Preview

Joseph Conrad Research Paper

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1114 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Joseph Conrad Research Paper
Joseph Conrad date of birth was December 3, 1857 (“Joseph” 1). This was the beginning of a wave that will never wash away. Conrad was just a polish child in a dangerous world. At this time, Poland was fighting Russia to gain back its land. Conrad escaped the reality by dreaming of traveling all over the seas (“Joseph” 1). Conrad was eight when he was first educated about the English language. His father read him Shakespeare and other English writers (“Joseph Conrad” 1). Conrad as passion for geography; he educated himself about the world in his spare time (“Joseph” 1). In time knowledge he gained, lead him to write some massive waves that would never wash way. Conrad’s uncle Bobrowski kick started his adventures of the sea. Bobrowski …show more content…
In April he became a second mate on the Palestine where he embarked on his biggest adventure of his life . It was a challenging voyage that provided Conrad with interesting content for a story he would write later. The ship had sailed to the Far East Indies and then cargo of coal caught fire. The crew escaped in lifeboats and had to survive on the open sea for thirteen hours. “Youth” one of Conrad's short stories was wrote from the exciting and scary journey on the Palestine (“Joseph Conrad” 2). The year was 1883 Joseph was on the Riverdale ship serving as a mate. Soon he boarded the Narcissus at Bombas. The experiences on the Narcissus lead him to write yet another story “ Nigger of the “Narcissus” (“Joseph Conrad” …show more content…
He always wanted to travel to Africa, since the first time he looked at the map of the continent (“Heart” 1). Conrad only had a few more changes to fulfill that dream. After his last voyage he is staying by the Thames River, and this is the start of one of his greatest novels (“Joseph Conrad”1). His sails ready for the sea in 1890, Conrad searching for command of a ship. Landed him as mate on a river steamer the “Societe Anonyme pour le Commerce du Hast- Congo” (“A Chronology” 1). This would lead him into the Congo and gave him the details and materials to write the Heart of Darkness (“Joseph Conrad” 3). 1891 Conrad returned to England after being in the Congo. His last time sailing the open seas was in 1894 (“Heart”

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Michael Conrad was sentenced to the New Hampshire Department of Corrections in June 18, 1996 for armed robbery with a stimulated weapon. Prior to this arrest, he has three misdemeanors for stealing, indecent exposure, and domestic assault and battery. Conrad has not finished high school and has a low reading and math level. He has worked construction and has a record of alcohol and marijuana abuse. Since his arrival at the Intake Center, he has earned two misconducts charges. There are five levels to classify a prisoner. Level one are low risk criminals, where level five are high risk criminals. Conrad does fit the level two classification, hence, he should be reclassified from level three. Since his reclassification, Conrad has finished his…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In his novel, The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad uses strong imagery to fully describe the characters and the relationships they have with one another. Throughout the story the pattern of imagery used by Joseph Conrad would be seen in the early twentieth century of the corrupted London society. The story written by Conrad can be related back to the time error it was written in. This novel was written in an error where terrorist threats were becoming increasingly more popular. Joseph Conrad would commonly use two men as his main characters whom were both of the Russian Activist “fan club”. These men would be the focus of Joseph Conrad’s pieces.…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sjobloo Research Paper

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Edward Sjoblom, who was a missionary, arrived in Congo in 1892 and wrote about his experiences. He was traveling by steamship to choose a adequate location for a mission station. On his very first day of journey, he witnessed a torturing with a hippo hide whip. The white men on the boat agreed that only the whip can civilize the black people. The British Consul in Congo, Roger Casement, created a report in 1903 in which he wrote how natives of Congo were being systematically massacred, whipped and executed for not producing enough rubber. Joseph Conrad, who was a merchant seaman on Congo river, published his novel "Heart of Darkness" in 1902. He wrote about ivory trader named Kurtz and his brutal actions, such as stabbing heads of natives on poles. The novel was like an awakening of consciousness for people who did not know what disasters was Leopold…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Joseph Conrad 's Heart of Darkness is both a dramatic tale of an arduous trek into the Belgian Congo at the turn of the twentieth century and a symbolic journey into the deepest recesses of human nature. On a literal level, through Marlow 's narration, Conrad provides a searing indictment of European colonial exploitation inflicted upon African natives. By employing several allegoric symbols this account depicts the futility of the European presence in Africa.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is an abundance of literature in which characters become caught between colliding cultures. Often, these characters experience a period of growth from their exposure to a culture that’s dissimilar to their own. Such is the case with Marlow, Joseph Conrad’s infamous protagonist from ‘Heart of Darkness’. Marlow sets off to Africa on an ivory conquest and promptly found himself sailing into the heart of the Congo River. Along the way he is faced with disgruntled natives, cannibals, and the ominous and foreboding landscape. Marlow’s response to these tribulations is an introspective one, in which he calls into question his identity. This transcending of his former self renders the work as a whole a sensation point of view of European expansion that was a sporadic subject of Conrad’s time.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Congo River Symbolism

