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Literary Element Homework
I can't find a thread for our homework, so I guess we can use this.
- - - - - - Two contrasting elements I found are light and darkness. When Marlow discovers Kurtz, he is greeted by a colorful character. This kind of shocking brightness in a tale of such extreme darkness can lead the reader to believe the light could actually foreshadow something much darker. The 'harlequin' character could serve as a shock absorber, to distract the reader from the strange condition in which they find Kurtz. Earlier in the book, the clean, polished official acted as the light to distract from the despicable treatment of the Africans.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
umm i already post this on contrasting elements, but i'll do it on this page just incase.
I feel like power and lack of power are contrasting elements in HOD. The Europeans are the dominant foes, while the African as natives are the ones being taken advantage of. Example is when "the others" Cannibals were being fed rotten meat. Throughout the story the Africans are minor, and more focused on expedition toward Kurtz. -David 1st period
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Re: Literary Element Homework
[copied and pasted from previous cmt on contrasting elements]
The two main contrasting elements I see are light and darkness. Marlow's journey has both pros and cons due to what he is experiencing and what has occurred. Marlow's choice of going to Africa is because of curiosity and the fact that he wants to explore, is good yet bad. Now that it is happening, the more dangerous and darker it gets. This Helmsman man has already died because of the attack of spears ,what more can possibly go negative?
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Re: Literary Element Homework
I think the river and Africa may be contrasting elements. The river is peaceful and quiet compared to Africa which is filled with mysteries and chaos. Both of these elements connect to another main contrasting elements, light and darkness. The river is usually the light but it can also be dark because it in located in Africa, which contains darkness. Furthermore, Marlow's curiosity is leading him deep into the darkness. This means the deeper he explores, the more knowledge he gains. He can be gaining many dark things going on there.
honey 1st period
Last edited by honeychai on Mon May 03, 2010 11:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
The elements that I see that can be contrasted are the tones and the mood. The tones constantly go back and forth, from a simple mood that stretches from easy going to blood rushing terror from the characters. The mood also goes back and forth with the "foggy" atmosphere and the dark forests caused by such emotions. Both Literary elements sometimes bring an awkward sense because they both conflict with each other. It's like a rich preppy kid that refuses to eat microwaved foods because it's quality isn't so good. It's also like a spoiled kid refusing to listen because he doesn't want to. The tone is symbolized with the person, and the mood is symbolized with the setting. The setting is always terrible and sometimes it's alright, but the tone is always trying to be nice, properly mannered, and well-mannered.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Another two contrasting elements I see are lightness and darkness as well. Darkness represents the whole journey that Marlow had explored upon and all the raging attacks they had escaped from. Lightness however takes place further on when Marlow finally encounters Kurtz. On the bottom of page 138, “I seemed at one bound to have been transported into some lightness region of subtle horrors…” This is one of the few moments before Marlow finally encounters Kurtz creating a change sense into lightness from darkness.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Well, like I said in the other thread, i think the river and Africa are different elements within the novel. Africa seemed to be a place which contained total chaos after the colonists entered Africa. The river seemed to be a place where nothing has really changed in my opinion. It seemed calm even with all the action going around it. So, I guess you can say peace and chaos are two elements that contrast each other within the novel as well.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Two contrasting elements I found are truthfulness and falseness. The falsity comes from the misconceptions by the Europeans. To the Whites, Africans are nothing but savages. They know nothing of their culture and traditions so they already assume that they are inferior. The truth comes from the Africans whom possess their beliefs, culture, and way of life. Though the Europeans think they are more superior then them, the realism and being of their African culture gives them hope and power to carry on, therefore making them honest and true to themselves.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
The contrasting elements I found were "civilize" and "uncivilize". I think those two elements also represent light and darkness. The "civilize" are considered to be the white men, who are light skinned. The "uncivilized" are known to be the Africans, who are dark skinned. Throughout the novel, the "civilize" and the "uncivilize" are situated side-by-side. I think this shows that there's a middle between the two elements. And in the middle, there's a understanding of the both sides. I think as Marlow continues to travel deeper into the "Heart of Darkness" he gains more understanding of his surrondings.
P.S. I already posted this on the Contrasting Elements thread.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Copy & Pasted from my post on the other thread: For me, I feel like the life and death are contrasting elements in HOD. The river is like a dark matter to me. It's a place of death so I feel like after people fall in or get thrown or pushed into the river they enter a different world, the underworld. Then the people are just doing what they do, living and being happy and whatnot. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the death and life are contrasting elements because the river represents death and people are just filled with life and hope. -Tiffany 1st period
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Two contrasting elements I found or could tell from the pages I've read is that of light and dark. Darkness being the harsh treatment the Africans get when the whites try to colonize in Africa. The light is the river which you can just see and think of it leading you to and adventure and something Marlows curiosity needs.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Much of the "civilized" world viewed Africans as savages and beasts. They were not viewed or treated equally as humans yet they showed the most restraint. Marlow notes the insistent gnaw of hunger. Hunger is enough to drive even the most "civilized" and etiquette abiding gentleman into mad frenzy and extremes for nourishment. Yet, even though the cannibals were starving and outnumbered the whites by a large factor they did not attack. If the most prestigious of man easily succumbs to the primal rage of hunger but the most beastly of "savages" show adamant will and restraint, how can they be called savages?
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Re: Literary Element Homework
The two main contrasting elements are light and darkness. Darkness is like the river and how he is going deeper and deeper. Lightness is like when that Russian dude welcome them. His Journey was good( lightness) and bad(darkness). When he goes deeper, bad things happen like seeing the Helmsman died by a spear and other cons stuff. After he got to the station he was welcome by a Russian man who seem really cheerful and maybe something good might happen. There might be lightness, but maybe not.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
Uhhh okay, I posted earlier, but commonly recurring elements are corruption, manipulation, violence, darkness, and evil. Marlow himself actually demonstrates traits that oppose the common traits of the characters around him. The personalities of Marlow and Kurtz greatly contrast one another: Marlow demonstrates a level of compassion, ambition, curiosity, and overall is a character one might call "good" (even though good in itself is a subjective term). Kurtz appears to have the opposite of all these traits.
The theme I interpreted is that there are no limits to the atrocities human beings are capable of, and the root of this evil can be traced to human psychology, which is why it runs so strongly.
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Re: Literary Element Homework
The two main contrasting elements are lightness and darkness. Africa is filled with dark and gloomy features. The people citizens in Africa suffer from getting beaten and hard work. To balance everything out there is lightness which is the Congo river. Although it is in this dark area it is filled with calmness and peace. There might be a possibility that the "heart" of darkness is actually the river because it is located in the center of Africa, or in the center of darkness.
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