Almost Break Time!

We are done with Heart of Darkness, at least for now.  If we have a chance, we will view Apocalypse Now in class.  The final write for Heart of Darkness is a paper providing a critical analysis of the text from YOUR CHOICE among the critical schools. Please be sure your paper addresses the questions that your particular school would ask of the text-- a paragraph or two for each question is a guide-- but don't forget that your thesis can "overlap" several schools of thought.

Our latest dance card is all filled by the Bard-- an epic rhumba with the bestest rhymer of all timer-- a samba with the sonnet master--  a trip the light fantastic night in ghostly, rotten Denmark--Hamlet!
Here are some documents of introduction and assignment:
Chain of Being
C of B artistic interpretation
Elizabethan Universe
Cartoonish Seven Deadly Sins (also known as "mortal" sins--the kind that endanger your immortal soul)
Word Study
Reading Log
Chapter One Quiz-- USE THIS AS A STUDY GUIDE--WRITE ON IT.

READING SCHEDULE:
March 19-20, Act I, scene 1
March 20-21, Act I, scenes 2-3
March 21-22, Act I, scene 4-5
Over Spring Break: Write one Reading Log Entry (three types) for the whole of ACT I

Notice three significant points

As you read and analyze Mr. Achebe's speech, please write down three significant points that he makes and come to class prepared to discuss them in relationship to our other studies of Conrad's work: Heart of Darkness.

King Leopold's Soliloquy

Please read this little pamphlet by Mark Twain: Satire is the name of the game, and how else could we listen to such a man rant on about why he does what he does?  The drawings and photos are amazing to look at, too. You can download it for free or read it on your computer via Google Books. We will discuss in class, of course!
Link to Google Books version
If the link doesn't work, you can download the pamphlet itself on Google Books-- the original text was donated by the library at Harvard University-- for use on your device or computer.

The Horror! The Horror!

Man, it was almost like we were reading Frankenstein again! The monster is not just traipsing about in the Alps this time, but it is in me, and you , and Europe, and all who journey back into pre-civilizational [sic] primordial muck and ooze will find a "self" of violence and greed and ego unmitigated!
Meanwhile, back in Europe, in that "Whited Sepulchre* of a city, the intended must be protected from the truth. Hmmmmmm.. Why must we let her continue to worship a false idol?  Even Kurtz is horrified when he faces the truth about who he really is, and yet the intended imagines he is wonderful and that, "I knew him best!" (91) when she does not know anything but the best press. Why protect the people in Europe from the degradation of imperialism--it is degrading to all parties, the subjugation of others

*biblical reference to hypocrisy (Matthew 23:27): the Pharisees were said to be clean and proper on the outside, but with hearts/souls full of death and decay and useless relics--like a white-washed tomb.

ASSIGNMENT: Here is a link to an article written by an African man who was a scholar/professor here in the U.S.  He gives us a differing view of Conrad's work.  Please read this and come to class Tuesday, March 12th prepared to discuss it.
An Image of Africa, by Chinua Achebe


REMINDER: Friday, March 8th we took a reading test over the whole of Heart of Darkness.  Please be sure to make this up on Monday if you were absent
Essays on The Accountant: Due Wednesday, March 13th.

Thinking about "non-bricks," portraits of symbolic ladies and getting to Kurtz

Continue to read and take notes according to the tasks on the bookmark.  Everyone, at least from the conversations I overhear, seems to understand the work quite well, so far.
Today: we filled out a graphic organizer and had a group discussion about the "Brick Maker" character.  We will finish it tomorrow.
Keep reading and rolling UP the river:
M/C and Matching type Test on entire book: Friday, March 8th