Heart of Darkness
Study Guide
by Bethine Ellie
Grades 9–12
Reproducible Pages
For the novel by Joseph Conrad
#401
Heart of
Darkness
Study Guide
by Bethine Ellie
© 1993 Progeny Press
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Heart of Darkness Study Guide
A Progeny Press Study Guide
by Bethine Ellie
with Andrew Clausen, Michael Gilleland
Copyright © 1993 Progeny Press
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Heart of Darkness Study Guide
Table of Contents
Note to Instructor......................................................................................................4
Synopsis.....................................................................................................................5
Background Information ...........................................................................................6
About the Author.......................................................................................................7
Ideas for Pre-reading Activities ...................................................................................8
Part I .........................................................................................................................9
Part II ......................................................................................................................19
Part III.....................................................................................................................28
Summary .................................................................................................................37
Final Projects ...........................................................................................................40
Additional Resources ...............................................................................................41
Answer Key..............................................................................................................42
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Note to Instructor
How to Use Progeny Press Study Guides. Progeny Press study guides are designed
to help students better understand and enjoy literature by getting them to notice and
understand how authors craft their stories and to show them how to think through
the themes and ideas introduced in the stories. To properly work through a Progeny
Press study guide, students should have easy access to a good dictionary, a thesaurus, a
Bible (we use NIV translation, but that is up to your preference; just be aware of some
differences in language), and sometimes a topical Bible or concordance. Supervised
access to the Internet also can be helpful at times, as can a good set of encyclopedias.
Most middle grades and high school study guides take from eight to ten weeks
to complete, generally working on one section per week. Over the years, we have
found that it works best if the students completely read the novel the first week, while
also working on a prereading activity chosen by the parent or teacher. Starting the second week, most parents and teachers have found it works best to work on one study
guide page per day until the chapter sections are completed. Students should be
allowed to complete questions by referring to the book; many questions require some
cross-reference between elements of the stories.
Most study guides contain an Overview section that can be used as a final test,
or it can be completed in the same way the chapter sections were completed. If you
wish to perform a final test but your particular study guide does not have an
Overview section, we suggest picking a couple of questions from each section of the
study guide and using them as your final test.
Most study guides also have a final section of essays and postreading activities.
These may be assigned at the parents’ or teachers’ discretion, but we suggest that students engage in several writing or other extra activities during the study of the novel
to complement their reading and strengthen their writing skills.
As for high school credits, most Christian high schools with whom we have
spoken have assigned a value of one-fourth credit to each study guide, and this also
seems to be acceptable to colleges assessing homeschool transcripts.
Internet References
All websites listed in this study guide were checked for appropriateness at the time of
publication. However, due to the changing nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee
that the URLs listed will remain appropriate or viable. Therefore, we urge parents and
teachers to take care in and exercise careful oversight of their children’s use of the Internet.
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Heart of Darkness Study Guide
Synopsis
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:
who can know it?” —Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
Charles Marlow is a young man desiring adventure in exotic lands. With the help of
an influential aunt, Marlow is assigned to be captain of a Belgian trading company’s
steamer in the Congo Free State (modern-day Zaire) of Africa. As he prepares to journey up the Congo River to the company’s inner station, he hears tales about the station’s manager, Mr. Kurtz, an ivory trader who has amazing power over the natives of
the region. Determined to meet this man, Marlow begins his journey. Instead of
excitement and glamour, Marlow finds horror, and far up river, he encounters the
mysterious Kurtz.
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Background Information
In 1483 Portuguese explorers first reached the mouth of the 3,000-mile-long Congo
River (also known as the Zaire). At that time, much of the Congo River Basin was
part of the Kingdom of Kongo which flourished during the 1400s and 1500s. Kongo
embraced Christianity and invited Portuguese trade and technical assistance.
Ambassadors were exchanged with the courts of Lisbon and the Vatican, and during
the next three centuries traders and missionaries attempted to penetrate the interior of
the region. By the end of the 17th century, internal struggles, incursions by neighboring states and conflict with Portugal left the Kingdom of Kongo in ruins. Forsaking
Christianity, the people returned to their traditional religions.
