—from Heart of Darkness (Part 3)
Joseph Conrad
[1]“One evening coming in with a candle I was startled to hear him say a little tremulously, ‘I am lying here in the dark waiting for death.’The light was within a foot of his eyes.I forced myself to murmur, ‘Oh, nonsense!’and stood over him as if transfixed,.
[2]“Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again.Oh, I wasn’t touched.I was fascinated,.It was as though a veil had been rent.I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber, pride, of ruthless,power, of craven terror—of an intense and hopeless despair.Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme,moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath:
[3]“‘The horror! The horror!’
[4]“I blew the candle out and left the cabin.The pilgrims were dining in the mess-room, and I took my place opposite the manager, who lifted his eyes to give me a questioning glance, which I successfully ignored.He leaned back, serene , with that peculiar smile of his sealing the unexpressed depths of his meanness .A continuous shower of small flies streamed upon the lamp, upon the cloth, upon our hands and faces.Suddenly the manager’s boy put his insolent black head in the doorway, and said in a tone of scathing contempt:
[5]“‘Mistah Kurtz—he dead.’
[6]“All the pilgrims rushed out to see.I remained, and went on with my dinner.I believe I was considered brutally callous .However, I did not eat much.There was a lamp in there—light, don’t you know—and outside it was so beastly , beastly dark.I went no more near the remarkable man who had pronounced a judgment upon the adventures of his soul on this earth.The voice was gone.What else had been there? But I am of course aware that next day the pilgrims buried something in a muddy hole.
[7]“And then they very nearly buried me.
[8]“However, as you see, I did not go to join Kurtz there and then.I did not.I remained to dream the nightmare out to the end, and to show my loyalty to Kurtz once more. Destiny .My destiny! Droll thing life is—that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose.The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself—that comes too late—a crop of unextinguishable regrets.I have wrestled with death.It is the most unexciting contest you can imagine.It takes place in an impalpable greyness, with nothing underfoot, with nothing around, without spectators, without clamor, without glory, without the great desire of victory, without the great fear of defeat, in a sickly atmosphere of tepid skepticism, without much belief in your own right, and still less in that of your adversary.If such is the form of ultimate wisdom, then life is a greater riddle than some of us think it to be.I was within a hair’s breadth of the last opportunity for pronouncement , and I found with humiliation that probably I would have nothing to say.This is the reason why I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man.He had something to say.He said it.Since I had peeped over the edge myself, I understand better the meaning of his stare, that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness.He had summed up—he had judged.‘The horror!’He was a remarkable man.After all, this was the expression of some sort of belief; it had candor, it had conviction, it had a vibrating note of revolt in its whisper, it had the appalling face of a glimpsed truth—the strange commingling of desire and hate.And it is not my own extremity I remember best—a vision of greyness without form filled with physical pain, and a careless contempt for the evanescence of all things—even of this pain itself.No! It is his extremity that I seem to have lived through.True, he had made that last stride, he had stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating foot.And perhaps in this is the whole difference; perhaps all the wisdom, and all truth, and all sincerity, are just compressed into that inappreciable moment of time in which we step over the threshold of the invisible.Perhaps! I like to think my summing-up would not have been a word of careless contempt.Better his cry—much better.It was an affirmation, a moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats, by abominable terrors, by abominable satisfactions.But it was a victory! That is why I have remained loyal to Kurtz to the last, and even beyond, when a long time after I heard once more, not his own voice, but the echo of his magnificent eloquence thrown to me from a soul as translucently pure as a cliff of crystal.”
After You Read
Knowledge Focus
1.Pair work: Discuss the following questions with your partner.
1)Please summarize the plot of this part of the story in the text.
2)What is your understanding of the relationship between the two protagonists Kurtz and Marlow?
3)What kind of inner feeling did Marlow have for Kurtz?
4)How do you understand the sentence “I wasn’t touched.I was fascinated”describing Marlow’s feelings in front of the dying Kurtz?
5)“The Manager”appeares shortly in this part.Please briefly analyze the characterization of this one.
6)What is your understanding of Kurtz’s last words “The horror!”
7)What is your understanding of the sentence “they very nearly buried me”?
8)Do you think the encounter with Kurtz has changed Marlow’s life? If so, to what extent?
2.Solo work: Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) according to what you learned and tell why.
____ 1)When Kurtz told Marlow he was dying, he didn’t believe it at first.
____ 2)Marlow has never seen people’s death before, and hope never to see again.
____ 3)Marlow was touched and fascinated by the dying moment of Kurtz.
____ 4)On Kurtz’s ivory face, there is the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror—of an intense and hopeless despair.
