We can understand why Kurtz -- with his European appearance and technology -- is impressive to the African natives, but why do others -- like the Russian -- find Kurtz so impressive?
What is the literal and the metaphorical significance of the fog surrounding the boat?
Describe the characterization about Kurtz provided by the manager and his uncle. How does Conrad preserve the ambiguity of the novel?
I didn't want any more loitering in the shade, and I made haste towards the station. When near the buildings I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision. I saw a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots. No hat. Hair parted, brushed, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand. He was amazing, and had a penholder behind his ear. In the passage, Conrad provides a description of the Company’s chief accountant. In about 100 words, discuss one literary technique Conrad uses to characterize the chief accountant.
In the following excerpt Marlow describes a period of time he spent in London after six years at sea. I had then ... just returned to London ... was loafing about, hindering you fellows in your work and invading your homes, just as though I had got a heavenly mission to civilize you. This, and Marlow's earlier description of the Romans invasion of Britain, provide a context in which the reader can begin to decipher Marlow's descriptions of English imperialism.
What do these two desciptions, one figurative and one historical, reveal about Marlow's attitude toward English imperialism? There also seems to be an issue as to what drives the action within this short story. A lot of awful things seem to be happening due to a family "curse" and the moralistic fallacy that "the sins of the parents will be visited upon their children." How powerful or powerless are the characters in effecting their individual fates? Should we see these people as caught helplessly in an improbably situation, or can they be held responsible for some of the tragedy? What role does the "supernatural" play?
Is Manfred a round or a flat character? Support your answer with specific evidence from the novel.
In The Castle of Otranto, women seem to function as commodities, to be traded for, bred, or set aside at a whim. Manfred's primary reason for wanting to marry Isabella is because he wants to legitimize his claim to Otranto, but it is Isabella who opposes him and thereby sets into motion the remaining events of the story. Are we supposed to see the female characters as mere pawns to be used as bargaining pieces, or does Walpole offer a way in which they can assert their own agency?
How does the idea of machinery in The Castle of Otranto interact with the supernatural within the novel? Does it seem contradictory that a tool built through reason could be used to illuminate events that lay outside of the reasonable?
What duties do children owe their fathers? How are the “children” in The Castle of Otranto “rewarded” or “punished” for either fulfilling or rebelling against those duties? How might that theme be translated as a political stance?
How does The Castle of Otranto appear to relate to "sentiment" and sentimental writing? What devices are employed to generate emotions of pity and terror (and/or others) in the audience?
How does Walpole’s use of the castle as a motif interact within his contextual moment? Is he making a political statement? If so, what is he critiquing?
Is Manfred round or flat? Credible or not? Work out a brief character sketch of Manfred, including observations about his psychological constitution.
Pitt describes the parallels between the Gothic romance and the sentimental novel (what we might call a romance -- in the sense of love story -- novel).
Identify one element from Pitt's list in a Gothic Horror film or Romantic Comedy. Then briefly describe the function of this element in the film. NOTE: Television episodes, graphic novels and popular young adult fiction DUE: before midnight on Monday, March 10. In The Gothic Novel, Ann B. Tracy writes that "the Gothic world is the fallen world, the vision of fallen man, living in fear and alienation, haunted by images of his mythic expulsion, by its repercussions, and by an awareness of his unavoidable wretchedness."
Explain how you see one of the works of art or archetecture linked to the Prendergast article portrays this idea of humanity as fallen, of the world as fallen, or of human experience in a fallen world. Then comment on at least one of your classmates' posts in response to this prompt. DUE: before class on Friday, March 7. In his Preface to the second edition, Walpole admits that his Preface to the first edition is in fact a fiction. He claims that the only reason that he "assume[d] that disguise" was "diffidence of his own abilities" and the "novelty" of his novel. This is what Walpole claims, but maybe there is more to it then this.
Consider: How does the fictitious Preface to the first edition evoke one or more elements of the sublime as described by Burke? Share your thoughts in a concise but well-formulated arguement of ~100 words. DUE: before class on Friday, March 7. |