Commercial interest in the region was mainly in ivory and slaves. At its peak
between 1800 and 1850, the European slave trade shipped more than 150,000 people
a year from the region. Arab slave trade was taking an additional 55,000 by 1875.
After 1850, European explorers pushed further into the region, but it was
Henry Morton Stanley who, from 1874 to 1877, first navigated the length of the
Congo River from its upper course to the Atlantic Ocean. Hired by King Leopold II
of Belgium, Stanley set up posts and signed treaties with local tribal chiefs in the name
of Leopold’s International Congo Association. At the Berlin Conference on Africa
(1884–1885) Leopold II was recognized as sovereign of the Congo Free State, an economic venture that had no institutional links with Belgium. Trade in the region
increased, but so did economic exploitation of the region’s resources and people. Heart
of Darkness is set during the period of harsh exploitation before international criticism
eventually prodded Leopold to take over the Congo Free State as a Belgian colony in
1908.
First published in 1910, Heart of Darkness contains characters and language
that portray social attitudes of the time. Some of these portrayals appear bigoted and
condescending to us today, but we must remember that they reflect many of the attitudes of the time. We must also remember that just as there were many at that time
who did not accept bigotry and ethnocentrism, there are many today who cling to
them as strongly as ever.
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Heart of Darkness Study Guide
About the Author
Joseph Conrad was born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in 1857, of a Polish family in the Ukraine.
The romance and adventure of Conrad’s own life form the basis for his incomparable novels of the sea and the magical Eastern islands. He went to sea at age 16,
taught himself English, and with diligent study worked his way up through the ranks
to eventually command his own vessels in the British merchant service. Heart of
Darkness reflects Conrad’s own unsettling experiences in Belgium’s exploitative Congo
Free State. In 1890, Conrad, like Marlow in the novel, sought and was assigned command of a steamer on the Congo River. Conrad journeyed up the Congo to Stanley
Falls where he picked up a company agent named Georges-Antoine Klein, who died
on board a few days later.
Conrad’s short time in the Congo greatly affected him. His health was permanently impaired by the dysentery and fever he suffered there, and his view of human
nature permanently darkened. He returned to England a changed man. Writing was
an agony to him; English never was a language he spoke easily. Yet England was the
country he loved, and he remains one of the superb English writers of all time. Joseph
Conrad died in 1924.
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Ideas for Pre-reading Activities
1. Define colonialism. Write a one-page paper about the colonization of the
Congo Free State (Zaire).
2. Write a one-page paper about the life of Joseph Conrad.
3. Write a one-page paper about the importance of ships as transportation during
the 1800s.
4. Copy a map of Europe and Africa. Mark the following places mentioned in the
story: London, England; Thames River; Brussels, Belgium; Zaire; and the
Congo (Zaire) River.
5. Find a map of the Congo region from the late 1800s or very early 1900s and
compare it with a modern map of the region. Note any differences in detail.
6. Research Dutch colonialism and its effect on Africa. Write a paper comparing
the African regions once occupied by the Dutch and what has happened to
them in the 1900s.
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Heart of Darkness Study Guide
Part I
“We live, as we dream—alone.”
Vocabulary:
Define the following shipping terms.
1. yawl
2. mizzenmast
3. man-of-war
4. ensign
5. aft
For each of the following underlined words, write the function it fills in that sentence
(noun, verb, adjective, adverb) and then define it.
1. He had . . . ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
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2. We felt meditative, and fit for nothing but placid staring.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
3. The water shone pacifically; . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
4. We looked at the venerable stream not in the vivid flush of a short day that
comes and departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
5. In the immutability of their surroundings the foreign shores . . . glide past,
veiled not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly disdainful ignorance; . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
6. In a very few hours I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited
sepulchre.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
7. The slim one got up and walked straight at me . . . and only just as I began to
think of getting out of her way, as you would for a somnambulist, stood still
and looked up.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
8. ‘I am not such a fool as I look, quoth Plato to his disciples,’ he said sententiously. . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
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9. Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
10. There it is before you—smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or
savage. . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
11. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery
in the sight. . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
12. Black shapes crouched, . . . half effaced within the dim light. . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
13. Was it a badge—an ornament—a charm—a propitiatory act?
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
14. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some corpse.