____ 5)Death happened when Marlow blew the candle out and left the cabin.
____ 6)The manager lifted his eyes to give Marlow a questioning glance which bothered him a lot.
____ 7)Marlow was brutally callous, because he felt nothing when he heard the news about Kurtz’s death.
____ 8)Marlow did not go to join Kurtz there and then, because he was so afraid of death.
____ 9)According to the narrator, life is the mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose.
____ 10) The most you can hope from life is some knowledge of yourself.
Language Focus
1.Fill in the blanks with the following words or expressions you have learned from the text.
tremulous murmur
transfix fascinate ruthless
somber
temptation supreme pilgrim
serene
1)The enemies were _____ by the sudden and unexpected appearance of our troop.
2)The law of nature might be the _____ power in the universe.
3)The old man received the donated money for his poor grandchild with his _____ hands.
4)As a senior official in the government, the biggest challenge is to resist all kinds of _____, and keep clean.
5)The gentle wind of spring is like some one who are _____ sweet words of love beside his ears.
6)This is the most _____ neighbourhood around the city, which makes it the best choice for the senior citizens.
7)The _____ atmosphere in the court made them silent.
8)The_____ went forth to Jerusalem.
9)Every one will be _____ to see the mysterious aurora traveling across the Arctic Circle.
10)The capitalists revealed their true essence in the _____ exploitation of the workers.
2.Complete the sentences with the proper forms of the given words.
1)He told his father the cruel result _____ (tremulous).
2)She had a wonderful night, because she has never seen such a _____ (fascinate) performance before.
3)She has never _____ (success) finished one single task by herself.
4)He leaned back, with that smile of his sealing the unexpressed depths of his _____(mean).
5)When they were thrown into the _____ (dark) of the night, the fear grew more intense.
6)After several days of hunger, the delicious food in the counter became so _____ (temptation) to him.
7)No one would want to go out during such a _____ (beast) storm.
8)It was a great honor of me to see such a _____ (remark) scientist in person.
9)According to the mythological traditions of our culture, god will give the ultimate _____ (judge) after death.
10)The true spirit of travelers lies in the processes but not the _____ (destiny).
3.Complete the sentences with the proper forms of the expressions listed below.
be startled to
force oneself to
peep over
at the image of
go on with
show one’s loyalty to wrestle with take place
with humiliation live through
1)Jim _____ see the unlivable performance of the astonishing magic show.
2)Only strong men can _____ life to change their predetermined destiny.
3)After three sleepless nights, he was so exhausted to _____ the job.
4)In the year 1998, great floods _____ in many parts of China.
5)She never wanted to _____ do things that she didn’t like.
6)He told his girlfriend these silly mistakes he made _____.
7)There are showers in his eyes _____ his late wife.
8)It is the strong desire for the reunion with his family that supported him to _____ the hard time during the war.
9)It is regarded as cheating to _____ the shoulders of your classmates in an exam.
10)The soldier killed many enemies in order to _____ his commander.
4.Find the appropriate prepositions that collocate with the neighbouring words.
1)I am lying here in the dark waiting _____death.
2)I forced myself to murmur, ‘Oh, nonsense!’and stood _____ him as if transfixed.
3)I saw _____ that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror.
4)He cried _____ a whisper at some image, _____ some vision.
5)I took my place _____ the manager, who lifted his eyes to give me a questioning glance.
6)I have wrestled _____ death.
7)I was _____ a hair’s breadth of the last opportunity _____ pronouncement.
8)Since I had peeped _____ the edge myself, I understand better the meaning of his stare.
5.Proofreading.
Comprehensive Work
1.Pair work: Read the following passage about Joseph Conrad and share information about him with your partner.
Joseph Conrad(1857-1924) was an English novelist ofPolishethnicity.
Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English,although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties (and then always with a marked Polish accent).He wrote stories and novels, predominantly with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit by the demands of duty and honor.Conrad was a master prose stylist who brought a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature.While some of his works have a strain ofromanticism, he is viewed as a precursor ofmodernist literature.His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many authors.
2.Group work: Make an online research on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and discuss with your group members about all the thematic motifs you have identified in the story.
Possible answers:
3.Group work: Research on “Conrad and Existentialism”.
Existentialismis a term applied to a school of 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences,shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.In existentialism, the individual’s starting point is characterized by what has been called “the existential attitude”, or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.
Existentialist perspectives are also found in literature to varying degrees.Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1938 novel Nausea was “steeped in Existential ideas”, and is considered an accessible way of grasping his philosophical stance.Since 1970, much cultural activity in art, cinema, and literature contains postmodernistand existentialist elements.Existentialist works distort the line between reality and appearance while simultaneously espousing strong existentialist themes.
Many researchers related Heart of Darkness to the thoughts of existentialism.Do some research and write a paper about 300 words to state your opinion on the relationship between the themes of the book and existentialist ideas.
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