Heart of Darkness- Symbol or Theme

For a symbol, I think I'll analyze the Russian. He's the guy that adored Kurtz, with all the rags sewed on his clothes. He's not just another loony bin there for space filling, at least I don't think he is. Firstly, his clothes are patched up with numerous multicolored pieces of rags that were lying around. Rags that Kurtz had lying around. I'm going to guess that this stands for the fact that he absorbed everything that Kurtz said, did, was. He didn't bother to express himself, he simply let Kurtz fill him in with everything and anything he pleased. He refused to think for himself, to see things as they were. He didn't think that there were problems with what they were doing, that they should stop and find a better way, he simply ignored their problems and covered it up with whatever Kurtz would ramble about. He covered up Kurtz's faults with his lectures. And he wouldn't suffer any bad remarks about Kurtz. He was more or less Kurtz's rag doll, a puppet to ensure that all people give him at least some degree of respect that he believes he deserves. He is completely under Kurtz's power.

Marlow describes him as someone "ruled by the the spirit of adventure," and that Marlow actually envied him a little for it. The Russian more or less is able to live only because he's fascinated with moving along, to do more and to assist Kurtz. He mindlessly accepted everything that Kurtz was, and he went with it and moved on. It's almost as if his indifference to good and evil, though primarily evil, was the only thing that kept him alive. His purpose and objective has been dictated to him by Kurtz, and he survives the moral jungle as easily as he survives the actual one. All he is concerned about is his superior, regardless of character. Innocence is often depicted as being a sort of incorruptible invincibility, and Marlow attributes that to his existence. If he wasn't as strong-willed and wasn't along only for the ride, as it were, he would have ended up just as crazy as Kurtz. Of course, this isn't to say he's not troubled by it.

The Russian is a strange person in that he shifts between being exceedingly happy and then overwhelmingly depressed. His "innocence and adventure" seem to contribute to this behavior. What he suffers from is the desire to go on conflicting with his conscience. Though he accepts that Kurtz is corrupted, that doesn't mean he approves of it. He not only respects Kurtz but fears him as well. He seems to be understanding more and more that Kurtz is lost, but is too afraid to stop him from destroying himself. His conscience is telling him something is terribly wrong, but he also wants to see what Kurtz is capable of doing. He desperately wants to succeed with Kurtz, and as a result cannot himself step away from the jungle. He stays behind as well, now hooked on what Kurtz was hooked on, but for a different reason. He now wants to finish what Kurtz started. As a result, he is also doomed to the darkness. He is both afraid of it but at the same time is intrigued by it and wants to see it through to the end. He is eager to succeed but nervous of what lies ahead. His innocence seems to have created two personalities within him, expressive of his likely conflict of Kurtz's deeds and the surrounding darkness versus the great things yet to be done and the rewards that are sure to follow.

Heart of Darkness- Passage Analysis

On page 143 of Heart of Darkness (the book, of course, where HoD comes second) Kurtz rants a bit about the fact that he's being taken away from the jungle due to his illness:
"Save me! -save the ivory, you mean. Don't tell me. Save me! Why, I've had to save you. You are interrupting my plans now. Sick! Sick! Not so sick as you would like to believe. Never mind. I'll carry my ideas out yet -I will return. I'll show you what can be done. You with your peddling notices -you are interfering with me. I will return. I..."

Sheesh, he just can't shut up and save his strength, can he? Not in the jungle, at least. Well, it's obvious that he's that obsessed with his objective, that immersed in darkness, that he can't even see he's dying. He doesn't even think he'll be a bit weak during the voyage out. In fact, by his statement that he's "not as sick as they'd like to believe" he seems to convey the message that they'd prefer him to be on death's door. Though he actually is, he's more concerned about the ivory. He's convinced that Marlow and the rest of the people are here only to steal his ivory. Now, this actually has some basis, but Kurtz really doesn't know if it has any basis or not. He's simply paranoid and convinced the world's out to get him. He believes the others would want him to be deathly ill so they can get the vast fortune in ivory that he had amassed. Kurtz would rather remain in the jungle, ill, than to leave and risk the loss of his grand scheme. He realizes this later when he cries out how he's waiting to die. He realizes that he was that concerned with riches that he would have stayed in the jungle and died, that he fought those trying to rescue him. All he was worried about were his plans.

