The Dangers of the Jugle- TD Simons 5th pd

The protagonist of heart of darkness, Marlow, shares the story of his adventure to the Congo. Marlow shares this story to the Captain, accountant and lawyer of the ship they are currently on, but the story is told to us by the unknown narrator. This frame story was written by Joseph Conrad in 1902.

Heart of Darkness, at a glance looks like an easy read with the minimal amount of pages, but don't let it full you. This material is dense and hard to digest. Conrad's style of writing jumps from one story to another within this book which has the reader on it's toes. Going back and forth between Thames and the Congo is a refreshing way to tell the story. Marlow now has had time to process his journey and the effects it had on him and others. If we were reading the story as it was happening it would be completely different. He would not have been able to digest all of what he saw clearly since it was a new scene to his eyes. It would of been more opinionated and less analysis. 

Marlow explains that he always wanted to explore the "blank spaces" on the map. He also describes his dream to become a pilot. There is an open spot for a pilot in the Congo since one was recently killed. It was a pilot named Fresleven, who was one of the nicest pilots, and was killed over two hens. This warns the reader of the dangers of the African jungle before Marlow journeys there, so it doesn't seem like a harmless vacation, but rather an adventure. While Marlow and his steam boat are on their way down the Congo they are told of a man named Mr. Kurtz, who is in charge of the most successful ivory post. Marlow also hears other interesting rumors of this mysterious man which could be a foreshadow to their first encounter as friends or enemies. 

While reading this I also had to keep in mind that Conrad's audience was the reserved, ignorant people of western Europe. Ignorant, meaning little was know of this foreign and seemingly barbaric land. I was also perplexed that Conrad could make all of these assumptions without stepping foot into the Congo. As a writer who wants to make a difference politically or universally should speak from experience rather than research. Because he never went before writing the book, false accusations as well as racist remarks come through the narrative. They are not seen as racist though because of his tone towards the other Europeans and the true evil that they are- their hearts filled with darkness. This was one of Achebe's main concerns that he addressed in his essay towards Joseph Conrad. Conrad was praised back in Europe for his inventive way on perceiving the new foreign jungle and his kin who poorly treated the natives, but Achebe could see through that and called him racist in the way he described the natives and their culture. 

Mother Mary

The summer before sophomore year we had to read one of Freud's books which was a collection of his studies, one being the "Interpretation of Dreams". When I read this study I assumed Freud would translate dreams and tell his patients that they needed to decrease the amount of stress in their life or something mild like that, but wow was I off, Freud directed each patient's dream to the tiniest detail and could trace it back to the libido, or the sex drive, even though they had these dreams when they were children. I was stunned that he could relate the smallest details like a girl's yellow dress or climbing a tree back to the patients sexual manners. But most of all I disgusted at humans in general and that we could be possible of these thoughts subconsciously at such a young age. Why so young? Why so driven? Reading Freud's discoveries, I could only agree with some of them because of how disgusted I was, but now I am slowly accepting more and more of those ideals and teachings that almost anything can symbolize sex.

Foster explains that since these discoveries were thrown out in the world, literature has used them to their advantage to symbolize sex when they couldn't show sex. He reminds us that they weren't always allowed to explain the actual sexual intercourse, but instead use sexual references like a key and a bowl. Also, on the screen directors would use specific shots to indicate what was going to happen and foreshadow what could happen. For example the shot would be a train entering a tunnel and leaving it to the viewers for translation. These symbolic references to sex were encoded daily to protect innocence. It is something we don't cherish enough and throw away to quickly. Innocence should be praised rather than discouraged. For example the Catholic church honors and praises the most innocent and pure human they know- the Mother of their God, Mary. I think its important that writers preserve this innocence by continuing to write in a symbolic manner that allows only those looking for it to understand. If they don't then we would be desensitizing the youth and allowing for undesired behavior  because of the knowledge gained from literature and eventually the media.

The one who got the whipped cream in the kisser

After reading this chapter I became a more aware viewer of the lesser important characters in movies and I learned that Foster is right. Yesterday, my dad was watching the over-dramatized and Hollywood-enhanced movie, "Into the Storm". This movie shows the journey of a camera crew chasing a violent and dangerous series of tornadoes. One of the crew members, Jacob, was not fully on board with the mission, but the two other main actors convinced him to continue with the project. The next scene shows Jacob getting to close to the overwhelming, flaming tornado for the shot and all of a sudden he is swooped up and never seen again. As Foster explains, the script writer included this so the main characters can grow, learn and develop. But poor Jacob, he was sweet and innocent character that just stood a little to close to the heroes.

