1. Intro. Notes: Heart of Darkness
Common Core RL 9: Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth, nineteenth, and early-twentieth-century foundational works of American & British literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.

2. The author: Joseph Conrad
Born in Russian-controlled Poland
Both parents died when he was 11
Sailor for the French and later the British Merchant Navy
Spoke Polish, French, and English
As a British sailor, he made arrangements with the Belgians to pilot a river boat into the Congo.
Retired from life as a sailor in 1894 at age 36 and pursued a literary career

3. He saw first-hand the effects of empire expansion.
His novels and short stories rely on the themes of colonial conquest and adventure. Yet they often portray characters whose chief explorations involve those of the human spirit and morality.

4. Social Context for the novel: Colonialism and empire building
Imperial governments – concerned with exploiting the natural resources of their colonies
The British empire aimed to civilize and bring culture to the non-white populations they governed.
Clearly a contradiction emerges between Britain’s high-minded imperial goals –- bringing the light of civilization -- and the reality of greed and power motivating colonial conquest.

5. Historical Context
Like Conrad himself who piloted a river boat into the Belgian Congo, the novel’s protagonist, Charles Marlow, also sailed into the Congo, considered the “heart of darkness” based on its location at the center of the African continent.

6. Historical Context
King Leopold II of Belgium reigned from 1865 – 1909 and founded the imperial project in the Congo, a conquest known for its extreme brutality.
Leopold used the Congolese as forced labor to amass large quantities of ivory and rubber. While that kind of exploitation was typical of colonial conquest, Leopold’s tactics were exposed as violent and ruthless for even his day in time.

7. Historical Context
How did Europeans justify imperial conquest according to this video clip? Write down three conclusions you can draw about their rhetoric of justification in your notes.

8. Narrative Perspective: An ambiguous narrator
Novel uses 1st person point of view in contrast to the 3rd person, omniscient perspective of most 19th century novelists
Narrative layers: Conrad as author; the unnamed frame narrator listening to the story; Marlow as the main narrator telling a story that he himself does not fully understand
These layers cause the reader to have to piece together the story’s meaning.

9. Basic Premise of Heart of Darkness
This novel is told as a frame narrative (a story within a story). Charles Marlow, a steamboat captain from London, tells the story of his journey into the “heart” of the Belgian Congo to the passengers aboard the Nellie.
This novel resists the typical portrayal of colonial expansion as heroic and patriotic. Conrad reveals the “dark underbelly” of empire building.