Kurtz also mentions how he was the one that was saving Marlow, not the other way around. He was that confident he was in control of the situation. He believed that he was the sole reason why the rescuers hadn't already been killed by the natives. He thinks he's the greatest hero of all for existing. This is emphasized when he crawls out and tries to go back into the jungle, and then threatens Marlow, only continuing to state how he had great plans. He was also carried out by the natives on a bed, as if he's the kind of person who would normally get such treatment. Kurtz has been treated like a god, more or less, by the natives, and that power has gone right to his head. He's convinced that he's invincible and that he commands the entire jungle, and he's going to do whatever's necessary to stay and continue his dominion over the overgrown depths. He certainly rules over more than one type of depths, that's for sure.

One other thing that he stresses is that he will return. He hasn't even begun to leave, yet he's already screaming how he won't be gone for long. He's dying, and all he can say is that he'll be back. Either he's quite the confident and optimistic fellow or his body's running off without his mind. I really don't think he even left that jungle, quite frankly. He was grabbing on to that darkness with everything he had. He wasn't going to leave, no matter what. This was his home. This is where he felt he belonged. Furthermore, he stressed that he'd show what CAN be done. Not what should be done, but what can be done. He isn't thinking of ethics or reasonable actions, only what he believed was physically possible. He was convinced that he'd rise higher and higher than where he already was. Again, it's either wishful thinking or an insatiable greed. And I doubt he's the kind of fellow who could look on the bright side without going blind. In fact, he's already blind. He's convinced that he can become richer, more powerful, more important...he's just eager for more. He doesn't know when to stop.

In short, this paragraph shows how crazy Kurtz is. Even as he lay dying, with others trying to rescue him, he's convinced that he's perfectly fine and that he's in command of the whole situation. He believes automatically that everyone's after his fortune in ivory, and that they all wish him dead. He's against the world, and that he will show them all up in time, when he returns home to the station in the center of the jungle. He has far more waiting for him on his return. Kurtz no longer wants the rest of the world. He just wants his ivory and his adoring natives. He wants that absolute power, and there isn't anything in the world that can get him away from that darkness. He's completely beyond any help.

Heart of Darkness- Reaction to the novel

This book is, I'd say, approximately 2.39 times as dense as the jungle it describes. I am sorry, but as good as the message is, the book is a little boring. I think we can all admit that. Not one of the most likable books I've read this year, though it definitely allows for in depth complicated analysis. As a result of this depth I am glad the book was not longer otherwise it would take way too long to completely decode. Even now I'm not quite sure I've got every little detail down. Okay, I likely don't get most of the little details and about a fifth of the big details. Still, it carries a good general overall message.

While I don't believe that everyone in the world can end up as maniacal and demented as Kurtz after a few months/years/seconds in some terrible place, I do believe that everyone has some degree of darkness within them that can manifest itself under the proper conditions. By this I mean that everyone has at least some part of them that when it comes out makes them at the very least a little cranky. Nobody's perfect, and everyone's got something in them that allows for grudge-holding, general irritation, and that urge to be a mischievous little bugger and do things that drive everyone else nuts. Others can be a little more severe and head genocides, harsh dictatorships, and even try to bring about the end of the world, but usually things aren't as bad as that. Look around the world. No, correction, look up the rest of the world via Internet, don't endanger yourselves by traveling the world, please don't. If you check, you will see that there are many places where crimes against humanity are committed, governments are corrupt, and crime soars. There might even be some examples here at home. Extreme examples, at least, the small ones are common everywhere. Darkness can be symbolic of any amount of hate towards other people, any will to do wrong to them. All people have it, whether they'd like to admit it or not.

Now, the one thing not mentioned in the book is the fact that all people have light in them as well. All people, even the most corrupt ones. Everyone has some degree of light, not necessarily proportional to the darkness. There is no secret formula to calculate it, all you need to know is that it's there somehow in some amount. All around the world, you hear those random acts of kindness? That's the light in people. Ebenezer Scrooge is a prime example of that light, and goes from being a complete @#$%@ to a kind and generous person under the proper circumstances. (i.e., being threatened by three spiritual beings) All people can become corrupted, but can also return to goodness. If they make a good effort. Heart of Darkness stresses that darkness is a cliff of no return, but in reality there is hope. Of course, it's a slim hope if you've really gone over the edge and are unwilling to change at heart. Scrooge changed because he was chicken and because he really didn't want to die, yet Kurtz perished due to the fact that he really would have just gone back to his old ways and he knew it. He chose to remain and die in darkness. One has to choose for himself. Or herself, my bad. And the choice must be made quickly, and definitely, because change can be exceedingly difficult. All people have that choice, and must choose wisely.

P.S. I can see this coming from a while away, NO comments on how Scrooge's name is spelled if it's wrong above.