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
15. . . . because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, the commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment. . . .
Article of speech __________
Definition ____________________________________________________
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Questions
1. The first two paragraphs of this novel establish the setting: the time, place, and
surroundings in which the story takes place. Describe the setting at the beginning of the story.
2. Marlow begins his narration by saying, “And this also has been one of the dark
places of the earth.” What does he mean by this? How does this lay the groundwork for his story?
3. Define imperialism. What is Marlow’s opinion about the motive for many who
settled in new lands, especially the Romans who settled England?
4. How did Marlow obtain his position with the trading company?
5. Marlow recalls a visit to his aunt. His aunt talks of Marlow as “Something like
an emissary of light, something like a lower sort of apostle.” What does she
mean?
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6. Similarly, the brickmaker at the central station says to Marlow, “You are of the
new gang—the gang of virtue.” What does he mean?
7. Marlow says of the accountant, “I respected the fellow. Yes; I respected his collars, his vast cuffs, his brushed hair. . . . in the great demoralization of the land
he kept up his appearance.” Why does Marlow respect the accountant?
8. Marlow travels 200 miles by foot to the central station to reach his ship. In
what condition is the steamer when he arrives? Why?
9. How do the following people describe Kurtz?
a. The company accountant
b. The manager of the central station
c. The brickmaker
10. Why does the manager at the central station seem to dislike Marlow?
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11. How does Marlow describe the manager of the central station?
12. When Marlow describes his meeting with his aunt, he says some very patronizing things about women. However, Marlow states she got her information from
writings and talk going around at that time. Later, he says the actions of the
pilgrims were “as unreal as everything else—as the philanthropic pretense of the
whole concern.” Although he may not realize it, by what is Marlow really
repulsed? What does he believe is unreal?
13. In the brickmaker’s room, Marlow sees a picture of a woman painted by Kurtz.
Though the woman carries a torch to light the way, she is blindfolded and,
therefore, cannot see where she is going. What might this painting symbolize?
14. Why did Marlow say that the coming of Kurtz had upset the manager and the
brickmaker?
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15. While the brickmaker tells Marlow about Kurtz, Marlow says “I would not
have gone so far as to fight for Kurtz, but I went for him near enough to a lie.”
Marlow did not lie outright, but he let the brickmaker continue to believe
something about Marlow. What was this “lie?”
16. What is it about lying that Marlow dislikes so much?
Dig Deeper:
17. Foreshadowing is a literary device by which the author hints at events to come
later in the story. What do the following quotations lead you to expect?
a. “. . . there was something ominous in the atmosphere. It was just as though
I had been let into some conspiracy—I don’t know—something not quite
right.”
b. “‘So you are going out there. Famous. Interesting, too.’ He gave me a searching glance, and made another note. ‘Ever any madness in your family?’ he
asked, in a matter-of-fact tone. . . . ‘It would be . . . interesting to watch the
mental changes of individuals, on the spot. . . .’”
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c. “‘It is funny what some people will do for a few francs a month. I wonder
what becomes of that kind when it goes upcountry.’ I said to him I expected to
see that soon. . . . ‘Don’t be too sure,’ he continued. ‘The other day I took a
man who hanged himself on the road. . . .’ ‘Hanged himself! Why, in God’s
name?’ I cried. . . . ‘Who knows? The sun too much for him, or the country
perhaps.’”
d. “But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of
that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed
devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly.”
18. Marlow compares the city of Belgium, the company headquarters, to a “whited
sepulchre.” Read Matthew 23:27, 28. What allusion is Conrad drawing? What
does it tell us about Marlow’s view of the company’s activities?
19. In several places Marlow describes the river as a snake. Literary imagery, simile,
and metaphor can be used to evoke a physical picture in the reader’s mind or to
evoke a deeper emotional or intellectual response by referring to a symbolic
meaning for the imagery. Read Genesis 3:1, 13, 14. What deeper symbolism
could Conrad be giving in comparing the river to a snake?
