Heart of Darkness Essay Idea

For my Heart of Darkness essay, I was thinking of answering the question of how the text portrays the people in the story as ignorant based on the fact that they look up to Mr. Kurtz.  My thesis would be something such as what purpose is served by Conrad when he presents the people in Heart of Darkness as looking up to Mr. Kurtz?  One quote that I could use is "They had talked all night, or more probably Kurtz had talked" (Conrad, 134).  Another supporting detail that I would use would be "It was curious to see his mingled eagerness and reluctance to speak of Kurtz" (Conrad, 135).  I would also use the quote "You can't judge Mr. Kurtz as you would of an ordinary man" (Conrad, 135).  I also might put another quote in my essay to show that Marlow is the only character in the story who doesn't speak as highly of Marlow as the rest of the characters and it states "I suppose it did not occur to him that Mr. Kurtz was no ideal of mine" (Conrad, 139).  I think that I would answer my question by saying that Conrad shows the people in the story as looking up to Kurtz in order to show their ignorance.  They think that Kurtz is a powerful man, almost like royalty, but in reality, he's dying because he is so sick.  This shows that he is actually weak and makes the people that look up to him seem ignorant and naive.

Heart of Darkness

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Conrad portrays the blacks as being very weak and inferior to the rest of society through the use of imagery.  In one specific part of the book, Conrad is describing the scene that he saw at one time during his adventure:  "Black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees leaning against the trunks, clinging to the earth..." (Conrad, 83).  Through this quote, Conrad is using imagery in order to describe the black's deteriorating health.  He describes them as "clinging to the earth" and this doesn't mean that they are actually holding onto the earth, rather they are clinging to survival.  This quote shows that the blacks are slowly dying and they are fighting to survive.  Since they are barely surviving, the blacks are shown to be very weak.  Their physical weakness can cause them to be weak socially also.  Conrad also describes the blacks as "black shapes".  By referring to them as black shapes rather than actual people, he is creating the idea that these people are pointless in society.  Classifying them as shapes makes it seem like they have no purpose in life and they are just objects, rather than human beings.  This quote causes them to be shown as both pyhsically and socially weak.  Being socially weak means that they are inferior to the rest of the society.  Conrad shows that the blacks are weak and inferior to the rest of society based on this quote which uses imagery to state this idea.  He shows them as being weak in order to illustrate the way that they were treated during the time that the book is taking place in.

Rufus at the Door Comparison Essay

In order to compare three different stories from Rufus at the Door, I think I am going to use the gender lens in order to answer the question of "How does the author portray the roles of power throughout his short stories?".  My thesis would be something such as, "Throughout Jon Hassler's short stories in Rufus at the Door, Hassler tends to portray typically feminine characters as being in power over masculine characters".  I would use the short stories of Agatha McGee and the St. Isidore Seven, Nancy Clancy's Nephew, and the Life and Death of Delano Klein to show that there was this idea of a feminine character holding power over one or more masculine characters being portrayed in these stories.  I would make a conclusion about how the feminine characters having power over the masculine characters creates the idea that they become masculine as a result of having power.

Anniversary

In Anniversary by Jon Hassler, Hassler shows readers that the man in the text is part of the middle class based on his power and authority over his students through the use of symbolism.  Hassler shows this idea through the symbol of the red ink in the quote “In my ten years of teaching I have learned to understand the power of red ink” (Hassler, 37).  In this quote, the symbol is the red ink.  The color red symbolizes power and strength.  Hassler uses the symbol of red ink in order to demonstrate the amount of power that the man in the text holds.  The man is a teacher and this symbol clearly shows that he has a lot of power and control over his students because he has the power to give them any grade that he feels is the best to suit the piece of writing that they constructed.  He gave one of his students named Becky a higher grade than she deserved because she had wrote about her father not doing well and it was a very sentimental and emotional piece of writing.  Being able to give a student any grade demonstrates the amount of power that he has over his students.  By having power and control over his students, it points out that the students are weak and inferior to the teacher.  This demonstrates that the man is part of the middle class because although he has power over his students, he wouldn't be considered extremely powerful in society based on his occupation of teacher.  Therefore, throughout the text, the man shows that he is part of the middle class through the use of the symbol of red ink that Hassler uses in order to show the man’s power and authority over his students.
In order to fix this composition, I first changed the wording on my thesis so instead of saying that Hassler showed the man as being part of the upper class, I said that he was part of the middle class.  I changed it to middle class because he does have power over his students, but he is not very powerful in the rest of society.  I also added an example into my composition about the fact that he gave a student a higher grade than she deserved because her writing was sentimental and emotional.  I used this example in order to help analyze my thesis and help prove the point that I was making.