Invisible Man- Symbol Analysis

One of the major symbols of Invisible Man is the briefcase the narrator carries around with him in the novel. The briefcase's purpose changes several times, and this also changes the meaning of the symbol slightly. In the beginning, the narrator obtains the briefcase at the battle royal. This grueling fight of black men versus black men, blinded and then electrocuted seems to stand as the distraction that keeps his mind away from the reality that he lives in. During the fight, he realized that the men in the arena shouldn't be fighting each other. They should instead be working together. However, at the end of the fight, he makes his speech and receives the briefcase. At this, he forgets everything he realized during the fight. He now is filled with false hopes and dreams, which he is willing to follow blindly even though he realized not even five minutes earlier that there was a more important issue at hand. Even after realizing the gold prizes on the electrified rug were fake, he still believes in the gold mine in his hands. The briefcase is a representation of the dream he wishes to live that will never come.

Later in the novel, as he prepares to leave Mary's house, he shatters a bank that is fashioned in the design of a black man that ate the coins put in his hands. The narrator destroys the racial insult and then, to cover up what he'd done, hides it in his briefcase. He hides it in with his former hopes and dreams. Perhaps this stands for the fact that he considers his former dreams just as offensive as the bank, that he perhaps finds his past and the people he used to know just as much of an insult as the bank. It could also stand for the idea that whatever his dreams will be, they will most likely contain prejudiced people with lots of money. This, of course, turned out to be true, as he later encountered the Brotherhood that soon betrayed him, and they can hardly be considered average folk considering the parties they held.

When the narrator later acquires Clifton's Dancing Sambo doll, he ends up eventually storing it in there as well. Again, he stores a racially insulting caricature in with what were his former hopes and dreams. By now the briefcase also contains the papers from the Brotherhood, such as his new name, his instructions, his work, and other things. This could be symbolic that his new hope is one of despair and prejudice, that he's actually chasing something that he should really be trying to avoid. Perhaps it might stand for the fact that the Brotherhood's inaction was what destroyed Clifton in the end, and sought then to erase him from history despite his sacrifice. Maybe it symbolizes the fact that Clifton's possible hopes and dreams were consigned to the same place, position, and importance, as the organization that had sorely disappointed and angered him.

Lastly, the briefcase was used as a weapon to escape Ras. This could be almost like saying that the events of his past, all of his former hopes and dreams gone sour and all the insults made against him, in the end strengthen him and allow him to escape the hatred of others. All the events of his past have empowered him, and he has learned from them well enough to move on and start again. Perhaps the fact that he used it against Ras's henchmen can be symbolic of who he really sees Ras helping.

One other thing of importance is the fact that the superintendent that awarded it to the narrator after the battle royal stating that it would at some point "be filled with important papers that will help shape the destiny of your people" (Ellison 32). The generous donor of such a destiny-bearing carrier? Shad Whitmore. No guesses as to what is implied by one with a name made up of the words "white" and "more." Obviously this is a nod to who controls the destiny of the narrator for the majority of the novel.

Invisible Man- Passage Analysis

One particularly interesting passage was the story the narrator overheard about Ras near the end of the book. Besides it being one of the funnier ones in the novel, it also gives as little insight into the crazy Ras the Destroyer. The passage details how Ras was charging around demanding that everyone rally up and destroy, I would assume, every last piece of white influence in the city. This demand is contrasted by the way the two people are talking about him. Ras is giving orders as to what everyone should be doing, as if he was in charge. He apparently seems to believe he's the destined leader of his people. The person telling the story stresses that it was a direct command. However, the two people seems to have little respect for him. Both refer to him as if he was a complete lunatic, which conveys an impression that the event really has nothing to do with Ras. This is backed up by the fact that someone else leaned out a window and joked at him. In response, Ras takes out a gun and begins blasting away up at the window. He really wants to be in control, but he really isn't. The people of the community could care less about him.

His appearance also seems to stress a backward leap for blacks. He dressed up as a tribal leader, with a lion skin on his back and a spear and shield in his hands. His additional riding of a black horse makes for an image of actual Africa, and even the storyteller remarks that his spear is "one of the kind you see them African guys carrying in the moving pictures" (Ellison 563). Ras seems obsesses with his alleged African roots, and combined with his behavior throughout the novel it becomes apparent that Ras really believes that the black race belongs more in Africa than in America. His actions seem to say that everything relative to the white man is offensive and dangerous to the black man, and that the white must be purged so the black can continue to live in the way he was meant. He even charges at armed police officers with the spear, rather than his gun. He seems eager to make a point.