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20. Conrad uses the symbols of darkness and light frequently in Heart of Darkness.
Darkness and light also are symbols used frequently in the Bible. What do
darkness and light symbolize in the following verses?
John 1:1–12
John 3:19–21
John 8:12
John 11:9, 10
John 12:35, 36
John 12:46
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21. Conrad makes heavy use of images of death in Part I. List five adjectives, five
verbs, and five nouns or events that refer to death.
Adjectives
Verbs
Nouns or Events
How does Conrad’s use of death imagery affect the tone or mood of the story?
What does it lead you to expect?
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Part II
“The inner truth is hidden—luckily, luckily.”
Vocabulary:
Part 1:
Sometimes we can discover the general meaning of a word by finding its root word and
then looking at the prefixes and suffixes added to it. For the words below, find the
root word and write its definition, then write the definition of the original word.
1. pestiferous—root word: __________________________________________
root word definition: __________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
2. sagacious—root word: ___________________________________________
root word definition: ___________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
3. intrepidity—root word: __________________________________________
root word definition: __________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
4. incontinently—root word: ________________________________________
root word definition: ________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
5. farcical—root word: _____________________________________________
root word definition: _____________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
6. profundity—root word: __________________________________________
root word definition: __________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
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7. promptitude—root word: ________________________________________
root word definition: ________________________________
definition: ____________________________________________________
Part 2:
Look up the underlined word and define it. Paraphrase the sentence in your own
words.
1. Can you imagine such impudence!
definition: ____________________________________________________
paraphrase:
2. I . . . remained still, having no inducement to change my position.
definition: ____________________________________________________
paraphrase:
3. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention.
definition: ____________________________________________________
paraphrase:
4. I looked on them as you would any human being . . . when brought to the test
of an inexorable physically necessity.
definition: ____________________________________________________
paraphrase:
5. [I]f he lost sight of you, he instantly became the prey of an abject funk. . . .
definition: ____________________________________________________
paraphrase:
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6. [A]t the end of that moving appeal to every altruistic sentiment it blazed at
you. . . .
definition: ____________________________________________________
paraphrase:
Questions:
1. As Part II begins, the manager of the central station is discussing Kurtz. What
is the manager’s concern?
2. Marlow and the crew of his steamer took a two-month trip up the river. What
was the main challenge Marlow, as captain of the steamer, faced on the river?
3. Find three phrases Marlow uses to describe the jungle. What mood do these
descriptions convey?
4. How did the fireman think the boiler worked?
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5. What was discovered at the reed hut 50 miles below the inner station?
6. On the way up the river the steamer encountered fog and was surrounded by
unseen enemies. What did the cannibals on board the boat want to do? Why?
7. Marlow marvelled that the cannibals on board the steamer showed restraint:
Restraint! What possible restraint? Was it superstition, disgust,
patience, fear—or some kind of primitive honor? . . . It’s really
easier to face bereavement, dishonor, and the perdition of one’s
soul—than this kind of prolonged hunger. . . . Restraint! I would
just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling
amongst the corpses of a battlefield.
From what did Marlow say they were restraining themselves?
Why might Marlow have marvelled at this restraint?
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8. What happened to Marlow’s helmsman during the attack?
9. Why did Marlow throw the body of the dead helmsman overboard?
10. Why does the station manager dislike or fear Kurtz?
11. What does the Russian say is the reason the steamer was attacked?
Analysis:
12. Read Genesis 3:17–19. As the steamboat moves up the river, Marlow says, “We
could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of an accursed
inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive toil.”
To what is Conrad alluding? What does it imply about Marlow’s surroundings?
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13. Marlow tells of watching the river for hidden banks or sunken stones that
would have “ripped the life out of the tin-pot steamboat. . . .” Marlow says:
When you have to attend to things of that sort, to the mere incidents of the surface, the reality . . . fades. The inner truth is hidden—luckily, luckily. But I felt it all the same; I felt often its
mysterious stillness watching me at my monkey tricks, . . . I had
to watch the steering, and circumvent those snags, and get the tinpot along by hook or by crook. There was surface-truth enough in
these things to save a wiser man.
