Heart of Darkness - Section 3

As Marlow continues to catch glimpses of Kurtz’s subordinates as he ventures farther down the river, he and the reader continue to see the lawless nature of Europe-occupied Africa.  As he eavesdrops on the conversation of one manager, Marlow overhears the man’s description of “a pestilential fellow” who steals precious ivory from native tribes (104).  The word “pestilential” invokes images of death and disease, creating a hostile and inhospitable mood that the reader associates with a man who appears to be rather high in Kurtz’s chain of command.  This manager suggests soon after that he arbitrarily hang a native to assert his power of this “pestilential fellow” (104).  Without hesitation, the man with whom he is speaking to “grunt[s]” in reply that hanging a native would be an excellent idea.  The impulsive urge to murder at random speaks clearly to the entitlement that the Europeans wreak upon native African people.  The responsive “grunt” of the manager’s companion further raises doubts that the colonists have any semblance of a conscience, since the word has a strongly primitive and nasty connotation.  The primitive connotation of the word also ironically points out the way the Europeans view the “savages” who are native to Africa, when the colonists themselves are no less human.  Many simple conversations such as this one that Marlow overhears exemplify the way the colonists of Europe feel that they are entitled to stroll into Africa and treat the land and the people as subhuman property.

Heart of Darkness - Section 1

In the first several pages of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the narrator uses several contrasting images to set Marlow apart from the other men on the ship.  The narrator describes Marlow as having “an ascetic aspect”, connoting religious or spiritual absorption, devotion, meditation, and concentration (66).  This image contrasts sharply with, for example, the description of the Lawyer, who is reclining on a pillow and rug.  As the Lawyer indulges in comfort, Marlow relaxes more simply, as the word “ascetic” suggests, casting off the pleasures of Earthly possessions.  Similarly, the Accountant plays with dominoes that he brought onto the yacht, “toying architecturally” with them (66).  The word “toying” gives the impression that the Accountant’s means of entertainment is almost childish or trivial.  This apparent immaturity also contrasts with the image of Marlow in the same paragraph, a straight-backed, cross-legged, meditative pseudo-Buddha (66).  Marlow also feels differently about the sea than do the other passengers on the Nellie.  The narrator describes him as a “seaman” and a “wanderer”, noting that Marlow is “the only of [the group] who still ‘followed the sea’” (67).  Marlow’s passion for sea travel does not match up with the simple Thames pleasure cruise on which the other gentlemen have embarked.  Furthermore, when Marlow begins his story, the narrator notes that the story “was accepted in silence.  No one took the trouble to grunt even” (68).  Here, Marlow has a sort of gravitas that separates him from the apparent triviality of the others.  Finally, Marlow is the only one on the ship whom Conrad gives a name.  This ties together the image of the mysteriously charismatic Marlow, giving him concrete validity that the captain and the other passengers have yet to acquire.

Figurative Language in "Mind"

In Richard Wilbur’s poem Mind, the speaker compares the mind to a bat in order to portray the mind’s instinctual knowledge and awareness.  Wilbur’s bat, for example, is perfectly aware of all of its surroundings, discerning them “by a kind of senseless wit” (line 3).  It finds its surroundings not through thought, but through instinct, without having to struggle.  The bat “beats about in caverns all alone”; these caverns represent the confusing and distracting world in which the body dwells (line 2).  However, despite this dark and confusing cavern, the bat can easily navigate its path as soon as it gets its bearings, "And so it may weave and flitter, dip and soar / in perfect courses through the blackest air" (7-8).  The speaker asserts here that, despite these distractions or obstacles, the mind has an innate ability to find truth and knowledge by digging deeper and avoiding the obstacles.  Even when the air is at its blackest, that is, when the world is at its most hostile or confusing, the mind is inherently able to navigate its intellectual environment and to freely imagine and explore.

Analysis of "35/10"

Thesis: In Sharon Olds’s poem “35/10”, the speaker’s opinion shifts from mournful of her own childhood to hopeful for that of her daughter.

The title of the poem suggests that a thirty-five-year-old mother reflects nostalgically on her own childhood.

• Upon reading the first three lines of the poem, it is evident that the title refers to the ages of the mother and her daughter, respectively.  This is clear essentially as soon as the reader hears mention of the daughter from the point of view of the mother
• The title suggests that the main focus of the poem is the relationship between an aging mother and her maturing daughter, although it is unclear from the title what that relationship may be.

In the beginning of the poem, the speaker focuses on her own negative features.

