• Title/Summary/Keyword: Heart of Darkness

Search Result 11, Processing Time 0.024 seconds

The Conversion of Narrative Strategy: from "An Outpost of Progress" to Heart of Darkness (서술 전략의 전환-「진보의 전초기지」에서 『어둠의 핵심』으로)

  • Lee, Man Sik
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
    • /
    • v.57 no.4
    • /
    • pp.625-649
    • /
    • 2011
  • Even though "An Outpost of Progress" and Heart of Darkness were based upon Joseph Conrad the sailor's same experience in Congo Free State, their narrative strategies are quite different. The realistic representation of "An Outpost of Progress," with which Conrad was not satisfied at all, was converted into the modernistic narrative strategy of Heart of Darkness so that the sympathetic power of the story should be improved. The conservative value system of realism is expressed by the omniscient author in "An Outpost of Progress," whereas the frame narrator of Heart of Darkness is proved to be an unreliable one whose norms and behavior are not in accordance with the implied author. The glorious history of the British Empire, which was proudly presented by the frame narrator at the beginning of Heart of Darkness, was strongly opposed by Marlow, another narrator, who said that the British Empire had been "one of the dark places of the earth" when ruled by the Roman Empire. The feeling of the frame narrator was uneasily changed into the gloomy mood when he described the Thames as the flow which "seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness" at the end of Heart of Darkness. Similar to the straightforward narrative strategy of representation in "An Outpost of Progress," the realistic approach of Part I in Heart of Darkness is considered by Conrad as insufficient to reveal the darkest truth of imperialism, which was declared by Kurtz as "The Horror! The Horror!" Thus Conrad uses the Chinese-box structure, in which Kurtz' episode is enveloped by Marlow's tale which is enclosed by the frame narrator's story, in order to penetrate into the mind of ordinary readers in the novelist's age of New Colonialism, while attacking the ideology itself of imperialism instead of critisizing its inefficiency and individualism.

The Eluded Allusion: A Satirical Reading of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

  • Lee, Seogkwang
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
    • /
    • v.64 no.3
    • /
    • pp.415-432
    • /
    • 2018
  • This essay reinterprets Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness as satirical writing. In an experience-based fictional world, Conrad places imperial precursors who present themselves with a derogatory demeanor that stems from corrupt rapacity at its forefront. This rapacity is enabled by what European colonists believe to be a noble cause, regarded as a vehicle with which to enlighten African continent in his work. This essay reads this noble cause that allows such exorbitant and corrupt rapacity as a dominant element in the construction of Conrad's characters, particularly Kurtz, as objects of satire. Kurtz ends up beginning his calamitous descent into barbarism, mockingly quite opposite to what the colonial disciples misconceive themselves to be. In exhuming the satirical elements from the novel, this paper proves the significance of reading The Heart of Darkness as satire as an alternative reading to the racist book Chinua Achebe has accused it of.

Changes in Electroencephalographic Results and Heart Rate Variability after Exposure to Green Landscape Photographs Correlated with Color Temperature and Illumination Level

  • Lee, Min Jung;Oh, Wook
    • Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
    • /
    • v.24 no.6
    • /
    • pp.639-649
    • /
    • 2021
  • Background and objective: Various images from visual display terminals (VDTs) as well as living lighting are important parts of our daily life; thus, properly controlling the lighting environment - that is, illuminance, color temperature and good images from VDTs - can have a substantial effect on improving the mental health and work efficiency in everyday life. We examined electroencephalography (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) responses to various lighting conditions in 25 university students as they viewed images of a green landscape or traffic congestion. Methods: EEG was performed in darkness and when the room was illuminated with 10 different light-emitting diode (LED) color temperatures, while the EEG and HRV responses to green landscape or traffic congestion image stimuli were measured in darkness and during room illumination with three different LED color temperatures. Results: We found a significant difference between darkness and high LED illumination (400 lx) at 7 (CZ, F4, FZ, O1, O2, OZ, and T6) of 30 channels, while the alpha wave activity increased during darkness. In the second experiment, the green landscape image stimuli in the 30 lx-2600 K lighting condition elicited theta wave activity on the EEG, whereas the traffic congestion image stimuli under high LED illumination elicited high beta and gamma wave activities. Moreover, the subjects exhibited better stress coping ability and heart rate stability in response to green landscape image stimuli under illuminated conditions, according to their HRV. Conclusion: These results suggest that lower color temperatures and illumination levels alleviate tension, and that viewing green landscape image stimuli at low illumination, or in darkness, is effective for reducing stress. Conversely, high illumination levels and color temperatures are likely to increase tension and stress in response to traffic congestion image stimuli.

