserting its dominance 100; man infested the station 102

14. Class Response…Tuesday • The woods were unmoved, like a mask- heavy like the closed door of a prison- they looked with their air of hidden knowledge, of patient expectation of unapproachable silence 137 Kurtz asks Marlow to close shutter saying, “I can’t bear to look at this…Oh but I will wring your heart yet! He cried at the invisible wilderness” 152 Back in the sepulchral city, resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets…dreaming their insignificant and silly dreams…They trespassed upon my thoughts…intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretence…they could not possibly know the things I knew 155

15. Class Response…Wednesday • How does Nature Assert its Dominance over Man?

16. Class Response…Wednesday Entangled mass of shrubs ready to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence (like the tide erases man’s footprints on sand) but asserting its dominance 100 man’s shadows trail behind them not bending one leaf of grass 105 You lost your way…butted all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once 105-106

17. Class Response…Wednesday Everything belonged to him. It made me hold my breath in expectation of hearing the wilderness burst into a prodigious peal of laughter 126 Back in the sepulchral city, resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets…dreaming their insignificant and silly dreams…They trespassed upon my thoughts…intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretence…they could not possibly know the things I knew 155

18. Class Response…Thursday • Why does Marlow say that conquering the earth is taking it away from others who look differently? This statement must have been extremely controversial during Conrad’s time. What was the author trying to accomplish? Did Conrad intend for Marlow to be aware but inactive on this matter?

19. Class Response…Thursday • Conrad later in the text challenges the racist views of his contemporary audience when he says “An appeal to me in this fiendish row- is there?...I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced. Of course, a fool, what with sheer fright and fine sentiments, is always safe” 109. In this sense, he challenges the power structure of his day. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there- you could look at a thing monstrous and free 108

20. Class Response…Thursday • They were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it- this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one 108 (this makes it worst because we know) What thrills you was just the thought of their humanity- like yours- the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar 109; In trying to answer this question, we can note Marlow’s response to Kurtz’s transformation. He claims that he is “not trying to excuse or even explain” it but rather “trying to account to [himself] for- the shade of Mr. Kurtz 127

21. Class Response…Thursday • Perhaps Conrad writes in order to account for himself the abstractions of his world. Doesn’t like work but feels he finds himself in it 99. After all, the truth/evil about an episode is found in social forces around individuals 68, 95, 96, 97, 100 In saying that no man can really tell the meaning of another man’s work or experience, Conrad may be directly addressing the reader (subjective vs objective reality) 99. Moreover, man is at the mercy of social forces 68, 71, 88, 89, 91, 100, 127

22. Class Response…Thursday • “It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one’s existence- that which makes its truth, its meaning…We live as we dream – alone” 97 We live as we dream – alone” 97 “He died as he lived’ 163, meaning victorious, triumphant but, spoken by Kurtz’s fiancée, it’s a reversal of Marlow’s earlier statement.

23. Class Response…Thursday • Conrad may be acknowledging his inability to fully relate his experiences to reader. Maybe we are to be left with the belief that “things/life/situations are of themselves not evil but it’s the uses to which man puts them that give them their good/bad quality/purpose 101-102 Marlow warns readers that he’s observed others that may have been asleep (blind to things) he was alert for a clue that would explain the uneasiness taking shape all around him 97 Conversely, he’s glad that someone who’s bothered by his story is awake enough to tell him “try to be civil Marlow” 106. Even though it’s ironic, Marlow, perhaps Conrad as well, is just glad someone is listening and trying to make meaning/sense of his tale.

24. Heart of Darkness:Our Deprived Humanity Christopher Ledezma English I Period 4 3/27/07

25. Explanation • A ship called Nellie is sailing the Thames with a crew of five men: the Director of Companies, Lawyer, an Accountant, an unnamed person who narrates, and Marlow (Conrad 1-2). • The crew recalls the men of the past who sailed he Thames; i.e. hunters of gold or pursuers of fame (5). • Marlow recalls that the very spot is one of “the darkest places of the Earth” (6) Courtesy of Google Images

26. Explanation cont. • This foreshadows future events to come and the fact that Marlow is in familiar territory. Also, when the narrator describes the territory he mentions “death skulking in the air” ( 7). • Marlow begins narrating a story when he was sea captain of a fresh-water ship. He had just came back from he rampaged through Asia in order to “civilize” the people (9). • Marlow describes how when he was a child he became fascinated with maps and dreams of exploring the blank spaces on the Earth (10).

27. Explanation Cont. • As time progressed, Marlow discovers that the blank spaces have been filled but he wants to venture to a river in Africa that draws his attention; it is resemblance to an “immense snake uncoiled” (10). • Just the fact that this river looks like a snaked should be a “hint hint” of danger. • It is then when Marlow determines to become a steamboat driver and thus gets his aunt to help him get a job (10-11). Courtesy of google images

28. Explanation Cont. • Marlow is quickly offered a job after an old steamboat captain dies in Africa after trying to impose his authority among the natives (11-12). • This demonstrates the European attempts to partition Africa and colonize it in order to help themselves prosper at the sake of others. • Marlow says that after the natives killed the captain, they all were swept with madness and scattered to never return (12). • He goes on to say that the reason they revolted was that “the cause of progress got them” (12).

