1.)
A: "For there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence and as inscrutable as Destiny." (pg.6)
I: Nothing can compare to the sea in the eyes of a seaman. The sea is a mystery, an enigma to them. It is what they love, it is their other half. Without the sea they would have not learn to love what they do. They would not be what they were without the sea, the sea is their everything it is their path towards their destiny.
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2.)
A: "Here and there a military camp lost in the wilderness, like a needle in a bundle of hay." (pg.8)
I: The author chose to use simile to compare a military camp to a needle in the bundle of hay. When a military camp is lost they are hard to find especially in the wilderness. The wilderness can be a scary and mystical place depending on the destination. Finding a needle in a bundle of hay is hard, becuase there is so much hay and to find a tiny needle would be crazy. It would blend in with the hay and be hidden underneath it all.
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3.)
A: "The fascination of the abomination-you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate." (pg.8)
I: When people fascinate over the abomination their regrets grow along with them. When someone has caused hatred or disgust they regret over it and it sticks in the back of their minds. Some eventually get crazy and long for an escape to be free from regrets, and free from their fascination of the abomination. They would be powerless, and the only thing they were left to do is surreneder. They would hate, and live that way becuase they were trained to hate.
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4.)Some confounded fact when men have been living contendedly with ever since the day of creation would start up and knock the whole thing over." (pg.9)
I: This quote struck me because of the word "creation." I thought about the biblical allusion of the creation of God. In "...knock the whole thing over..." I thought about how God could just take away what the created becuase he made it, so he could destroy it.
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5.)
A: "Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma." (pg.19)
I: Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enimga, becuase you do not know what is out there. For seaman something is also new and exciting when they have discovered a new destination and a new land.
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6.)
A: "...and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them rythemically clinging." (pg.24)
I: This quote in some ways gives me an image of what is happening. I picture slaves on a land being controlled by their masters. I see them in a row connected together by chains as if they were some kind of animals seperated from the human race. I could hear the chains as they walk cling together connecting my image with sound to portray an image.
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7.)
A: "The smell of mud, of primeval mud, by Jove! was in my nostrils, the high stillness of primeval forest was before my eyes." (pg.43)
I: In this quote, I thought about a narrative story. Within this quote the narrator portrays an imagery for me in which I can picture what he sees. The narrator uses his sense of smell to give the reader a feel of what his scenery is like. The smell he smells is that of mudd, or the ground he walks on. The narrator also sees the scenery of the forest in front of him.
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8.)
A: "I believed it into the same way one of you might believe there are inhabitants in the planet Mars." (pg.43)
I: He does not believe in Kurtz because he has not seen him. He has only heard of him by many, but has not seen him in person. He chooses to compare Kurtz to the inhabitants of the planet Mars, becuase there is no such thing as inhabitants on Mars.
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9.)
A: "There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies-which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world-what I want to forget." (pg.44)
I: With death there is regret of contamination of the undesireable. Within lies there is death lurking at the door. Men want to forget it, but it cannot be forgotten. The problem can only be fixed, and remembered so that it can never happen again.
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10.)
A: "She had given me a chance to come out about-to find out what I could do." (pg.47)
I: For this man the sea has given him a chance to find himself. The sea showed him what he could do and taught him new things. Even though there are rough times between the sea and him, he learned to love the sea. The sea is his guidance through life, and his new experience through exploration. The sea excites him and leads him through his path of life.
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11.)
A: "It was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage." (pg.50)
I: Without hardihood, man is considered weak and restless. Without audacity,or taking bold risks man would be greedy. Without courage man would be cruel. To them standards would have to be set for man to have the title such as "brave, strong, etc." Man had to have it all, and without it all, they would be reckless, greedy, and cruel, when really what they do not know is that they are all of those things already.
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12.)
A: "To tear treasure out of bowels of the land was their desire, without moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe." (pg.50)
I: The author chooses to compare conquerers to burglars because they take things from other lands for their own desire, and do not think about the inhabitants on the land. They did not think about the inhabitants becuase they honestly did not care, they only thought about themselves, and wanted everything for themselves. When a burglar breaks into a safe they do not care about the owner, they just care about the only thing they strive to get, which is the treasure. They too only care about themselves, and the treasure they are going to get. The conquerers and the burglars are compared because both take things from other peole without moral purpose, but for their own good.
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13.)
A: "The mind of man is capable of anything-becuase everything is in it, all the pasts well as all the future." (pg.60)
I: The mind of man is capable of anything becuase they know the difference between right and wrong but do not choose for themselves. When wrong things have been done in the past some may learn from it, and others may re-do the past. They make their future by what they choose to do with the knowlege of their past. If man did wrong in the past, the present would have a choice between learning it, and changing the future for the better, or they may repeat history all over again. A man is capable of doing anything, but it is his choice whether he should do it or not do it.