On one level Marlow is talking about watching for snags to prevent damage to
the boat. On another level what might Marlow be talking about?
14. When he is describing his reaction to natives dancing and shouting at them as
the boat passed their village, Marlow says “the mind of man is capable of anything.” Do you think he means this as a positive or negative comment? Read
Jeremiah 17:9. What does this say about the mind, or heart, of man? Read
Romans 8:5–8. What does this passage say about the capabilities of a person’s
mind? How do either of these passages compare with Marlow’s statement?
15. Marlow had read a report Kurtz wrote for the International Society for the
Suppression of Savage Customs. How did the report characterize relations
between Europeans and native Africans?
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What note did Kurtz write at the bottom of the last page? What do you think
this means?
16. Kurtz wrote that Europeans “must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the
nature of supernatural beings.” How could this attitude lead him to accept
“unspeakable rites” offered to him at midnight dances? Compare Kurtz’s actions
with Paul’s in Acts 14:8–18. From their actions, which had more reason to
accept worship, Kurtz or Paul? Was Kurtz’s or Paul’s response best? Why?
17. Read Ezekiel 28:12–19 (generally accepted to be referring to Satan); Luke 4:5, 6;
2 Corinthians 4:4, 11:14. Compare these verses with Marlow’s descriptions of
Kurtz:
The point was in his being a gifted creature, and that of all his gifts the
one that stood out preëminently . . . was his ability to talk, his
words—the gift of expression, the bewildering, the illuminating, the
most exalted and the contemptible, the pulsating stream of light. . . .
You should have heard him say, “My ivory. . . . My Intended, my
ivory, my station, my river, my—” everything belonged to him.
He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land—I mean
literally.
He began with the argument that we whites . . . “must necessarily
appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings—we
approach them with the might as of a deity.”
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What comparison might Conrad be making in these passages? What other passages can you find that would support this comparison? How does this affect
your image of Kurtz?
18. From what you know about the attack on the steamboat and the Russian’s
statements, how did the natives feel about Kurtz?
Dig Deeper:
19. Early in his story, Marlow says most people don’t know the hardships and
temptations of isolation because they have people around them and social
structure. Kurtz has none of these and is accountable to no one except for the
amount of ivory he sends out. What do the following verses say about accountability to others?
Proverbs 13:20
Proverbs 27:17
Ecclesiastes 4:9–12
Hebrews 3:12, 13
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Hebrews 10:24, 25
20. In describing or explaining what is happening to the Europeans in the Congo,
Marlow says, “Principles won’t do. Acquisitions, clothes, pretty rags—rags that
would fly off at the first good shake. No; you want a deliberate belief.” What
does he mean?
Do you think this is true only in circumstances such as Marlow experienced?
Read Matthew 6:19–21, 31–33; Hebrews 11:1–3, 6. Do these verses fulfill
what Marlow was talking about?
What is the difference between relying on principles or possessions and relying
on God? What do you rely on?
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Part III
“The horror! The horror!”
Vocabulary:
Define the underlined words.
1. There he was before me, in motley. . . .
2. They had come together unavoidably, like two ships becalmed near each
other. . . .
3. And then I made a brusque movement. . . .
4. I was struck by the fire of his eyes and the composed languor of his expression.
5. However, he had enough strength in him—factitious no doubt—to very nearly
make an end of us.
6. [T]he colossal body of the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at her. . . .
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7. I accepted this unforeseen partnership, this choice of nightmares forced upon
me in the tenebrous land invaded by these mean and greedy phantoms.
8. “This noxious fool . . . is capable of prying into my boxes when I am not
looking.”
9. I lived in an infernal mess of rust, filings, nuts, bolts, spanners, hammers,
ratchet-drills—things I abominate, because I don’t get on with them.
10. 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. . . .
Questions:
1. What ruled the Russian’s life? How might this attract him to Kurtz?
2. What does Marlow say about the Russian’s devotion to Kurtz?
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3. How did Kurtz get ivory from the natives after his trade goods ran out? How
do these actions compare with what he wrote in his report for the International
Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs about exerting “a power for
good”?
