Heart Of Dark ness Section 1 With Complete Solutions Latest Update
What in the second paragraph sets the mood for the story? - correct answers The air is dark, mournful, gloomy, brooding, motionless. No distinction exists between the sky
and the sea. A key word would be "interminable," a symbolic reference to the unending journey
about to take place.
How would you describe the mood in the second paragraph? - correct answers The mood is dark and somber.
Who is on the deck of the Nellie? - correct answers On the deck are the Director of Companies, a lawyer, an accountant, Marlow, and the story's
first narrator.
Where is the Nellie? - correct answers The Nellie is tied up in the Thames River, near London.
What do the occupations of the director, the lawyer, and the accountant suggest about them? - correct answers They are practical men concerned with the realities, accounts, and figures of business.
What two literary terms are used in the phrase "the sea itself...is the mistress of his existence and as inscrutable as Destiny" and what is being compared? - correct answers Conrad compares the sea's mystery to the future, a simile, and claims it is a mistress to a seaman
away from home, secure with another, which is a metaphor
How is Marlow described in this section? - correct answers He has "sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his
arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol."
The narrator observes, "Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch...." What are the sword and the torch, and what do they have to do with a story about Africa? - correct answers The sword represents military power. The torch stands for enlightenment, knowledge, and religion. In the beginning, the torch was what the Western powers set out to bring to Africa, but
greed, cruelty, and corruption overpowered everything else.
Marlow makes some observations about the Roman conquest of Britain. How do you suppose these observations relate to this novel's main topic, Africa? - correct answers Conquest, he says, "mostly means the taking it [land] away from those who have a different
complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves"; examining these concepts reveals them
to be ugly and cruel. Marlow relates the conquest and exploitation of Africa to the Roman
treatment of Britain two thousand years earlier
How does the phrase "the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside" relate to the story? - correct answers Conrad does not give answers to the essential heart of Marlow's story. That part is left ambiguous,
for the reader to try to discern.
As Marlow begins his story, the narrator says, "We knew we were fated...to hear about one of Marlow's inconclusive experiences." How would you describe the tone of that comment? - correct answers The narrator is resigned to hearing the tale but already knows that Marlow will not give any
definitive answers.
When Marlow says, "The snake had charmed me," to what is he referring? - correct answers Although he chooses not to identify it explicitly by name, he is referring to the Congo, one of
the mightiest African rivers.
His predecessor, Fresleven, has died while "engaged in the noble cause." What was "the noble cause," and how did Fresleven die? - correct answers Bringing civilization to Africa was the noble cause. Fresleven dies in an argument over two
hens, which, obviously, points out the fallacy of Britain's colonization of Africa.
Why do you suppose Marlow describes Brussels as the "whited sepulcher"? - correct answers He must feel the city, while beautiful on the outside, is filled with death, hypocrisy, corruption,
and darkness.