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14.) (number 4)
A:"In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. " (pg.3)
I: In this quote, the narrator is discussing the scenes as they appear, or seem to be.
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15.) (numner 1)
A: "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." (pg. 9)
I: This quote points to futility of the European presence in Africa, because the Europeans take away things from those of different color and flatter noses. They have quests to other destinations in the world, and take other land's treasures and claim it for themselves. The Europeans go to other countries for easier routes, resources, etc. When they arrive on another man's land they change everything for the inhabitants, including religion, and treating them as if they own them. This quoe points the pointless presence of Europeans in Africa.
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16.) (number 4)
A:"It appears he had persuaded a Dutch trading house on the coast to fit him out with stores and goods, and had started for the interior with a light heart and no more idea of what would happen to him than a baby." (pg. 90)
I:
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17.) (number 7)
A:"... and becoming gloomy all of a sudden. His face was like the autumn sky, overcast one moment, and bright the next." (pg. 89)
I: In this quote the narrator describes an image of gloom, through the face of a man. The author uses simile to compare the man's face to the autumn sky, because he was gloomy at first, which in comparison the grey autumn sky. He then compares the man's face again to the autum sky becuase all of a sudden the man's face changes from gloomy to bright. The autumn sky first is portrayed as grey and gloomy, and then all of a sudden is changed to a brighter sky. This quote answers question seven because it creates an image from gloomy to brightness.
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18.) (number 1)
A:"To speak plainly he raided the country." (pg.94)
I: 'To speak plainly he raided the country," points to the futility of the European presence in Africa because the narrator talks about Kurtz and how he got a tribe to follow him.
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19.) (number 7)
A:"All this was in the gloom, while we down there were yet in the sunshine." (pg.99)
I: This quote answers number seven becuase it portrays an image of gloom to sunshine.
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20. (number 3)
A: "of naked human beings- with spears in their hands with bows, with shields, with wild glances, and savage movements, were pured into the clearing by the dark faced and pensive forest." (pg. 100)
I: This quote answers number three becuase it is the traditional symbol of black. In this quote he gives an image of what a tribe member wears, which is different from his European comany. His people uses weapons like guns, while the tribe member uses spears, and bows, with shields.
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21.) (number 3)
A: "Dark human shapes could be made out in the distance, flitting indistinctively against the gloomy border of the forest, and near the river to bronze figures, leaning on tall spears, stood in the sunlight under fantastic head-dresses of spotted skins, warlike and still in the statuesque repose. And from right to left along the ligted shore moved a wild and gorgeous apparition of a woman. (pg. 102) "
I: This quote answers number three because he describes the tribe members with head-dresses of spotted skins, while in his company they wear suits in the middle of a hot jungle.
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22.) (number 3)
A: "...draped in striped and fringed clothes... flash of barbarous ornaments...her hair was done in the shape of a helmet...she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire gauntlets to the elbow, a crimson spot on her tawny cheek, inummerable necklaces of glass beads on her neck; bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch-men, that hung about her glittered and trembled at every step." (pg. 103)
I: In this quote the narrator describes a native womans clothes and gives detail about it becuase he has never seen it before. By the way he describes the woman she may be in traditional clothing and of a higher class. She wore fringed clothing and had barbarous ornaments. Her hair was also done in a shape of a helmet, which to her tribe could have meant a clean cut look. She also wore jewelry which could also have to do with her being in a higher class. In Africa her clothing could be what they consider traditional and formal, where in other places like the United States, it would be jungle-like.
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23.) (number 7)
A:"But both the diabolic love and the unearthly hate of the mysteries it had penetrated fought for the possesion of that soul satiated with primitive emotions, avid of lying fame, of sham distincition of all the appearrances of success and power. " (pg. 116)
I:
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24.)
A: "I am lying here in the dark waiting for death." (pg. 117)
I: When the narrator was at Kurtz's deathbed he heard him say this quote. In this quote It makes me think about Kurtz wanting to move on from the darkness, and die becuase he would enter the light.
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25.)
A: "If such is the form of ultimate wisdom, then life is a greater riddle than some of us think it to be." (pg. 119 )
I: This quote means that life is a mystery we have to solve and it is bigger and out of the box that we may think. Most people do not realize this about life, and live in an egocentric mind thinking only about their surroundings. When time comes to move out of that state of mind, everything is new to us and there is more to it than we think. There are things out there that we do not open our eyes to that is important to other people.
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