29. Explanation Cont. • Marlow goes to the office were he is to get his job and there are two woman knitting black wool. On the desk next to them however, he sees a map of the colonies in Africa in control by Great Britain (13-14). • Marlow signs some “document” (contract) when he goes into the room. About 45 seconds later he is done (14). • Marlow regards the woman as “guards of the door of Darkness” which can be interpreted as the room in which he signed the contract. Courtesy of google images

30. Explanation Cont. • The secretary takes him to see a doctor. The doctor felt his pulse and then said “good, good for there.” He then ask Marlow if he could measure his head with the reason of that he wants to “measure the crania” (15-16) • When Marlow ask if he compares it to that of the return of the sailor the doctor remarks that they never return. Again, this should be a hint of WARNING! Not only that but he later ask jokingly if there was ever any hint of madness in Marlow’s family (16). Courtesy of google images.

31. Explanation Cont. • Before leaving to Africa Marlow visits his aunt once again, upon she tells him “[wean] those ignorant millions from their horrid ways” (17). • This quote portrays the amount of ignorance and bigotry portrayed throughout Europe towards Africans and other minorities. • This also portrays women and how they were represented back in the 19th century. They were slaves of men and also lived in a “world of their own” (17).

32. Explanation Cont. • Marlow leaves in a French steamer and has the feeling that he is setting off for the “center of the earth” (18). • This shows how Marlow was setting off for the heart of all things grim and evil, and the heart of humanity. • The boat lands on what seems every port on the coast in order to deliver soldiers and custom officers. During the ride along the coast he tells how deceiving the coast is and grim it appeared (18)

33. Explanation Cont. • The whole trip feels like a nightmare to him, because he can feel the melancholy sorrounding him but yet he is isolated on the boat from all truth. • While riding on the steam boat he observes a group of “black fellows” paddling a boat with perspiration glistening their faces and Marlow admired them for their strength and energy (19). • While moving along the coast he sees some French men shooting into the forest and when of the people who Marlow is on board with say the “enemies” are over in the forest (19-20).

34. Explanation Cont. • After they reach the mouth of the river, Marlow switches boats and goes with a young Swedish captain who tells him about a man who hanged himself for some unknown cause (20-21) • This clearly foreshadows that the further they’re going the more they arrive into the “Heart of Darkness”. • Marlow gets left in a station with machinery pieces scattered about and black natives chained up together clearly suffering from malnutrition (22). • At this point Marlow becomes certain that they are not criminals nor- enemies but rather prisoners (22).

35. Major Influences • When Conrad was a kid his home country of Poland was partitioned (Wikipedia). • Conrad had lived in a time where his country was fighting for their independence (Wikipedia). • Slavery at the time was a big issue along with imperialism and colonialism (Overview of Heart Of Darkness).

36. Major Influences • Women were still minorities and therefore portrayed as to live separately from men and have no sense of truth. • You can see a bit of Gothic literature in the writing. “The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom…”(1). • Realism is also another key literary way that Conrad wrote his story.

37. The Horror and the Human • This analysis talks about the dehumanization that the natives and corporate men underwent (Baldwin). • Compares Heart of Darkness to a story on a prisoner in Auschwitz (Baldwin). • How political and social conditions render the humanity within people (Baldwin).

38. Dark Heart Beating • “The realization that your aspirations are for naught, that success is ultimately indistinguishable from failure, that nothing matters” (Hoffman). • Right and Wrong are hard to differentiate (Hoffman)

39. An overview of Heart of Darkness • European colonialism and imperialism were used as justifications in the stripping of humanity from natives (Atell). • The popular idea of civilizing third world countries (Atell). • The European public is ignorant of problems outsides its borders willfully (Atell).

40. Bloom Questions • Who helped Marlow get his job? • Summarize the initial feelings that Marlow had prior to venturing to Africa. • Demonstrate a way in which Marlow could have been more successful in dealing with the doctor. • Explain why Marlow continues venturing forward on his voyage despite all the ominous signs

41. Bloom Questions • What would have happened if Marlow had been aware of what he was going to see in his voyage (i.e. dehumanization of natives)? • Would you have let your passion for discovery overtake the ominous signs that warned Marlow?