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Page

    Many symbols are seen throughout the novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. However, one striking symbol seen in this novel is the Congo River. Joseph Conrad would actually travel up the Congo River. He would later base Heart of Darkness off of this adventure. This river plays a vital role in this novel. The Congo River allows access to the interior of Africa. It is also the means by which Europeans can enter the region.…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He outwardly castigates Conrad’s novel as being racist and demeaning to non-white cultures. Chinua Achebe criticizes Conrad’s depiction of Africa as being stereotypical in the views of Western culture. One of Achebe’s fundamental arguments is that Conrad is advertising a false version of the African continent and its people. He portrays them as being hostile and uncivilized through the accounts of the main character, Marlow. Achebe is infuriated at this notion because Conrad’s style of writing covers up the true nature of its meaning. He believes that this form of writing emanates from Conrad’s own racist beliefs and upbringings as a child. Specific citations from the story indicate that Conrad put the Europeans on a higher pedestal as he characterizes them as being “illuminating”, and “twinkling” with brilliant ideas (Achebe 3). Conrad’s racism is delineated perfectly when there is an encounter with a black man and he describes his feelings as being “blind, furious, and unreasoning rage” when he encountered this man (Conrad 11). This vast disparity of descriptions of the two races show his inner thoughts and his hatred towards non-whites. According to Achebe "Conrad appears to go to considerable pains to set up layers of insulation between himself and the moral universe of his story”(Conrad 14). This is exactly how Conrad uses his stylistic form of writing to cover up these feelings of hatred and detest towards the African continent and its population. Achebe also points out that Conrad’s depiction of the rivers is a symbolic sign of his inherent racism. He states in his story that "going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world” (Conrad 9). This is referencing the Congo River that led to Africa and Conrad uses a negative connotation in describing…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Joseph Conrad's "The Heart Of Darkness", the main idea is that even the most civilized person has an evil side. When a man that appears to be civilized enters a jungle, he does things that he normally would not do. Every human beings has a dark side, and are able to do the most bizarre acts. this essay will examine How once a civilized man is taken out of the constraints of his society and allowed to follow his dreams, some of those desires can be pretty evil.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My view on “The Heart of Darkness” automatically came to me as a racial story, which encourages racism. The wording used in the story such as, light and dark made it seem like Joseph Conrad was referring to people of darker skin color as “monstrous” and “inhuman”. “The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there – there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were – No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it – this suspicion of their not being inhuman.” (Pg.13). Throughout the reading the main character Marlow says how they would go to places where Africans were fee and it seemed “unearthly” to them. This quote shows how people of a darker skin color were discriminated against and were considered a lower class of people. Usually an author will incorporate certain things into their writing to make a point that people are constantly overlooking the racism, power, femininity, identity, madness, and even fate. This does in fact alter the way a person thinks and views the world.…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conrad, Joesph. "Heart of Darkness." By Joseph Conrad. Search EText, Read Online, Study, Discuss. N.p., July-Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. .…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this excerpt from the novel, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the author effectively portrays the Congo River as an inhospitable location unfit for human existence. Through Conrad’s diction, syntax and detail of the environment, the author reveals a great deal of psychological stress, due to the hostile environment, which leads to physical anguish.…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novella “Heart of Darkness” written by Joseph Conrad, he uses literary devices such as imagery, tone, shifts, and theme to display a struggle for dominance in the “Heart of Darkness.” By using those literary devices Conrad goes more into depth by showing Marlow’s strength and willingness to make his people and their city a positive living environment rather than an unstable situation.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ‘The Secret Sharer’ owes its origins to events that took place on the ‘Cutty Sark’ in 1880 when the first mate killed a man under his supervision, for insolence during a stormy situation. Conrad might have been impressed by that account. Moreover, he also seems to have drawn from his own experience as the captain of the ship ‘Otago’. In that ship he had a confrontation with his first mate who did not trust him. Moreover, a perilous situation was created when Conrad maneuvered the ship dangerously close to rocks in the Gulf of Siam.…

    • 3778 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Herman and Elizabeth had four children. During his later years Herman took a break from writing and in the late 1850’s became a customs inspector in New York City. During this time he made much poetry. He published a collection called Battle-Pieces and Aspects of War in 1866. Eventually, Herman’s spark for novel writing was struck once again and he began to write on another novel. Sadly, Melville died instantly of a heart attack in New York City on September 28, 1891. Herman Melville’s last novel was published in 1924 as Billy Budd, Sailor. Herman Melville unlike other writers, wasn’t as much influenced by people, but instead was influenced by his own personal life experiences. Melville is regarded as one of America’s great writers. One of his most commonly known masterpieces, “Moby Dick” has seen a revision into the movie format in 1956 and the latest movie adaption “in the Heart of the Sea,” has had even more success than the last the film and has grossed over 100 million dollars. As an exception to whom Herman was influenced by we can take a look at The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Herman was inspired to write Moby Dick because of his friendship with Nathaniel and was successful in writing his novel, but the fame soon died away due to the fact that Herman did not advertise his books. Moby Dick’s story was in a way what Herman wanted people to see in the sea; A new adventurous world undiscovered and completely uncharted. Herman uses Ishmael as a narrative to describe the sea. One of Ishmael’s great quotes "Know ye now, Bulkington? Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous slavish shore?" Herman Melville lets the reader’s see into the wondrous sea like lifestyle…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Marlow's Tale

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The famous novel, Heart of Darkness was written by Joseph Conrad in 1899 in England. The protagonist, Marlow, is an intelligent, brave, complex individual. The unknown narrator, along with the three other passengers onboard the boat, are listening to Marlow’s story being told from the first person perspective. The novel takes place in many locations and changes as the tale progresses. The Thames River and the Congo are just some of the locations where Marlow’s tale takes his listeners. Heart of Darkness is an entertaining story about Marlow’s adventures and a renowned piece of British literature.…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics