In the book Heart of Darkness, a sailor named Marlow describes his past journey through the Congo during the Industrial Era, focusing especially on how the natives were treated by the Europeans. In the passage from Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad portrays Marlow’s experience as he travels to Kurtz as dangerous and chaotic through syntax and aggressive-like diction. This demonstrates how people often feel overwhelmed when an intense stressor is presented to them.
Conrad utilizes complex syntax to describe to the reader how unusual the native’s attack appeared to Marlow. Marlow describes the initial barrage as “Sticks, little sticks, were flying about – thick: they were whizzing before my nose, dropping below me, striking behind me against my pilot-house.” The native’s primitive weapons had nearly no effect of the Europeans, yet Marlow describes them as “thick” and …show more content…
During the attack, Marlow notes “That fool-helmsman, his hands on the spokes, was lifting his knees high, stamping his feet, champing his mouth, like a reined-in horse.” Marlow is dissatisfied with the helmsman due to the helmsman’s primitive and ineffective way of defending against the surprise attack. Words like “stamping” and “champing” are both barbaric, which are the people that Marlow is fighting against. This aggression at both the natives and his own ludicrous helmsman further adds onto Marlow’s confusion. Marlow quickly gazed at the spot where the arrows were coming from “…I saw a face amongst the leaves on the level with my own, looking at me fierce and steady…I made out, deep in the tangled gloom…the bush was warming with human limbs in movement, glistening, of bronze color.” Marlow finally composed himself amongst the chaos and noticed who the attackers were. Marlow’s description of how they looked showed that he was afraid and initially overwhelmed at the native’s strength, which made him want to flee the
Conrad utilizes complex syntax to describe to the reader how unusual the native’s attack appeared to Marlow. Marlow describes the initial barrage as “Sticks, little sticks, were flying about – thick: they were whizzing before my nose, dropping below me, striking behind me against my pilot-house.” The native’s primitive weapons had nearly no effect of the Europeans, yet Marlow describes them as “thick” and …show more content…
During the attack, Marlow notes “That fool-helmsman, his hands on the spokes, was lifting his knees high, stamping his feet, champing his mouth, like a reined-in horse.” Marlow is dissatisfied with the helmsman due to the helmsman’s primitive and ineffective way of defending against the surprise attack. Words like “stamping” and “champing” are both barbaric, which are the people that Marlow is fighting against. This aggression at both the natives and his own ludicrous helmsman further adds onto Marlow’s confusion. Marlow quickly gazed at the spot where the arrows were coming from “…I saw a face amongst the leaves on the level with my own, looking at me fierce and steady…I made out, deep in the tangled gloom…the bush was warming with human limbs in movement, glistening, of bronze color.” Marlow finally composed himself amongst the chaos and noticed who the attackers were. Marlow’s description of how they looked showed that he was afraid and initially overwhelmed at the native’s strength, which made him want to flee the