Question 1:
The frame narrator has heard Marlow’s stories before. How does he set up the reader’s expectations about Marlow’s narration? (To keep your answers within the word limit, choose one example to comment on).
The frame narrator foregrounds Marlow’s atypical perspective of meaning, commenting, “[to Marlow] the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel, but outside enveloping the tale” (6). This passage is foundational in directing readers’ expectations, foreshadowing Marlow’s elusive pursuit for meaning. For example, Marlow is blinded by fog during his journey towards Kurtz (48), and frequently overhears isolated conversation fragments (38). Evidently, Marlow perceives broad, external meanings, yet specific, internal meanings are veiled. Ultimately, the frame narrator indicates Marlow perceives meaning to be vague and uninterpretable, although omnipresent.
Question 2:
‘All of Europe made Kurtz’: what do you think this means?
Kurtz’s grandiose, complex nature substantiates this quote, as his personality is an amalgamation of …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Woolf continually uses Big Ben to indicate the passing of time, stating, “Out it boomed. First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air” (2). In addition to overtly identifying the novel’s timeline, Woolf’s emphasis on time’s “dissolving”, ephemeral nature highlights Clarissa’s awareness of, and anxiety towards, the inevitability of aging. Moreover, Woolf’s emphasis on the fleeting nature of time reveals a central theme of modernism: time is circular and cumulative, rather than linear. Consequently, Woolf juxtaposes time and timelessness, particularly during Peter Walsh’s encounter with the ancient, seemingly eternal woman in Regent’s Park, who sang “without beginning or end” (70). Thus, Big Ben marks the passing of linear time, while also symbolising time’s transient
The frame narrator has heard Marlow’s stories before. How does he set up the reader’s expectations about Marlow’s narration? (To keep your answers within the word limit, choose one example to comment on).
The frame narrator foregrounds Marlow’s atypical perspective of meaning, commenting, “[to Marlow] the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel, but outside enveloping the tale” (6). This passage is foundational in directing readers’ expectations, foreshadowing Marlow’s elusive pursuit for meaning. For example, Marlow is blinded by fog during his journey towards Kurtz (48), and frequently overhears isolated conversation fragments (38). Evidently, Marlow perceives broad, external meanings, yet specific, internal meanings are veiled. Ultimately, the frame narrator indicates Marlow perceives meaning to be vague and uninterpretable, although omnipresent.
Question 2:
‘All of Europe made Kurtz’: what do you think this means?
Kurtz’s grandiose, complex nature substantiates this quote, as his personality is an amalgamation of …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Woolf continually uses Big Ben to indicate the passing of time, stating, “Out it boomed. First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air” (2). In addition to overtly identifying the novel’s timeline, Woolf’s emphasis on time’s “dissolving”, ephemeral nature highlights Clarissa’s awareness of, and anxiety towards, the inevitability of aging. Moreover, Woolf’s emphasis on the fleeting nature of time reveals a central theme of modernism: time is circular and cumulative, rather than linear. Consequently, Woolf juxtaposes time and timelessness, particularly during Peter Walsh’s encounter with the ancient, seemingly eternal woman in Regent’s Park, who sang “without beginning or end” (70). Thus, Big Ben marks the passing of linear time, while also symbolising time’s transient