Download - Heart of darkness and traces of marxism
APPLICATION OF MARXIST LITERARY
THEORY TO HEART OF DARKNESS
SAMI UL HAQ
M PHIL LITERATURE 1ST SEMESTER
LAHORE LEADS UNIVERSITY
MARXIST THEORY IN GENERAL theory based on an interpretation of the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
CHARACTERISTICS OF MARXIST THEORY
Materials condition Peoples
consciousness Social class View of history:
class struggle (evolving conflict between classes with opposing interests) structures each historical period
A sympathy for the working class
Source: www.barnesandnoble.com
MAIN IDEAS IN MARXISM Class
consciousness: The self-awareness of a social class and their capacity to act in its own rational interests
Ideology Exploitation Proletariat Bourgeoisie Hegemony
JOSEPH CONRAD Born 1857 Polish,
Ukrine Studied French and
German,in 1874 become sailor,left for Marceilles
His themes Lonliness and Seeking independence
He made several voyages to congo which provide stuff for ‘Heart of Darkness”
Died August 3,1924 due to heart attack.
Source: www.sothebys.com
HEART OF DARKNESS Heart of
Darkness' was first published as a three-part serial story in Blackwood’s Magazine
Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blackwood's_Magazine_-_1899_cover.jpg
HEART OF DARKNESS
Author Joseph Conrad
CountryUnited
Kingdom
Language English
GenreFrame story,
Novella
PublisherBlackwood's
Magazine
Publication date February 1899
Media typ
ePrint (serial)
Source : http://flavorwire.com/423424/50-incredibly-tough-books-for-extreme-readers
HEART OF DARKNESS one man's
nightmarish journey into the interior of Africa
A Belgian trading company.(Ivory)
A civilization mission of Kurtz which leads him to brutality.
VIDEOSource : Poetry.rapgenius.com
MARXISM IN HEART OF DARKNESS
No traces are found that this novella is written with Marxist point of view but it have the element of Marxism in it. Source:thirdreichoc
culthistory.blogspot.com
“…just close to the chief accountant was laying a sick man . He was groaning but the accountant had no word of sympathy for him. He was all the time waiting for him to die, so that he could not get disturbed in his work.”
Source: aalisthoughts.blogspot.com
POWER OF THE BOURGEOISIE AND EXPLOITATION
EXPLOITATION (CONTD) “Six black men advanced in
a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow, balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind waggled to and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking.”
Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery
CONRADS QUOTES AND ATROCITIES BY BELGIUM IMPERIALISM
''your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others'' - pg 10 penguin classics
Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery
SUPERIORITY AND INFERIORITY
"To the left a clump of trees made a shady spot, where dark things seemed to stir feebly. I blinked, the path was step"Many times throughout the text we see that Conrad describes Africans as "black things", giving the idea of an object and making them sound inferior.
Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery
CUNNINGNESS TO CONTROL NATIVE AFRICANS, KURTZ AS DEMI GOD AND
UNSPEAKABLE RIGHTS "They would
have been even more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house. Only one, the first I had made out, was facing my way"
Source: http://heartofdarknessandapocalypsenow.wikispaces.com/Heart+of+Darkness+Gallery
JOSEPH CONRAD’S QUOTES
“I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men” (Conrad 52).
Source:newsletters.ventura-ca.parentclick.com
ENSLAVEMENT OF NATIVES
. “He (Kurtz) began with the argument that we whites, from the point of development we had arrived at, ‘must necessarily appear to them (savages) in the nature of supernatural beings – we approach them with the might as of a deity… by the simple exercise of our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded’” (Conrad 92).
Source: senseye00.deviantart.com
IVORY WAS A PASSION WITH HIM
“He declared he would shoot me unless I gave him the ivory and then cleared out of the country, because he could do so, and had a fancy for it, and there was nothing on earth to prevent him killing whom he jolly well pleased. And it was true, too. I gave him the ivory. What did I care!” (Conrad 100).
Source: Indialeak.com
SELF CONFESSION OF BRUTALITY
Kurtz written a report “Suppression of savage customs” ,a note was added at the foot of the last page “Exterminates all the brutes”
“EXTERMINATE ALL THE BRUTES”
MATERIALISM IN KURTZ
“He was hungry of Ivory.Ivory was a passion with him” Kurtz deep
voice from behind the curtains:
“save me, save the ivory”
Source: Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
CONCLUSION If we consider the roll of
Bourgeoisie(Imperialists) with respect to Proletariat(Native Africans), their abuse and exploitation of the natives, their desire for wealth, The native Africans were forced to work in their factories- we can easily termed Heart of Darkness as Marxist Novel, but it fails to arise natives to raise their voice against the imperialists, which is the important aspect of Marxist theory.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
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