Literary Analysis – Essay Planning
Step 1 – essay plan
Thesis | |||||
Visit in Africa is a turning point of life for most of the Europeans included in Heart of Darkness. | |||||
Claim #1 | Claim #2 | Claim #3 | |||
They go mad. | They die. | They make profound reflections about themselves and human nature. | |||
Evidence #1 | Evidence #2 | Evidence #1 | Evidence #2 | Evidence #1 | Evidence #2 |
“Once, I remember, we came upon a man–of–war anchored off the coast. There wasn’t even a shed there, and she was shelling the bush. It appears the French had one of their wars going on thereabouts. Her ensign dropped limp like a rag; the muzzles of the long six–inch guns stuck out all over the low hull; the greasy, slimy swell swung her up lazily and let her down, swaying her thin masts. In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent. Pop, would go one of the six–inch guns; a small flame would dart and vanish, a little white smoke would disappear, a tiny projectile would give a feeble screech—and nothing happened. Nothing could happen. There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding, a sense of lugubrious drollery in the sight; and it was not dissipated by somebody on board assuring me earnestly there was a camp of natives—he called them enemies!—hidden out of sight somewhere.” Collins’ Classics p. 15 | “Once a white man in an unbuttoned uniform, camping on the path with an armed escort of lank Zanzibaris, very hospitable and festive—not to say drunk. Was looking after the upkeep of the road, he declared. Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle–aged negro, with a bullet–hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement”. Collins’ Classics p. 23 | “The other day I took up a man who hanged himself on the road. He was a Swede, too.’ ‘Hanged himself! Why, in God’s name?’ I cried. He kept on looking out watchfully. ‘Who knows? The sun too much for him, or the country perhaps.” Collin’s Classics p. 16 | “Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror—of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath: “‘The horror! The horror!’(...) “‘Mistah Kurtz—he dead.’” Collins’ Classics p.90 | “It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend.” Collins Classics’ p. 44 | No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. Don’t you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its sombre and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one’s soul—than this kind of prolonged hunger. Sad, but true. And these chaps, too, had no earthly reason for any kind of scruple. Restraint! I would just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield. Collins’ Classics p. 52 |
Step 2 – rough draft
Introduction:
√ Grab reader’s attention
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard stated that it is common process that one attributes his own negative features to the others. |
√ Provide some literary background to your topic
Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” |
√ Thesis One sentence, last sentence in introduction
Visit in Africa is a turning point of life for most of the Europeans included in Heart of Darkness. |
Body Paragraph #1:
√ Topic sentence for claim #1 in support of thesis
In many cases, they go mad there. |
√ Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!
Marlow witnessed a crew of man-of-war shooting blindly at the bushes. |
√ Explain how support #1 relates to claim #1
No sane person would ever shoot at bush. It was a sign of paranoia. |
√ Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!
“Once a white man in an unbuttoned uniform, camping on the path with an armed escort of lank Zanzibaris, very hospitable and festive—not to say drunk. Was looking after the upkeep of the road, he declared. Can’t say I saw any road or any upkeep(...)” p.23 (Collins’ Classics) |
√ Explain how support #2 relates to claim#1
This guy was upkeeping the road that didn’t exist, which certainly not classified as a logical action. |
√ If you haven’t already, explain how claim #1 relates to thesis, and transition to next claim #2
Africa would permanently rip their psychic to shreds. They won’t be able to return to normal life afterwards (same situation is pictured in “Deer Hunter”). But some people experienced worse fate... |
Body Paragraph #2
√ Topic sentence for claim #2 in support of thesis
Either for physicall or for mental reasons lots of people lost their lives to africa. |
√ Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!
A Swede hung himself in a jungle. |
√ Explain how support #1 relates to claim #2
We could only speculate on the reasons, however commiting suicide in middle of a jungle is more than possibly the sign of being overpowered by the nature. |
√ Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!
“‘Mistah Kurtz—he dead.’” p. 12 (Collins’ Classics) |
√ Explain how support #2 relates to claim#2
Not only Kurtz owes his fatal illness to Africa, living there made hell of his life. It was clearly visible in his last words “the horror! the horror!” |
√ If you haven’t already, explain how claim #2 relates to thesis, and transition to next claim #3
But there are still some people who managed to survive their journey to Africa. |
Body Paragraph #3
√ Topic sentence for claim #3 in support of thesis
They faced opportunity to make profound reflections about themselves and human nature. |
√ Support #1(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!
“It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend.” Collins’ Classics p. 44 |
√ Explain how support #1 relates to claim #3
Thoughts about human nature. |
√ Support #2(This is a quote or paraphrase)…Quotes can’t stand alone, and they MUST have page numbers!!
No fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are less than chaff in a breeze. Don’t you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its sombre and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face bereavement, dishonour, and the perdition of one’s soul—than this kind of prolonged hunger. Sad, but true. And these chaps, too, had no earthly reason for any kind of scruple. Restraint! I would just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battlefield. Collins’ Classics p. 52 |
√ Explain how support #2 relates to claim#3
Reflections about man’s physical limitations. |
√ If you haven’t already, explain how claim #3 relates to thesis, and transition to conclusion
Stay in the savage Africa is so strong, that reflections come in the form of imperative. It is impossible for a man not to ask himself existential questions in such a conditions. |
Conclusion
√ Restate thesis & claims using NEW words
The black land delivered Europeans a variety of lifetime experiences. Despite tragic consequences in most cases, those who survived and managed to remain mentally sane, were honoured to get a grip of real human nature. |
√ Final thoughts for reader (relation to real world or what readers should learn from the work, etc.)
By setting action in such harsh conditions as Africa, Conrad aims at exposing human nature with all their weaknesses. This is one of the features of Heart of Darkness as a naturalistic book. |
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