4. How did Kurtz react to being treated like a god? (Consider Proverbs 27:20, 21)
5. What did Marlow see through his binoculars when he looked at the poles in
front of Kurtz’s house? What was his reaction?
6. How is Kurtz’s behavior a contrast to the behavior of the cannibals on the
steamer in Part II? What might be surprising about this?
7. List at least five words or phrases that Marlow uses to describe the physical
appearance of Kurtz.
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8. How does Marlow’s physical description of Kurtz compare with what he has
revealed about Kurtz’s character?
9. What effect does the native woman have on the Russian and the men on board
the steamboat? Why does she have this effect?
10. What was it about Kurtz that Marlow found so remarkable? What does he
mean by remarkable?
11. How does the manager react when Marlow calls Kurtz remarkable?
12. What is the one request the Russian seaman asks on behalf of Kurtz? Is Marlow
faithful to grant this request?
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13. As Kurtz goes downstream, what happens to him physically? What might this
symbolize?
14. After all that happened, why do you think Marlow remained loyal to Kurtz?
Do you think he was right to do so?
15. Why did the company want Kurtz’s personal papers?
Analysis:
16. Marlow says of the heads on the poles, “There was nothing exactly profitable in
these heads being there. They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in
the gratification of his lusts.” As Marlow said earlier, there were no neighbors,
no police in the jungle. What other restraint could have stopped Kurtz?
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17. Kurtz used the power of his personality and guns to subdue the natives and
bend them to his will. As the steamboat was taking Kurtz away, the pilgrims
opened fire on the natives gathered on the shore. Is there a difference between
these two actions? Why?
18. During the night, Marlow discovers Kurtz crawling away from the steamer
toward the natives’ camp. Marlow says:
[T]he heavy, mute spell of the wilderness . . . seemed to draw him
into its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal
instincts, by the memory of gratified and monstrous passions.
This alone, I was convinced, had driven him out to the edge of
the forest, to the bush, towards the gleam of fires, the throb of
drums, the drone of weird incantations; this alone had beguiled
his unlawful soul beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations.
What might the arrival of the steamer and its European passengers symbolize
for Kurtz?
Why do you think Kurtz preferred the wilderness to the relative safety of the
steamer?
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19. What do you think Kurtz meant when he said, “The horror! The horror!”? Use
examples from the book to explain your answer.
20. The journalist who comes to Marlow describes Kurtz as a man who had great
faith: “He had faith—don’t you see?—he had the faith. He could get himself to
believe anything.” What was the object of Kurtz’s faith? Is the faith of which
the journalist speaks real faith? Why?
Read Psalm 18:30–36; Isaiah 50:10; John 3:16–18; Romans 3:22–24;
Hebrews 11:1–3, 6. What do these verses say is the proper object of faith?
21. What lie does Marlow tell Kurtz’s fiancée? Why does he lie? Consider what
Marlow says in Part I about lying. Why is Marlow shocked that life went on
even though he lied?
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22. The story ends after Marlow tells of his discussion with Kurtz’s fiancée. Is this
discussion the climax of the story? If so, what makes this scene climactic? If
not, what is the true climax? Why do you think Conrad chose to end his story
at this point?
23. Imagine what would have happened if Marlow had told Kurtz’s fiancée the
truth about his last words. Write several paragraphs describing the scene and
her reaction.
Dig Deeper:
24. The central theme of Heart of Darkness is the nature of humanity. Consider the
following verses about the nature of mankind: Proverbs 14:12, Jeremiah 17:9,
Matthew 15:18–19. Should people trust only in themselves for moral direction? Why?
25. Read the following verses about restraint: Romans 13:12–14, 1 John 2:15-17.
Who gives us restraint or self control?
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26. Marlow says that as he looked over the threshold of death he found he had
nothing to say. But Kurtz had found something to say—“The horror! The horror!” Marlow admires this:
After all, this was the expression of some sort of belief, it had candour,
it had conviction, . . . the appalling face of a glimpsed truth. . . . 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!
Do you believe Kurtz’s last words were a victory? Why or why not?
