Heart of Darkness Blog 1- Narrative Point of View

Heart of Darkness begins with a narrator which introduces several characters, but only gives one a name- Marlow. This is important because after the narrator speaks, the narration changes and Marlow becomes the narrator. This is rather strange, having two narrators, one whom is unnamed and the other who is. Who is this nameless author and why does Conrad introduce he/she?

The nameless narrator begins the story by introducing the setting, and other nameless characters. after a few pages, Marlow is the narrator and the nameless narrator begins to just listen to Marlow's story, along with the other unnamed characters. Given the importance that only one character on the boat is named and the others aren't; perhaps the nameless ones are simply an audience.

Because of Marlow's raw story telling, Conrad is limited in what he is to describe, and it happens to all be past tense, seeing as it's a story. Therefore Conrad may have simply introduced the nameless narrator as a way to be more flexible in his writings. The nameless narrator gives him outside coverage of Marlow's feelings, and the depiction of the Thames river, and not only Marlow's story. seeing as this narrator is nameless, perhaps we can infer that the nameless narrator is Conrad himself. Conrad could have introduced himself as a character/ narrator to give himself a more flexible way of writing and also to have the personal connection of being present on the boat.

Machinery Imagery- OFOTCN

The image provided above is that of a combine harvester, not so friendly looking- I know. This machine does several different operations at once; it cuts, threshes, cleans, and finally discharges grain into bulk. It seems to have a very routine system, that if messed up would defeat the purpose of the machine. The farmer wouldn't be happy if this occurred, much like Mrs. Ratched if her system in the ward was broken. The Combine harvester above, can very much depict the Combine in the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

The combine harvester gives much of the feeling that Chief describes as the combine in the novel, it's cold, hard, and you can hear it's gears cranking. The combine, depicted in the novel runs the ward, and it's basically a machine-run world. We can relate the ward to this farm; the farm is harvested by the combine harvester, which in-turn depicts the combine in the novel. While the combine harvester obviously resembles the combine, each grain that is being harvested can resemble each person, some come out 'bad' and others just the way they like. each person, or grain, is part of the system that Chief describes.

The farmer, who is running this machine, we can relate to Mrs. Ratched. The farmer moves with the machine, in order to control it. usually gears and nobs move in a certain way that is uniform to the machine; therefore the farmer would most likely be moving like the machine itself. This is much like Mrs. Ratched in the way that she moves, machine-like, with the combine. As she is in control of it, she moves along with it in a robotic manner. Therefore the farmer moves as the combine harvester does, and Mrs. Ratched moves as the combine does. To conclude, the combine harvester can describe the combine in the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

 

"Great Nations of Europe" irony

"he met some friendly Indians whom the Church told him were gay"
This line is Ironic because it involves the Church, of all institutions, basically lying. Indians weren't gay and the Church never knew that. 

"the great nations of Europe in the 16th century"
This line is not ironic, because it introduces the idea that the great nations of Europe in the 16th century, are great. This was true because as we know they were all superior to the U.S. before the U.S. was it's own country.

Chief Bromden, change in character?

Chief Bromden, is the narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and begins as mostly an observer. Chief then begins to change as the story developes and begins to release his potential power he gained through being an observer. Cheif begins a transformation from "deaf and dumb", "small", quiet, and coward like to courageous and big. How did Chief release this potential energy?

Chief begins the story as a scared observer, who plays out to be "deaf and dumb". As the staff members, including Miss Ratched and the black boys, know this they allow him to clean during there meetings. This then gives Chief the potential advantage as he learns all the secrets, but he is still too belittled to use his power.

Chiefs advantage is not soley informational, but also physical as he is described by McMurphy. McMurphy tries his best to make friends with Chief and talks to him. One day Chief replys and begins to warn McMurphy, because he cares for him. Chief grows as a more dynamic and active part of the acute community, going so far as to defend one. As Chief and McMurphy are sent to disturbed Chief becomes stronger, and more courageous as McMurphy trains him. McMurphy helps Chief change into a more outgoing character, who transforms his potential energy to kinetic.