Darkness at the Heart of Anti-Imperialism: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness (반제국주의 속의 어둠 -『암흑의 핵심』에 나타난 인종주의)

  • Shin, Moonsu
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
    • /
    • v.55 no.1
    • /
    • pp.61-82
    • /
    • 2009
  • This paper aims to reexamine the issue of racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, especially in the light of Chinua Achebe's critique of the novella as a racist text entrenched with European prejudices of Africa and its people in his 1975 speech at the University of Massachusetts titled "An Image of Africa." While the novella's indictment of imperial exploitation has been noted from an early stage of its critical reception, its racism had hardly been discussed until Chinua Achebe posed it. Achebe offers the canonized status of the text as a modernist classic, "the most commonly prescribed novel in twentieth-century literature courses," as one reason for its obvious manifestations of racism being glossed over. One may add that Conrad's militant denunciation of imperialist enterprises as "a sordid farce," his seemingly radical stance against imperialism, serves as ideological constraints upon his readers, blinding them to its immanent racism. A closer look at the novella's attack on imperialism turns out to be contradictory, for it also shows such liberal-humanist ideas as the civilizing mission, the work ethic, and the superiority of civilized man, all of which served to prop up European imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century. This ideological contradiction also accounts for Conrad's racist attitude, which is betrayed in his portrayal of Africans as obscure, primitive. Euro-American imperialism has frequently justified itself by recourse to racism, but racism has not always been allied with imperialism. Some staunch racists such as Robert Knox and Arthur de Gobineau went against imperialism, and Conrad proves one of such cases whose critique of imperialism is voiced in ways that can be characterized as racist.

Narratological diversion coupled with moral vagueness in Conrad's Heart of Darkness

  • Lee, Seogkwang
    • English & American cultural studies
    • /
    • v.14 no.1
    • /
    • pp.117-139
    • /
    • 2014
  • This paper examines the moral vagueness penetrating Heart of Darkness. It views that the inarticulate moral presentation in the book is caused by the way in which the author distracts Marlow throughout his journey to Congo and ultimately to Kurtz, and puts him in a distance from what the real Cong is. Also Conrad's peculiar narrative style leads the readers' view astray Marlow describes what he sees and delivers the impression he gains in the journey but all he gets seems to be merely hazy and nebulous the readers are left with suspicion about his reliability on what he conveys to them. The effect is, because of the meagre tangibility on what Marlow experiences, he does not seem to get a clear grip on his moral rumination on what Congo can emit and what Kurtz ended up with, which allows the novel to defy a moral absoluteness. The moral awakening Marlow has gone through remains obscure. The readers are simply invited to work out what Marlow is up to.

Constructions of Totalitarian Subjectivity in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (죠셉 콘래드의 『어둠의 속』에 나타난 전체주의적 주체성의 형성)

  • Koo, Seung-pon
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
    • /
    • v.45
    • /
    • pp.479-496
    • /
    • 2016
  • The aim of this essay was to investigate Marlow's desire for constructing enlightenment subject of knowledge and power sustained by the collusion of imperialism and patriarchy in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Marlow's narrative, based on his journey up the river in Africa to retrieve Kurtz, attempts to conceptualize himself as the subject of the enlightenment reason and rationality. In the novella, collusive network of ideologies of empire and gender contributes to the making of a Western Enlightenment subject. Marlow eulogizes himself for realizing the harsh realities of imperialism, political domination and economic exploitation of the natives in Africa. However, Marlow is a colonial subject who has been ruled by the hierarchical system of thought in the Western logocentrism. He is not aware that his narrative has already been infiltrated by the ideological discourse of the totalitarian enlightenment. His narrative in effect is not a self-congratulatory testimony to truth and realities but a narcissistic and self-defeating document. Marlow unconsciously employs the totalitarian ideologies of empire and gender in order to relegate the African natives to the inhuman existence and to consign women to the sphere of illusion.

EFFECT OF MONO-SPECTRAM RADIANT ON AUTONOMIC NERVOUSSYSTEM

  • Shibayama, Y.;Watanuki, S.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
    • /
    • 2000.04a
    • /
    • pp.62-66
    • /
    • 2000
  • This study investigated the effects of certain specific wavelengths of lighting on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) using the heart rate variability (HRV) as an index. Six subjects with normal color vision participated n this study between 15:00 and 17:00 hr to neutralize any visual differences arising from circadian rhythm. The environmental conditions of the laboratory were maintained in complete darkness and the temperature was equilibrated at 24$\Box$ with a relative humidity of 60%. Subjects were only subjected to light stimulation when the pupil of dyes attained a minimum size of 2 mm by projecting illumination equalized with the same spectral radiance of 500-700 nm with 50-nm internal radiance. HRV was calculated from electrocardiogram (ECG) with systematic respiratory control at 0.35 Hz. The results suggest that illumination with certain wavelengths may induce ANS activation.