Read 2 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 15:54–57; 1 John 5:4, 5. How do these
verses compare with Marlow’s assessment of Kurtz’s “victory”?
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Summary
Questions:
1. Conflict in a story can take three forms: man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man
vs. himself. Which of these describes the conflict in Heart of Darkness? Explain
the conflict and its resolution.
2. Point of view is the position from which a story is being told. First-person narrative means the story is told by one of the characters, and facts and feelings are
limited to that character’s knowledge. The personal pronouns I, my, mine, etc.,
indicate first-person narrative. Second-person narrative means that the reader is
experiencing the story. Second-person narrative is uncommon because it is difficult for the author to convince readers that they see or feel what the author
wants them to see or feel. Third-person narrative is told from an “objective,”
disembodied viewpoint and is the most common point of view used. Thirdperson narrative can be limited, telling only actions or the thoughts and feelings
of one or several characters, or omniscient, telling what all characters are thinking and feeling.
From what point of view is Heart of Darkness written?
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3. A frame story is a story within a story. One of the best examples of this is The
Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, in which a group of pilgrims tells stories
to each other for entertainment. Heart of Darkness begins as a story narrated by
an unknown person on a yacht on the Thames. The narrator of the main story
then lets Marlow take over the storytelling. What effect does this have on the
story and your reception of it? How do the breaks in Marlow’s story, when
Conrad pulls us back to the four men on the yacht, affect the tension and your
perception of the story?
4. Why did Conrad choose the title Heart of Darkness?
Why is this title significant in light of one of the themes of the story?
How does Jeremiah 17:9 apply to the meaning of the title?
5. The pacing of this story is unlike most writing. Writers generally use short
paragraphs to break up ideas and action into segments that are more easily
digested by the reader. Conrad, however, has paragraphs that sometimes go on
for pages. Part of the reason may be that it gives a rather ponderous, heavy feel
to the story—much like the feel of the jungle and the journeys Marlow takes.
Another reason may be that Conrad was writing in a sort of stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness refers to writing the thoughts of the character or
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author as they occur and without formal organization or structure. This gives a
sense of immediacy and intimacy with the character. Find a passage of stream of
consciousness and describe how it affects your impressions of the ideas or events
it contains. Also, note the length of the sentences in the passage and the way in
which they are punctuated. Try writing a page in stream of consciousness.
6. Conrad also makes heavy use of repetition, or lists, such as “‘my Intended, my
ivory, my station, my river’ ” and “of change, of conquest, of trade, of massacres, of blessings.” Repetition is an effective method to drive a point home or
add emphasis. Find several instances of repetitive words or phrases in the story
and note the effect or tone for which Conrad may be striving.
7. Personification is the giving of human attributes to inanimate objects or animals, as Disney movies often do. Conrad uses this technique several times in
this story, generally in reference to the jungle. List at least two passages of personification and note how the use of this technique affects your attitude toward
the object. Pick an object near you and write several sentences using personification to describe it.
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Additional Resources
(* A study guide for this title is available from Progeny Press.)
Other Books by Joseph Conrad:
The Secret Sharer and Other Stories
The Rover
Lord Jim
An Outcast of the Islands
The Secret Agent
published by Dover
published by Oxford University Press
published by Oxford University Press
published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Books of Related Interest:
Things Fall Apart*
All the King’s Men
Lord of the Flies*
The African Queen
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Moby Dick
The Turn of the Screw
Macbeth*
Henry Stanley and David Livingstone
by Chinua Achebe (an African perspective)
by Robert Penn Warren
by William Golding
by C.S. Forester
by Oscar Wilde
by Herman Melville
by Henry James
by William Shakespeare
by Susan Clinton, published by Children’s
Press; an interesting, easy-reading book,
grades 7–10, factual, but not written
from a Christian viewpoint.
Videos:
The African Queen
Heart of Darkness
© 1993 Progeny Press
1951, starring Humphrey Bogart and
Katharine Hepburn
1994, starring John Malkovich as Kurtz.
This made-for-cable movie is a good adaption of Conrad’s book, but does not successfully communicate Conrad’s themes.
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