Heart of darkness Essay Example for Free

Heart of darkness Essay It is a description of Marlows initial impressions and observations of the Outer Station, and all the slave labour going on. As he sees the land around him, he notices many mounds of turned up earth, and wastes of excavations, he speaks of the land as if it has been raped of all its resources, and left as a barren wasteland. His first impressions of the African slave workers seems racist, as he compares there black, naked bodies to ants, however, it is more likely that this is just a reference to the futility and uselessness of the work that is going on. His next observation is a boiler, and an undersized railway-truck. He describes them as dead like the carcass of some animal. There are several interpretations for this scene. One is that he has personified the machinery, giving them similar qualities to the slaves, describing the machinery as though it has been allowed to rest, and have its job taken over by slaves. Another interpretation is that the machinery is a symbol for the empire, as the machinery is slowly decaying and rusting, the empire is also declining. Another reference to the futility of this work appears a few lines down. The cliff was not in the way or anything; but this objectless blasting was all the work going on. It is as if the slaves have just been given something to do, to keep them from sitting around. As Marlow walks further on, he sees a guard carrying a gun, and wearing a jacket with one button of. This is a very deliberate observation, though the empire seems perfect from the outside, it has imperfections. On seeing Marlow, the guard raises his gun, and tries to see who Marlow is; Marlow is sarcastic at this point, joking about how white men all look the same at a distance, referring to how black people all look the same to him from a distance. As the guard recognises Marlow and smiles, there is more sarcasm from Marlow, describing the guards trust as being exalted, and describing himself as being a part of the great cause of these high and just proceedings. Marlow then descends down the hill, towards some trees. At this point, Marlow starts commenting some more on his pity for the slaves, and the pointlessness of the work going on. The first technique used to relay this to us is Conrads use of short sentences, like we are part of Marlows thought process. His first thoughts are about how futile and pointless all the work that is going on is. He describes one of the pits that has been dug, as just a hole. As he goes towards the trees for shade, he instantly regrets it, making a direct reference to Dantes Inferno. Dantes Inferno is one perception of what hell would be like. His vision of hell consists of seven rings, each ring containing people who have sinned a particular way, with the rings varying degrees of punishment. He looks around, noticing the slaves, objectifying them as black shapes. He makes an ironic comment, calling the slaves helpers and stating how they have withdrawn to die. He talks about how they have been abandoned in a very understating way. There is another reference to Dantes Inferno here, as he notices the black shadows of disease and starvation. Marlow then leaves the trees, but looks down to see a black slave, who has a white thread around his neck. He is startled at how strange and out of place it looks on the black skin. This is symbolic of the white men of the empire being out of place in Africa. To conclude, the Heart of Darkness within the play refers to the inner capability to commit evil acts in all men, and the evil of the empire underneath the front of spreading civilisation and the light of Christianity. The two sections of the novel which I have chosen to examine are full of symbolic imagery, referring to the title, and raising questions in the readers mind about the greatness of Britain.

Great Barrier Reef Essay -- Wonders of the World, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is believed to be one of the most incredible places on this earth. This reef is the largest living organism on this planet and the only living thing on earth visible from space (2011). The warm waters of the southwest Pacific Ocean are the perfect environments to create the world's largest system of coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is in such pristine condition that it was listed by the World Heritage Trust as a protected site and is therefore, managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure that its beauty is maintained for many travelers and sightseers (Edgar 2010). Due to the complexity of this natural phenomenon, human practices have led to ecological problems for the reef, but preservation efforts can provide future generations the ability to learn from and experience one of the largest oceanic coral ecosystems in the world. The Great Barrier Reef is located just off the coast of Australia. This marine park stretches over 1800 miles and is almost parallel to the Queensland coast (2011). The reef spans a distance of 65 km wide and reaches 15 to 150 km off shore (2011). At just 500,000 years old, the Great Barrier Reef is a relatively young structure. Yet even younger is the current reef's structure at less than 8,000 years old (Edgar 2010). The formation of the Great Barrier Reef is very complex. Coral reefs began to form in the region at about 58 to 48 million years ago when the Coral Sea Basin formed (Briney 2010). However, once the Australian continent moved to its present location, sea levels began to change, and coral reefs started to grow fairly quickly, changing climate and sea levels. This consequently caused them to... ...populations, some countries have invested into fish farming or aquaculture, but some controversy has followed from this practice. Studies have shown that fish farms are not helpful in sustaining the native fish, and have actually harmed them instead. There are two main types of aquaculture: onshore and offshore. These farms, often times due to overcrowded tanks, result in outbreaks of deadly diseases. An example is pop eye, an eye infection that causes swelling of the eye. On offshore farms, domesticated fish often escape through faulty and inferior netting, infecting native fish populations. Alternatively, offshore farms pose a different problem. Management of these facilities has been known to filter pure excess waste products of the fish into the ocean. The contaminated water, also full of nutrients, creates algae blooms and starves sea floor of sunlight.