  • PDF

Pathological changes of the heart of olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus in experimental Streptococcus parauberis infection (Streptococcus parauberis 인위 감염에 의한 넙치, Paralichthys olivaceus 심장의 병리학적 변화)

  • Kim, Jin-Woo;Cho, Mi-Young;Won, Kyoung-Mi;Kim, Byoung-Gwan;Choi, Hee-Jung;Han, Myoung-Chul;Park, Myoung-Ae
    • Journal of fish pathology
    • /
    • v.22 no.3
    • /
    • pp.253-262
    • /
    • 2009
  • We conducted bacteriological and histopathological analysis for olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus after experimental infection with Streptococcus parauberis (FP2284) isolated from diseased olive flounder under different stress conditions. Experimental challenge was performed in healthy flounder (40.4 g in average body weight) by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection with $2{\times}10^{8}$ CFU/fish under normal (no stress) or netting (for 2 min, twice/day) stress condition. The cumulative mortalities of no-stress and netting stress group were 70% and 95%, respectively. The most prevalent changes observed in experimentally infected flounder were darkness of skin and inflammation of the heart. Severe pericarditis, myocarditis and fibrosis were observed in the heart of the affected flounder. The results of viable counts showed the number of bacteria of the heart tissue was maintained over the $10^{4}$ CFU $g^{-1}$ heart for 3 weeks after inoculation. Histological lesions of the heart was more extensive and gradual decrease in bacterial numbers of heart tissue was delayed under stress condition.

A High-Efficiency Direct Somatic Embryogenesis System for Strawberry(Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) Cultivar Chandler

  • Husaini, Amjad M.;Aquil, Samina;Bhat, Mukhtar;Qadri, Tabassum;Kamaluddin, Kamaluddin;Abdin, Malik Zainul
    • Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
    • /
    • v.11 no.2
    • /
    • pp.107-110
    • /
    • 2008
  • A high-efficiency, reproducible somatic embryogenesis system for strawberry cultivar Chandler was developed. Thirty-one somatic embryos per explant(max no.) were recorded in leaf discs which were cultured on medium containing MS salts+$B_5$ vitamins+2% glucose+4.0 mg $1^{-1}$TDZ(Thidiazuron) and incubated at $10{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ under darkness for one week followed by three weeks under 16-h photoperiod. The scanning electron microscopic(SEM) ontogeny revealed the normal development of somatic embryos from globular to heart-shaped and dissection microscopy from torpedo-shaped to cotyledonary-stage embryos. The maximum germination percentage of 48% could be obtained on MS medium containing kinetin(1.0 mg $1^{-1}$) and the maximum survival percentage(79%) of plantlets after four weeks was found to be in the mixture of vermiculite, peatmoss, and soilrite(1:1:1).

  • PDF

A Study on the Death Consciousness Among Health Care Personnels (죽음의식에 관한 연구 -의.간호계 종사자 및 학생을 중심으로-)

  • 권혜진
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
    • /
    • v.10 no.2
    • /
    • pp.21-40
    • /
    • 1980
  • In order to take cue of the dying persons and their survivors in a more positive and affirmative atti-tube. and to understand the valuable meaning of and dying. a survey was performed to 550 cases of health care personnels including 116 nursing students. 238 medical students. 137 nurses. and 59 doctors. Samplings were made through census Procedure from the entire group of medical and nursing students in College of Medicine. Chung-Ang University. and of licenced nurses and doctors in Chung-Ang University Hospital. and in Han-Gang Sacred Heart Hospital from the first to the end of march. 1980. These collected data were computerized at KIST by SPSS programming and were statistically analyzed by chi-square test. Through content analysis of the word associated with death and descriptive analysis of the death-re-lated variables. the following conclusion in is reached. First. Total numbers of death-word percieved by health care personnels were 198 kinds. Among them, 40 kinds of words associated with death were responded from than 1% of the total. As to the 10 death related word responded by free word association method. it was revealed that individual average number of death related word was 7.70 word. which came from higher number of words in the senior students (8.96 word) or the graduates (8.10 word) compared with the freshman (6.84 word). Second. In Content specific analysis of the death related word. more frequently perceived types summarized as the following order; the affective context of death. the diseases. the disasters. the religion, the funeral ceremonies. the separation, the drakness. and the life. Third. The most prevalent 10 words associated with death which the the respondents gave response to the the first recalling word. were as following o order; the dieases. the sadness, the vanity. the darkness, the frustration. the suicide. the incurable dieases, the graves. the dead. and the catastrophes. By sex, the diease is outstanding in females, but the vanity is in males. By occupation. the vanity and the dead was frequently observed in student group including senior students. while the incurable dieases presented by doctors. Fourth. In health care personnels. the first perceived ages of death were 11.47 $\pm$3.33 years (8.14- 15.80 years). Among them. senior students were inclined to percept death at the earliest age of life (11.28years). while doctors and nurses perceived death later in their life (12.98 years). Fifth, It is revealed in this survey that the most frequently responded death perceiving motives by health care personnels ar“psychological conflict”and“death of those around them”. Death perceiving motives can be classified in two factors; personality and life circumstances. Sixth It is of interest that only 11.3% health care personnels was found to feel death as inevitable or acceptable event. whereas 58.3% deny or reject it.

  • PDF