INTRO (1st draft)

In the heart of darkness, by Joseph Conrad, Marlow goes on a journey to Africa with the hopes of taming the wild society and their ways of life. However as he goes deeper and deeper into the jungle of Africa, his reality and his dreams become harder to differentiate. Marlow's mental state is shown through his choppy and scattered speech patterns which signify his confusion and nervousness. He has no idea what lies ahead in the "heart of darkness" and this uncertainty leads his mind to wonder into a dreamlike state. Though the jungle is effecting Marlow's subconscious negatively, he never lets this fearfulness stop him from surviving the journey.

Psychological Significance of Journey

As marrow continues on his his journey, his speech patterns become vital to understanding his unconscious. On the surface of the text, his physical journey is obvious but his psychological journey is what lies beneath. Marlow's choppy and elongated sentences reveal his uncertainty and fear of what he will encounter throughout his travels. He is in the middle of an unknown barbaric jungle and naturally it is effecting his emotions negatively. But despite Marlow's fear he continues his journey and has yet let his unconscious overcome his determination.

Page 430 #6

Marlow uses the painting of "a woman draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch" to represent the journey that lies ahead. Ironically, the woman is holding a torch to guide her through the darkness while at the same time she is blindfolded. Thus representing mallows journey and how he is entering Darkness himself and heat lies ahead is unknown. The blindfold can also puritan to unknown effects that the europeans will have on Africa. Their intentions are obviously positive, however, they might be unaware of other possibilities such as harming the society. In addition, the flame could represent the injustice of what the Europeans are doing to the Africans. But the painting as a whole, most importantly in my opinion, reveals the darkness that lies ahead. They are entering a strange land with no idea of what the future holds for them.

Heart of Darkness (pg.429 #2)

Marlow expands on Rome in "very old times" and how it used to be considered a poor and savage place. He mentions this because Rome in "very old times" is similar to the current conditions in Africa. From this comparison, as well as the title of his tale itself, demonstrates how he believes in the good within the bad - "heart of darkness." Marlow uses the similarities between the the Roman invasion and the English colonization of Africa to illustrate the potential Africa still has to become a beautiful and structured place just as Rome did.

TONE/MOOD

Tone allows the author to reflect different attitudes toward the subject of the work. And mood comes hand in hand with tone as it is the result of tone: the feeling the reader gets due to the tone of the environment. Without tone or mood authors would not be able to include emotion in their works nor would they be able to increase readers' attention by sounding relatable. Literary devices such as diction, figurative language, imagery, syntax, all contribute to the tone and mood of a poem. These devices are then used in the writers choice of style to portray specific emotions. The tone and mood of a text can be difficult to determine without hearing the speaker's tone of voice, however, if you look beneath the surface of the text and analyze the type of words the author is using, the style the author chooses to configure, and the meaning created by figures of speech, you can hopefully decipher the tone/mood the author is trying to portray.

DICTION

Authors utilize diction to portray different environments or meanings to their writing. One way of using diction is to use a word or words that have multiple meanings. That way when analyzing the text, the reader must consider all possible meanings OR how they relate to other aspects of the text. Diction can also effect the tone of a poem such as how Sylvia Plath does in her poem Daddy. She starts off the poem with a sad tone but the poem progresses, she beings to use diction with harsh sounds that portray a more angry tone. Words such as.. Ich, Auschwitz, Taroc, and swastika. Diction allows an author to portray a second meaning below the surface of what is written and to change the tone of the text without actually saying so.

POETIC SOUNDS

Sounds increase the understanding of a poem. Readers are able to catch the symbols or imagery bring expressed by sounds that accentuate the image. Different sounds can create different feelings or tones to a poem. There are sounds such as assonance. An example of this is in the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold: "Where the moon meets the moon-blanched land." Arnold uses assonance here to slow down the line and reveal the overall tone of the poem - Sadness and tranquility.