The role and function of violence in the novel `The World According to Garp`

John Irving's notoriety as a novelist rests at least partially upon his admirable ability to fuse the comic and tragic in fiction, often within the same â€Å"sketch† or scene. His persistent vision of the absurd and sublime as conjoined twins alludes to a more profound and probing set of themes in his published fiction.In his novel, â€Å"The World According to Garp† the apparent domesticity of the story's characters and settings prove little protection against the forces of fate or circumstance which collide repeatedly with the domestic surface of the novel, many times in irruptions of violence, with much of that violence seeming to be random or bizarre. The function and role of violence in â€Å"The World According to Garp† is manifold; however, one of the primary functions of Irving's continuous depiction of violence is to portray the chaos and random dangers of the universe.The point of violence in â€Å"The World According to Garp† is not only to ins truct readers about possible sociological and ethical breeches in contemporary society, but to remind readers of the primal, seemingly random violence which fills the universe itself. One way of depicting violence in the novel is to show a darkly comic, almost slapstick vision of violence, as in the infamous Michael Milton â€Å"castration† scene where one of the novel's darkest and most tragic moments is simultaneously offset by the â€Å"humor† of the situation: his penis being bitten off in a car while engaging in an extramarital affair.There is simultaneously a notion of poetic justice in this scene, but also of devastating almost unimaginable tragedy which shatters the surface of the domestic scene. This juxtapositioning of violence with comic-tragic experience is continuous throughout the novel. â€Å"The existence of bizarre violence and the associated vein of black humor, even in the first section of the book, contributes to irony. The novel opens to the backd rop of a war, and Jenny Fields's brusque categorizing of the wounded The Role and Function of Violence in `The World According to Garp` page -2-into classes of Externals, Vital Organs, Absentees, and Goners certainly contains an element of the blackly humorous. † (Wilson, 1992, p. 55) In one way or another, each of the characters in â€Å"The World According to Garp† is seen to be either a victim of violence, usually chaotic violence, living in the aftermath of their experience, or as a victim (unknowingly) headed for a violent encounter, or both. The sense of violence as ubiquitous, but ultimately unpredictable and unaccountable, reinforces the cosmic or universal scope of the primal element of violence discussed previously.This primal— ineffable — power, the power of random violent tragedy is symbolized by Walt's mis-hearing of the word â€Å"undertow† which he mistakenly calls â€Å"Under Toad. † The â€Å"Under Toad† becomes a near -archetypal vision of cosmic disorder and brutality. â€Å"Walt's malapropism becomes a catchphrase that the Garp family uses to refer to imminent danger, violence, and death. The randomness and suddenness of death are brought to our attention at the very beginning of the novel when Garp's father, the ball-turret gunner, becomes a â€Å"Goner.† Although violence and death abound in Irving first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in Garp there is one disaster after another. (Campbell, 1998, p. 81) The universal presence of violence and disorder becomes associated, through its immersion into the â€Å"every day† settings and characters, with a primitive, natural force, something which impacts humanity and flows through them but issues, perhaps, from a more cosmically primitive level. One way the natural primitivism of violence is expressed in â€Å"The World According to Garp† is through the association of violence with sex.â€Å"Whatever the The Role and Function o f Violence in `The World According to Garp` page -3-connection, sex and violence are related throughout the novel, and Garp finds himself confronting them at nearly every turn. â€Å"(Campbell, 1998, p. 83) This association allows Irving to demonstrate that primal, chaotic violence exists as an intrinsic part of the universal paradigm and finds oblique, often absurd and even humorous expression through human events. In this way, violence, like death and birth, love and sex, is viewed as an endemic force of nature.As a symbol for Irving's cosmic paradigm, the wrestling room at Steering college offers a complex and complete statement, symbolically, for Irving's cosmic vision. Here, in a place created for violent confrontation, all of the major events of a life, Garp's life, emanate. â€Å"It is not only where Garp learns how to wrestle and feels at home, but also where he proposes to Helen Holm. It is, further, the space that Pooh Percy enters, in a nurse's uniform (like his mother' s), and kills Garp. † (Campbell, 1998, p.75)The wrestling room becomes a microcosm, a stage whereupon the great, often absurd, dramas of a life are enacted, but it is a place of competition, of struggle, and ultimately of death. The cycle which links sex and violence, death and birth, continues in Garp's stream of consciousness even as he lays dying, showing how individuality is subsumed under the larger, cosmic processes. Garp thinks: â€Å"Even if there is only death after death (after death), be grateful for small favors— sometimes there is birth after sex, for example.And if you are very fortunate, sometimes there is sex after birth! † (Irving, 576). Irving's use of violence in â€Å"The World According to Garp† is extensive, varied, and intense. The modes of violence in the novel range from the comic to the harrowingly tragic and often involve two or modes simultaneously. Irving's purpose in depicting violence in this way is to establish violence and chaos as an integral part of the universe inhabited by humanity, whose insular and myopic visions partake of, but are incapable of fully comprehending the universal forces which shape their lives.