42. Works Cited • Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York Dell, 1902. • Attell, Kevin. “An overview of Heart of Darkness.” Exploring Novels, Gale, 1998. • Literature Resource Center. Gale Group Databases. G. Holmes Braddock Library, Miami, FL. 24 March 2007 <http.://www.galenet.galegroup.com>. • Baldwin, Debra R. “The Horror and the Human.” Fall-Winter 2005. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group Databases. G. Holmes Braddock Library, Miami, FL. 24 March 2007 <http.://www.galenet.galegroup.com>. • Hoffman, Tod. “Dark Heart Beating.” Spring 2002: 109. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group Databases. G. Holmes Braddock Library, Miami, FL. 24, March, 2007 <http.://www.galenet.galegroup.com>. • "Joseph Conrad."Wikipedia. • Google Images

43. Heart of Darkness: Part 1Pg 22-45 Julie Ghazi Per 1 Mrs. Contreras 3/28/07

44. Recount: As a child, Charlie Marlow had always wanted to explore “blank spaces” which were places on the map that had yet to be colonized. One of these blank spaces was Africa (where Marlow sets off on his voyage) though, by the time he went, “It had ceased to be a blank space of delightful mystery –a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness” (10). This part of the story seems to be taken from the authors personal experience seeing as to how he, too, had been wanting to travel to Africa, and had done so by taking a job as the operator of a riverboat (Introduction x). Having wanted to travel there, he decided to look for a job at one of the companies trading posts, in Africa, operating a steam boat. Seeing as to how his aunt had connections, she was able to get him the job he wanted (11).

45. Recount Continued: Courtesy of Google Images Marlow sets off to the company’s offices for his appointment. He describes this area as “a narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence…immense double doors standing ponderously ajar” (13). This setting exemplifies the ideal settings found in gothic literature. He was offered the job and left on a French Steamer to the Company’s Station (16).

46. Pg 22 This begins with Marlow and the other workers dismounting the steamer at the Company’s Station. It is then implemented in the story that those occupying this land are black “criminals”, who are bound together by chains (22). Because we are not told of these men’s wrong doing, it can also be inferred that this is just a simple act of racism towards the black inhabitants. At the time this book was written, slavery had only just been abolished in most places. Thus, this story could be a recount of the horrors of those times. Marlow saw an African on the path and states that “in seeing a white man on the path, hoisted his weapon to his shoulder with alacrity” (22). This act demonstrates the black men’s respect for, or fear of, the white men in that area.

47. Pg 23 Marlow realizes the type of situation and lifestyle he has entered , and states that he is able to fight and resist in accordance to that type of life, in order to survive. “…these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men” (23). Throughout his journey, we see that Marlow gets several warnings and bad feelings about the place he’s in. (Ex. “For a moment I stood appalled, as though by warning” (23) which he states after being struck with the thought of being controlled by a “weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly”.) Walking up the hill, Marlow finds a hole which he thinks was dug by a criminal. He believes it to be a form of the “philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do” (23). This offers an inquiry on whether the people in charge believed it to be generous of them to allow the “criminals” to dig holes.

48. Pgs 24-25 Courtesy of Google Images He finally reaches the top of the hill and sees plenty of trees. “I had stepped into the gloomy circle of some inferno” (24). Men were sitting under the shade of the trees, seemingly resting. We then find out that this is the place workers go to lay down and die. “Nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom” (24). Appalled by this sight, Charlie hurries towards the station where he has an encounter with the white man (The company’s Chief Accountant). He had a “high stretched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, and a clean neck-tie” (25). This also institutes some form of racism. It shows white men as the superior beings, where the white man is what Marlow acknowledges to be a “miracle”, as opposed to the dying black men who are obviously deprived of food and other necessities.

49. Pgs 26-28 During the time in which this book was written, a man worthy of respect was expected to keep up his appearance. “…but in great demoralization of the land he kept up his appearance. That’s backbone. His starched collar and got-up shirt-fronts were achievement of character” (26). Marlow is told that he needs to stay in the station for ten days. He is offered a hut to sleep in, and often goes into the accountants office to “stay away from chaos” (26). On page 27, Mr. Krutz is first mentioned when Charlie is told that he would meet him in the Interior Station. We learn that this man is a first-class agent, and a “very remarkable person” who “sends in as much ivory as all of [them] put together”. We also learn that those who work at the stations don’t like to write to each other for fear that someone else will get a hold of their letter. The accountant goes on telling Marlow that Mr. Krutz will get far in administration because “the council in Europe meant him to be”[this will be elaborated on later in my presentation] (28). Charlie Marlow then takes his leave the next day in a caravan of sixty men headed to the next station.

50. Pgs 29-30 On their journey to the next station, they encounter a white man with a gun who was supposedly “looking after the upkeep of the road”. Marlow then goes to say “cant say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet-hole in the forehead may be considered as a permanent improvement” (29). This quote was just a sarcastic way of implying different forms of racism found through out the book. It’s basically stating that this man may believe to be keeping the road safe and clean by killing the black men who go on it. We note that Marlow is beginning to exhibit a change in his mental state when he recalls what the scientist back at the Company Offices had mentioned to him: “It would be interesting for science to watch the mental change of individuals on the spot”. Charlie then states that he felt he was becoming “scientifically interesting” (29). On the 15th day, Marlow reached the Central Station and was informed that the steamer he was going to operate had sunk. They had taken the steamer out early, and its bottom hit the rocks (30). After finding out about that unfortunate incident, he was told that the manager was expecting him.