• The author ends the first line by describing the daughter’s hair as “brown,” which, while not explicitly ugly, is not a particularly exciting color.  This lack of excitement allows the word “servant” to stand out amidst the diction surrounding it.  The speaker uses the word to describe herself, and the word connotes the mother’s submission to an aging process that she cannot control.
• The mother continues to point out her own flaws, such as the increasingly defined wrinkles in her neck and the drying of her skin (lines 6-9).

As the poem progresses, the tone shifts from pessimism to optimism.

• Instead of focusing on her own negative features, the speakers attention turns toward her daughter, a “moist / precise flower on the tip of a cactus” (lines 10-11).  This image may represent the daughter’s youth, a flower, emerging from the body of her mother, whose body is, like a cactus, externally rough and pointy, even though it is filled with precious water under the surface.
• The mother likens her daughter’s maturing ovaries to “hard-boiled yolks”, which symbolize new life and energy.  Her depiction of her daughter’s youth displays her newfound positive outlook on what it means to grow older.

Analysis of Linda Pastan's Poem "Ethics"

Thesis: In her poem "Ethics," Pastan leads the reader through an uncomfortable struggle with a value-testing philosophical question.

Pastan uses the structure of her poem to bend the questions so that they are not as easy to answer.

• By leaving "a Rembrandt painting" on the end of line 4, and by enjambing "years left anyhow" in line 6, Pastan highlights the value of one option while devaluing the other.  Since Pastan weighs the nonhuman option more heavily than the human, even though it should seem obvious to value human life over a painting, the reader may struggle with what could otherwise be a very easy question.
• When the speaker's teacher explains that the answerer of the question is solely responsible for the fate of both the woman and the painting, she brings "the burdens of responsibility" onto a separate line, making those burdens more present and more ominous (line 16).  This line break makes the responsibility starker, invoking the immense pressure felt by someone entrusted with the decision to save or end someone's life.

Pastan uses different academic levels of language throughout her poem to simulate growth.  However, the question does not become any easier to answer at the end of the poem.  Pastan portrays the difficulty of answering ethical questions such as this one.

• Toward the beginning of the poem, Pastan uses fairly simple sentence structure, as well as colloquial words such as "anyhow" in order to portray a younger speaker (line 6).
• Later in the poem, Pastan's language becomes more complex; for example, she uses more commas to separate fragments of thought within the same sentence.  The question, however, remains as difficult despite the speaker's increased maturity.

Throughout the poem, Pastan provides detailed images of the two savable objects in question.  By allowing the reader to get to know both the painting and the woman, Pastan makes it hard for the reader to be forced to choose to terminate one of them.

• Sometimes Pastan imagines the old woman to be her own grandmother (line 10).  As the reader pictures his own grandmother, he would never think to end the life of a woman he loves so dearly in favor of some expensive artwork.
• But at the end of the poem, Pastan describes the Rembrandt: she describes its vivid colors, and how it seems to jump out of the canvas and pull the speaker into the world of the painting.  As the reader depicts it, he would rather not allow this beautiful work of art to burn into ashes.
• Pastan further enhances the reader's love for the painting by separating her description of it from the image of her grandmother by a whopping 9 lines.  This allows the image of the reader's grandmother to fade slightly, just as the beautiful image of the painting comes into view.

Analysis of Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Eagle"

Thesis: In his poem "The Eagle", Alfred Lord Tennyson portrays the eagle as a creature of superiority and power.

• Tennyson paints this picture by depicting the eagle's purposeful actions

o   The eagle “clasps” the perch on which it sits (1).  This word has a deliberate and intense connotation.

o   Even when the eagle “falls,” it does so “like a thunderbolt” (6).  A thunderbolt is unfathomably fast and has a highly concentrated and dangerous route as it “falls” from the sky, just as an eagle is fast, focused, and deadly.

• He also enhances the eagle's position in relation to the world around it

o   “The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls” (4).  “Crawl” is a word with a submissive connotation, and the word “wrinkle” is associated with disfigurement and possibly even discomfort.  These carefully chosen words suggest that even an entity as mighty as the sea grovels before the noble eagle.

o   The eagle perches “Close to the sun” (2).  Not only is the sun the source of all life on Earth, but it is also the highest object in the daytime sky.  Therefore, aside from the sun, Tennyson places the eagle to be the highest thing in the sky, paralleling its power over everything around it.

o   The eagle stands “Ringed with the azure world” (3).  Tennyson places the eagle at the center of the world, further enhancing the image of the eagle’s central power.