NRJ #1 and #2

NRJ #1
Light and Dark

Heart of Darkness is novel that is full of all the implications and consequences of corruption that can take over a man’s heart. This was a very interesting story to me however I must admit that on first reading I did not find it anywhere near as interesting as I did after the second time through. Joseph Conrad presents us with so much imagery that it is hard to wrap your mind around it all in a once over reading. On further reading the light and dark theme throughout the story begin to reveal and distinguish them as much as day and night. Marlow starts out full of life and a youthful exuberance for adventure. He saw an opportunity to go see Africa which was represented on a map he saw as a boy as “a blank space of delightful mystery- a white patch for a boy to dream gloriously over,” (Page 8). Then he notes that “it had become a place of darkness,” (page 8).
In this passage of the story on page 17, Conrad so succinctly describes the stark contrasts, as well similarities of the light and darkness. “Then, glancing down, I saw a face near my hand. The black bones reclined at full length with one shoulder against the tree, and slowly the eyelids rose and the sunken eyes looked up at me, enormous and vacant, a kind of blind, white flicker in the depths of the orbs, which died out slowly. The man seemed young -- almost a boy -- but you know with them it's hard to tell. I found nothing else to do but to offer him one of my good Swede's ship's biscuits I had in my pocket. The fingers closed slowly on it and held -- there was no other movement and no other glance. He had tied a bit of white worsted round his neck -- Why? Where did he get it? Was it a badge -- an ornament -- a charm -- a propitiatory act? Was there any idea at all connected with it? It looked startling round his black neck, this bit of white thread from beyond the seas.” The flicker of white in the orbs of his eyes represents the flicker of hope he had for his very life, then they die out slowly. The white worsted from afar around his neck, white with hope and idealism of colonialism yet tied around his neck like a stock of bondage.
So much imagery, I have to stop or I will rewrite this book!


NRJ #2
Power of the Feminine
In this story, the women carry a significant role but are viewed by many as powerless and weak. I did not find this to be the case for any of the women that Conrad wrote about. The first woman that I recollect in the story is the Aunt. She is an agreeable woman who is referred to by Marlow as “a dear enthusiastic soul!” (Page 8). She knows people in high places and is able to pull strings for her nephew by influence. This tells me she is not just some frail little weak woman holed up in her parlor. The Aunt symbolizes everything happy, jolly and of good intention. She sees for her nephew an wonderful opportunity, an adventure for her young nephew. She symbolizes the idealism of colonization.
The second time we are exposed to women in the novella is when Marlow goes to the Company Office to take care of his paperwork and runs into the two women who sat knitting. They did not engage in conversation with him but they had the power to make him feel uneasy. (Pages 9-11). These women symbolize the evil to which Marlow will be exposed as he signs his life over to the Company. There will be danger and all manner of evil that he will not only witness but even to the point of almost taking his very life.