The Battle That Created America - 1126 Words

Jared Bratton The Battle that Created America The Revolutionary War was fought between the colonies of North America and the British Empire. This fight was to gain independence from the British Colonies and to establish America as an independent nation. Although the colonies of North America were on the continent by themselves, they did not have their own freedom from Great Britain. There were many important events leading up to the Revolutionary War. First, the Stamp Act put a tax on all the paper in the Colonies. This act helped the British, but it hurt the patriots by making them pay more money on taxes which in the long run they had less to spend on weapons. Next, British soldiers, in Boston, MA, opened fire on citizens in the middle of the city. This fueled to the tension that was already between the British and the colonists. Next, the Boston Tea Party was what increased the tension even more. Men from Boston dressed as Indians boarded three British ships that were filled with tea, and they dumped their tea in the Boston Harbor. They did this because the British Parliament had previously passed the Tea Act. The Tea Act gave the British East India Tea Company a monopoly on tea trading. The Intolerable Acts were then set into play which closed the Boston Harbor from import or export. The British Parliament planned on closing the port until they received their money back from the Boston Tea Party. This only made the thirteen colonies angry, and was one of theShow MoreRelatedAmerican Revolution Gave Birth to Democracy in America Essay983 Words   |  4 Pagesoppression from British rule. It wasn’t until they were being overtaxed by the British that they rose up to fight for independence and freedom. This historic event was known as The American Revolution. 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Through Elie s eyes, the reader is forcedRead MoreThe Aftermath And Acts That Followed The Boston Tea Party1522 Words   |  7 Pagesinto the Boston Harbor. This later became known as the famous Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was the initial cause of the American Revolution and the freedom America has gained. The Boston Tea Party was also the beginning of all of the aftermath that followed it. The Intolerable Acts , the Continental Congresses, and battles following the Boston Tea Party were the beginning to America’s freedom. To start off, the Intolerable Acts were a part of the effects of the Boston Tea Party. They wereRead MoreFreedom And Freedom Of Freedom885 Words   |  4 PagesDid you know that freedom helped our forefathers shape America throughout the centuries? Freedom is a way to describe independence and a way to self-govern oneself. Freedom is what united the thirteen colonies and gave them the courage to fight for their freedom. Ever since the day settlers set foot on American soil to the day the Declaration of Independence was signed to declare America as an independent nation. Colonist knew that freedom would be the key to create a diverse nation in which it allowedRead MoreAnalysis Of Eve Kornfeld s Creating An American Culture 1775-1800995 Words   |  4 Pagesthe United States of America. Likewise, the moments of growth and economic success are looked at. From these past endeavors, the people can examine what went wrong and what went right and determine how they can stop themselves f rom making similar mistakes or act in a way that has been proven to work. In Eve Kornfeld’s â€Å"Creating an American Culture 1775-1800,† many different areas of national identity are discussed, including the beginnings of documenting the history of America as an independent nation