The Third Man

In The Third Man, the character Baron is supposedly a person of high power based on his royalty.  The word “baron” literally means someone with power or influence.  Although he is supposedly powerful, the Baron shows that he is not as powerful as his name says because of some of the feminine traits that he shows.  In one scene of the film, Baron is holding a little dog.  In this particular scene, Baron is being shot head-on using a medium close-up, which shows that he is powerful, but its also being contradicted by him holding a little dog.  Holding a dog like Baron was in this particular scene, it shows that he has a feminine trait.  Having a little dog is more of a feminine thing, such as when a woman is seen walking down the street holding her small dog in her arms.  While having a little dog is more feminine, having a large dog is more of a masculine thing.  Typically men will be seen walking and owning large dogs instead of carrying little dogs in their arms.  Since Baron was carrying a small dog in his arms, it shows that he is more of a feminine character in this scene since he is going against the male stereotype of having a larger dog rather than having a small dog.  Baron showing that he has some feminine traits through this scene shows that he is not as powerful as he should be, based on his name.  He is not as powerful because he is acting as a feminine character in this scene, which demonstrates the stereotype that feminine characters are less powerful than masculine characters.  Through this scene, Baron shows that he has feminine traits, which then illustrates that he does not necessarily live up to his name that is supposed to symbolize his great amount of power.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I noticed that Snow White was portrayed as a fairly lower class woman.  One cinematic element that showed her as being in the lower class was the use of camera positions.  When Snow White was in the shots, the camera position that I noticed was the angle that was used to shoot her.  Snow White tended to be filmed using high angle shots.  These shots occur when the camera is positioned to film the character or object from above.  Using a high angle shot creates the sense that the character or object is weak.  By using high angles shots to shoot Snow White, the director is showing that she is a weak and holds little or no power compared to her evil stepmother, for example.  These high angle shots make me feel like I am literally looking down upon Snow White as a character.  Looking down on a character tends to make it seem like that character has no power and is very weak.  High angle shots also make the character seem to appear smaller than normal.  This tends to create the idea that the character is not very important because of how small the character appears to be.  Looking down on a character, like Snow White, who is shown to have little or no power tends to make me believe that the character is part of the lower class.  Looking down on her also makes me feel like she is less important in the world of the film because of how small the high angle shot makes her out to be.  Since the director makes me feel like I am literally looking down upon Snow White, I get the idea that she is a very weak character who isn't significant in the world of the film, which shows that she is part of the lower class.

Anna's TED Talk

I thought that Anna's TED Talk topic was very interesting. I like that she was trying to explain to us that creativity is a very important thing and schools shouldn't take creativity out of the school day. I like how she then went on to explain alternatives to showing creativity since schools are taking it out. I like that she used 4H as an example of how people can use their creativity outside of school since some of the creativity areas in 4H are not offered during the school day. Since many of us don't know much about 4H because we haven't been a part of it like Anna has, I think that it would've been interesting if she would've based her point of using creativity outside of school all on the example of 4H. She could've went more in depth with the many different areas that allow for creativity in 4H such as photography, arts and crafts, and fashion design. I also think that at times, she maybe felt that her points weren't strong enough and she wasn't as confident in herself, which made her voice quieter. Therefore, if she stayed confident in the points that she was making, it would've improved her speech.