Speaking of points, he sure seems to have gotten his across, or rather in, the police. During the attack on the police officers, he rears up his horse and then charges straight at them, and proceeds to spear them almost immediately on arrival. He manages to hit one down for sure, and then tears off to charge them again, only to be met by gunfire and then throws the spear before running off. The fact that his charge was that successful seems to state something. While in the middle of the cops, he attempted to use the spear while the cops attempted to pistol-whip him. The pistol punches were deflected by the shield, and the spear couldn't work up close, but they still continued to fight. They abandoned all reason and began to slap each other with brute strength. Rather than make an attempt to stop him on the first charge (because I highly doubt the police would not be able to see a large man with a spear and shield on a big black horse in the middle of the street) they perhaps even underestimated him? They weren't even able to kill him on the second charge, and whether or not the spear connected with anyone is unmentioned. Ras actually could claim this as a victory. This may be a statement about the underestimation of blacks by whites, it could be attempting to show that the police were less capable than a psychopath like Ras and really worthless, it might even be to say that the police were just as brutal as Ras considering they waited until he was up close to them before trying to pistol-whip him. And also, let's not forget the reference to the famous cowboy hero. Now that could very well mean that Ras, or someone as violent and fanatic as he, will soon return to vanquish his foes. A reminder that the violence will almost assuredly continue.

Invisible Man- Reaction to the Novel

This book receives a moderate reaction from me, compared to the other novels we have read. It lacks much in the way of entertainment, unlike Player Piano, but on the other hand is not filled with much material that would make a reader uneasy (at least not me) and is nowhere near as dense as, say, Heart of Darkness. The novel seems to be pretty well-written, serious enough to convey messages and inspire thought yet not so serious as to put one off literature. Of course, it does convey some disturbing attitudes based on race that may seem like ages ago, but really exist today in some degree or another.

Throughout the novel, there is a constant struggle of either identity or of race. Though really one could sometimes put the identity in with race. There have always been incidences where certain people view others in a different light due to skin color, or even don't view them at all. The anonymous narrator suffers from this as the Brotherhood frowns upon the individual work (and success) done by the narrator's actions and speeches. They attempt to forge him back squarely within their control, solely because he is black, because they wish for him to be their personal public image. They also, however, leave everything to him. He seems to be needed to be invisible only when prestige must be awarded, yet the popular face of the people when work needs to be done. Sounds much like slavery of the past. One could seem to liken it to today, when workers are pushed to the hardest degree to serve their companies, then left out of the final picture to deliver the most praise to the corporate heads. (I don't want to use the magic-elf metaphor, but basically that's what it is.) This happens not only due to race but any different social classes, when one group considers itself superior to another. Another prime example is the Japanese-American Nisei unit of World War II. Though it is credited with having been the most highly decorated unit in the army, it isn't widely known that the unit also participated in several important battles and is actually the group that liberated Dachau. They had to wait, though, for a white unit to "officially" liberate the camp. Needless to say, they receive no credit.

However, there are a couple indications in the novel of a more prominent racism of today's age. NOTE!!!!!! I ask that you listen to the following statement! I am all for protection of and

rights to minorities, and do acknowledge that racism exists in the world! However...

During the eviction and the later chat with Brother Jack, and also with the Ras conversations, the belief that all white men are against the blacks is somewhat expressed. The woman's husband tries to tell her that the bank agent is responsible for the evictions, and not the men sent out to empty them from the house. She instead states that all the white men are against the blacks. Brother Jack takes offense when the narrator brings up race, and the great Destroyer also attempts to express the belief that true freedom comes without any sign of white around. (he emphasized this by hefting around a tribal spear and shield) There is a little bit of thought around today that the black people are fighting a tremendous battle against the white race. Again, I acknowledge that there is racism, but I highly doubt that it resides deep in the hearts of every human being. Lines are drawn a bit too thickly between black and white, and every other event regarding a black person injured or slighted seems to expose some racial plot against the black people. I think that perhaps the battle against a group of racists has evolved to a crusade against an entire race of people, and that not every case needs to be a racial struggle. If it's going to be the classic excuse that a man does not get a job or is arrested and convicted solely because he is black, then I believe that we may be entering a period where the prejudice is reversed. In this day and age, anyone who is white needs to carefully watch their mouths, because one wrong word will get them faced with an angry crowd, poor reputation, social cold shoulder, loss of position, and even legal action. (I am stressing this because I know this is a potentially sensitive area, I know that some situations are justified, but not every single one!) Seems to me like the same evil that was once done in the past is being done again today. Here's the question: is it just history repeating itself, or is it some form of self-justified vengeance?