HEART OF DARKNESS Joseph Conrad Pages 11 to

HEART OF DARKNESS Joseph Conrad Pages: 11 to 20

Manal Alshaya Pages: 11 -12 -13

‘I flew around like mad to get ready, and before forty- eight hours I was crossing the Channel to show myself to my employers, and sign the contract. In a very few hours I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre. Prejudice no doubt. I had no difficulty in finding the Company’s offices. It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade. ’ ’A narrow and deserted street in deep shadow, high houses, innumerable windows with venetian blinds, a dead silence, ’ Marlow in Brussels for an interview with the boss of a company. A place which was outwardly very pleasant and religious but unlike was disgusting and corrupt.

‘Two women, one fat and the other slim, sat on straw-bottomed chairs, knitting black wool. The slim one got up and walked straight at me— still knitting with downcast eyes—and only just as I began to think of getting out of her way’ His portrayal of the two knitting women is very interesting and it has a symbolic purpose also. Marlow sees these two women as supernatural beings presiding over the fate of human beings who go to unknown land face unknown dangers.

‘In about forty-five seconds I found myself again in the waiting-room with the compassionate secretary, who, full of desolation and sympathy, made me sign some document. I believe I undertook amongst other things not to disclose any trade secrets. Well, I am not going to. ’ ’I began to feel slightly uneasy. You know I am not used to such ceremonies, and there was something ominous in the atmosphere. ’ ’The old one sat on her chair. ’ ‘She glanced at me above the glasses. The swift and indifferent placidity of that look troubled me. ’ Marlow met the boss and a secretary took Marlow to sign some documents which required him not to disclose to anybody any of the trade secrets of the company.

’She seemed to know all about them and about me, too. An eerie feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful. Often far away there I thought of these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool’ ‘the cheery and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes. AVE! Old knitter of black wool. ’ Marlow went to the company doctor to get himself medically examined. The doctor, an old man felt his pulse and said that his pulse is good for the purpose.

Alanood Alfares Pages: 13 -14 -15

‘The old doctor felt my pulse, evidently thinking of something else the while. ‘Good, good for there, ’ he mumbled, and then with a certain eagerness asked me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather surprised, I said Yes, when he produced a thing like calipers and got the dimensions back and front and every way, taking notes carefully. ’ ‘Famous. Interesting, too. ’ He gave me a searching glance, and made another note. ‘Ever any madness in your family? ’ he asked, in a matter-of-fact tone. I felt very annoyed. ‘Is that question in the interests of science, too? ’ ‘It would be, ’ he said, without taking notice of my irritation, ‘interesting for science to watch the mental changes of individuals, on the spot, ’

I was also one of the Workers, with a capital— you know. Something like an emissary of light, something like a lower sort of apostle. There had been a lot of such rot let loose in print and talk just about that time, and the excellent woman, living right in the rush of all that humbug, got carried off her feet. She talked about ‘weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways, ’ till, upon my word, she made me quite uncomfortable. I ventured to hint that the Company was run for profit. You forget, dear Charlie, that the laborer is worthy of his hire, ’ she said, brightly. It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset.

Marlow signs his contract, and the secretary takes him off to be checked over by a doctor. The doctor takes measurements of his skull, remarking that he unfortunately doesn’t get to see those men who make it back from Africa. More important, the doctor asks Marlow if there any madness in his family! then he tells Marlow, “the changes take place inside. ” The doctor is interested in learning anything that may give Belgians an advantage in colonial situations.

The second figure presiding over Marlow’s departure is the Company’s doctor. The doctor is perhaps the ultimate symbol of futility: he uses external measurements to try to know what he admits are internal changes; moreover, his subjects either don’t return from Africa or, if they do, don’t return to see him. Thus his work and his advice are both totally useless. He is the first of a series of functionaries with pointless jobs that Marlow will encounter as he travels toward and then up the Congo River. With all formalities completed, Marlow stops off to say goodbye to his aunt, who expresses her hope that he will aid in the civilization of savages during his service to the Company, “weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways. ” Well aware that the Company operates for profit and not for the good of humanity, and bothered by his aunt’s naïveté, Marlow takes his leave of her. Before boarding the French steamer that is to take him to Africa, Marlow has a brief but strange feeling about his journey: the feeling that he is setting off for the center of the earth.

This section of the book also introduces another set of concerns, this time regarding women. Heart of Darkness has been attacked by critics as misogynistic, and there is some justification for this point of view. Marlow’s aunt does express a naïvely idealistic view of the Company’s mission, and Marlow is thus right to fault her for being “out of touch with truth. ” However, he phrases his criticism so as to make it applicable to all women, suggesting that women do not even live in the same world as men and that they must be protected from reality.

Moreover, the female characters in Marlow’s story are extremely flat and stylized. In part this may be because Marlow uses women symbolically as representatives of “home. ” Marlow associates home with ideas gotten from books and religion rather than from experience. Home is the seat of naïveté, prejudice, confinement, and oppression. It is the place of people who have not gone out into the world and experienced, and who therefore cannot understand. Nonetheless, the women in Marlow’s story exert a great deal of power. The influence of Marlow’s aunt does not stop at getting him the job but continues to echo through the Company’s correspondence in Africa. At the Company’s headquarters, Marlow encounters a number of apparently influential women, hinting that all enterprises are ultimately female-driven.

Rehab Alotibi Pages: 16 -17 -18

'I left in a Freanch steamer and she called in every blamed port they have out there , for, as far as I could see the sole purpose of landing soldiers and custom-hous officers. ’

Once I remember , we came upon a man -of- war anchored off the caost. there wasn't even a shed there , and she was shelling the bush. It appears the French had one of thier wars going on thereabouts. Her ensingn drooped limp like a rag ; the muzzles of the long six-inch guns stuk out all over the low hull ; the greasy , slimy swell swung her up lazily and let her down , swaying her thin masts. In the empty immensity of earth sky , and waters , there she was , incomprehensible , firing into a continent. Pop , would go one of the six -inch guns ; a small flame would dart and vanish , a little white smoke would dissappear , a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding. . there was a camp of natives- he called then enemies hidden out of sight somewhere.

“we called at some more places …. they handed over some letters "catacomb" trade was going as if it comb”. “But the general sense of vague and oppressive wonder grew upon me. It was like weary pilgrimage amongst hints for nightmares. only a sense of wonder filled Marlow's mind”.