In this chapter, Foster changes topics, and he explains to us that "characters are not people". We cannot think they are real ordinary people that you would see strolling down the street. They are creations of the authors imagination, that are then adjusted and filtered through ours (the reader) to form our own personal image and ideal of this character. Foster tells us its okay to care for the characters because we created them, with the author's help of course.

Every time I finish a television series I'm left with sadness and not because there aren't anymore episodes, but because I am going to miss the characters that I have enhanced through my imagination. When you invest time into characters, you add your own thoughts to what your idea is of what the character does when it is not specified. We are "reshaping characters", so we can make sense of them.

Foster switches gears and again focuses on the heroes' friends. He references to the classic "pie in face" bit. Someone is aiming the pie at the youthful naive hero, but he ducks and hits the wealthy woman standing behind him. I go so excited when I read this because I automatically could reference this to one of my favorite movies- "Singin' in the Rain"! They are all at the after party and Don is giving Kathy a hard time at the afterparty so she aims a pie at Don's face. He quickly reacts and ducks leaving Lina with a "whip cream in the kisser".

When I was reading this chapter I all of a sudden felt bad for all the characters, besides the hero. Foster assured me that they had small parts and smaller significance for a reason. He made four good points that include focus, where reader's attention needs to be directed towards, labor, to much work to develop each character to that extent, purpose, too much detail would confuse the purpose of each character and length, all that detail would turn a novel into the length of the Bible. My favorite explanation that Foster gave was that, "its nonsense with a purpose". Even though it seems unfair that the lesser roles get the shorter straw, its always purposeful.

For Narnia!!! - By TD Simons

Foster opens the book with a chapter that anyone of any age can relate to- a knight in shining armor on a noble quest. He goes deeper and explains that even a trivial trip to the grocery store can be portrayed as a quest. This insight gives greater value to everyday life and a deeper meaning to buying bread, white bread. This thorough example also fulfilled each of the five required parts of the quest account. I believe that the explanation is a very in-depth, if somewhat unnecessary, examination of a petty shopping trip. However, this quest mind-set allows its followers to view other minute journeys as more complex and meaningful experiences. For example, if I walk to the end of my block (an action) to get a breath of fresh air (a stated reason), during which I stumble over a few stones (issues) and am chased away by a large dog (nemesis) after catching a glimpse of my super hot neighbor (princess), I would discover that the real reason I was meant to go on the journey down the block was to reach the decision that I would never adopt a large dog because they do not like me, which is a very valuable snippet of self-knowledge that I acquired.
As explained in the Disconnected Writer's blog article, "Archetypal Literary Criticism," "The Heroic Quest Pattern is the most common archetypal pattern found in literature. The quest pattern reflects the hero or protagonist’s life journey. Just as circumstances in our lives are different, the circumstances faced by literary characters are also different. On our journeys, we have similar experiences, but not the same ones. Our lives go through stages." This quote agrees with much of what I have stated, aside from the implications that the quest is a "life journey," giving it the connotation that it must be much more glorious and magnificent than a trip to the grocery store for white bread or a stroll down the block.
Another riveting example of the literature quest is found in the many wonderful tales of Narnia. The young Pevensie children travel to Narnia to escape the boredom of seeking temporary refuge in a dull old house. While there, they encounter a wicked witch, an easily labeled nemesis, who opens the doorways to many challenges and trials for them, from betrayals to deaths. At the close of their lengthy journey, the children learn about the importance of sticking to their family and to what they know is true.
Foster's first chapter to his insightful book had many readers, including myself, very intrigued with his brilliant analyzation. It caught me off guard, with a pleasant surprise, due to the way he so eloquently spun a small action, one I may never have thought of as quest-worthy material, into a heaping bale of golden hay, like a modern-day Rumplestiltskin. This golden tale allows readers to view journeys of all kind as an odyssey of a quest, from its original meanings and destinations to its trials and tribulations all the way to the final realization and reception of self-knowledge.

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