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Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 1:05 am
by dadeng3
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 :D

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 1:05 am
by honeychai
I agree with xmagickk. The river and Africa may be contrasting elements, like xmagickk said, the river is peaceful and quiet compared to Africa which is filled with mysteries and chaos. Both of these elements connect to 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 darkness. Which means he is gaining more about it.

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 1:36 am
by juyu5
Two contrasting elements that I see is Africans and Whites which are also the uncivilized and civilized. They make Africans don't even seem like humans, just objects and it shows the Africans as innocent while Whites as evil. The purpose that Conrad puts in it is to show what really happened back then and it's a better understanding for us readers to know it.

-Julian from 1st period :).

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 1:48 am
by iflorax3
I agree with what Cindy said. I think 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.

- Flora Wai 1st Period. :)

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:06 pm
by IdaYu
I agree with Clara. The two contrasting elements can be "lightness" and "darkness." The light represents civilization (the white men) or the civilized side of the world and the dark represents the uncivilized (Africans) or savage side of the world.


---Ida Yu, 1st period.

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:39 pm
by catherinek
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.

-Catherine K 1st period.

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 10:10 pm
by aaronyuu
Two contrasting elements i see is the superego and the id. The id representing the Africans and the soon to be Europeans and the superego before the European's minds were corrupted. The reason I said that the id represents the soon to be Europeans is because their minds are slowly getting corrupted by the uncivilized, inhumane Africans. Before they set off to Africa they were civilized men but their journey is creating a monster inside them.

Aaron Yu 1st Period.

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 10:30 pm
by MattLeung1121
I feel that two contrasting elements are evilness and corruption. There is a difference between the two things. You can see the difference within Marlow and the other Europeans. The Europeans are evil in the mind and therefore colonize Africa. However Marlow is taken over by the corruption, he has a good heart but his mind is corrupted by the journey. He had wanted to meet Kurt so badly yet he knew it may not happen. As he voyaged into the jungle, Marlow just slowly grew into a monster.

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 12:01 am
by Jkwok
I see the river in and of itself to be a huge contrast. At some points, it is very dangerous, causing many troubles like Marlow's shipwreck which inevitably led to him being stranded for three months, and the other time where the path the crew took down the river resulted in an attack by natives. At other times, the river is quite peaceful and does not cause much trouble. In that way, the river has a great contrasting element. The importance is to recognize the river as in a way moving the plot forward and in ways acting like the antagonist of Marlow's journey.

Re: Contrasting Elements

Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 12:40 am
by nikkodnp
Two literary elements that i noticed in Heart Of Darkness is power and the uncivilized people. When the Europeans are in Africa, they use their power to colonize the population. The uncivilized people would be the Africans who get taken over by the Euopeans

Dominic Pardilla