Heart of Darkness Essay Brainstorming

Heart of Darkness reveals the dark side of human nature.  The novel correlates with Freud's theories about the inner darkness in people.  Murfin and Karl explore and expand on the ideas shown in Conrad's novel.  People always seek power and dominance over others.  Civilized people repress their inner desires to conform to society.

College Reading

The majority of students in high school do not read books besides the ones assigned to them from school.  I used to read all the time before I got to high school.  Towards the end of middle school I started to get bored of reading and stopped.  High school students need to be more prepared for the college reading.   Students should read more in high school in order to get used to the amount of work they are going to have in college.  Students need to develop their reading skills before they get overburdened with the heavy workload in colleges.

Heart of Darkness and Freud

Freud's work relates to the Heart of Darkness.  Freud believes people will always pursue their inner desires.  He implies that people have a dark nature.  This is prevalent in the Heart of Darkness.  In the novel people pursue their goals without regard to others.  Freud believes people are inherently selfish, and this is prevalent in the the Heart of Darkness.  There seems to be constant violence and evil.

Freud

Freud holds some beliefs that seem extreme to me.  Some of his views on the sexual nature of people are disturbing.

Tone of the Heart of Darkness

The first pages of Heart of Darkness foreshadow the rest of the book, and a dark tone is emphasized.  Vivid imagery is also described.  The descritiption of the dark sky is an example of this.  Overall the descriptions are fairly calm.

Hamlet vs. Bennets

While the Bennetts are a dysfunctional family as the parents fight consistently over the future of their numerous daughters, the daughters believe this familial behavior is normal. Being raised in this kind of environment is unhealthy and detrimental to a kids mentality. However, it is clear that the Hamlet family is much more dysfunctional in every sense of the way compared to the Bennet's family. Although the Bennett family is unhealthy, the parents mainly search for their kids happiness. However, in Hamlet, betrayal is a common factor and the parents only search for their own individual happiness. Having your mom marrying your uncle after your father dies, a kid would be very disturbed and raised in an uncomfortable environment.

Hamlet Passage

The king feels guilty for the murder, and he admits this to himself in this emotional passage.  The king is repentant and sorroful.  He is deeply saddened, and he wants to find a way to redeem himself.  This is the reason the passag ends with two questions.  The king sounds remorseful while he speaks.  The tone of the passage is powerful and slightly depressing.