Anchor Text - Heart of DarknessStatement of Inquiry: In what ways does imperialism affect how society is structured or how people are treated? How has imperialism changed over time?

“Heart of Darkness follows one man's nightmarish journey into the interior of Africa... It all takes place in the past, because what we have here is a frame story. Aboard a British ship called the Nellie, three men listen to a dude named Marlow recount his journey into Africa as an agent for the Company, a Belgian ivory trading firm...Along the way, he witnesses brutality and hate between colonizers and the native African people, becomes entangled in a power struggle within the Company, and finally learns the truth about the mysterious Kurtz, a mad agent who has become both a god and a prisoner of the ‘native Africans.’ After ‘rescuing’ Kurtz from the native African people, Marlow watches in horror as Kurtz succumbs to madness, disease, and finally death. In the end, Marlow decides to support Kurtz rather than his company, which is possibly morally dubious and definitely a bad career move. The novel closes with Marlow's guilt-ridden visit to Kurtz's fiancée to return the man's personal letters, and, on that ambiguous note, we end.”

-(Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008)

Heart of Darkness - Quantitative MeasuresThe shorter length of the text allows our class to explore the various levels of meaning throughout more of the text (between 7-8 key excerpts), rather than focusing on 2-3 key excerpts in the novella.

53,285 words or approximately 77-120 pages*

*depending on the published version.

Heart of Darkness - Standards:TEKS 2(C): relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time.

TEKS 5(A) analyze how complex plot structures (e.g., subplots) and devices (e.g., foreshadowing, flashbacks, suspense) function and advance the action in a work of fiction

TEKS 5(B): analyze the moral dilemmas and quandaries presented in works of fiction as revealed by the underlying motivations and behaviors of the character.

TEKS 5(D): demonstrate familiarity with works of fiction by British authors from each major literary period

TEKS 7(A): analyze how the author’s patterns of imagery, literary allusions, and conceits reveal theme, set tone, and create meaning in metaphors, passages, and literary works.

TEKS Fig.19(B): Students is expected make complex inferences (e.g., inductive and deductive) about text and use textual evidence to support understanding.

Heart of Darkness - Text Dependent QuestionsCan you justify Kurtz’s actions? Why or why not?

What is the “darkness” to which Conrad refers?

How does Marlow’s glimpse into his first interactions with Kurtz foreshadow his demise and the cause of his demise?

How does Joseph Conrad’s depiction of the Congo reflect (or not reflect) European attitudes toward imperialism?

Heart of Darkness - Complementary Texts“The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters” - Unknown American artist / “White Man’s Burden” The Journal, Detroit

“Boss” - Noemia de Sousa / “White Man’s Burden” - Rudyard Kipling

Apocalypse Now - dir. Francis Ford Coppola

“An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness” - Chinua Achebe

Complementary Texts - StandardsTEKS 2(A): compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme;

TEKS 2(C): relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time.

TEKS 3(A): Evaluate the changes in sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time periods.

TEKS 8(A): Analyze the consistency and clarity of the expression of the controlling idea and the ways in which the organizational and rhetorical patterns of text support or confound the author’s meaning or purpose.

TEKS 12(A): evaluate how messages presented in media reflect social and cultural views in ways different from traditional texts;

TEKS 12(C): evaluate how one issue or event is represented across various media to understand the notions of bias, audience, and purpose;

Heart of Darkness - Rationale Quantitatively accessible (short, 9-10 grade band, 1050 L Lexile) for 12th graders at all levels

Driving questions and text connect to materials and concepts (i.e. imperialism) across time and disciplines

Multiple levels of meaning for scholars to engage with the text and driving questionsMany of our scholars, especially those who are

students of color and/or immigrants have been subject to racism and imperialism

“The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters,” - Unknown American Artist, 1882TEKS 2(A): compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme;

TEKS 12(A): evaluate how messages presented in media reflect social and cultural views in ways different from traditional texts;

TEKS 12(C): evaluate how one issue or event is represented across various media to understand the notions of bias, audience, and purpose; Unknown American artist. “The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters.”

The Granger Collection, NYC., 1882.

“The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters” - RationaleScholars are exposed to a United States-based artist’s perception of the breadth of British imperialism in 1882,7 years before Conrad published Heart of Darkness.

Using an image, rather than text, allows for increased accessibility for students with disabilities or students who are ELLs to engage with and understand concepts relating to imperialism prior to the anchor text.

Using a political cartoon provides explicit opportunities to grapple with the role of journalism, the impact of bias, and the contribution of visual details to meaning prior to the text, where these issues are more subtle.

Scholars are able to evaluate how “The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters” reflects the United States’ sentiments toward the British imperialism in the late 19th century by comparing the cartoon to “The White Man’s Burden” cartoon.

“The White Man’s Burden” - The Journal, DetroitTEKS 2(A): compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme;

TEKS 12(A): evaluate how messages presented in media reflect social and cultural views in ways different from traditional texts;

TEKS 12(C): evaluate how one issue or event is represented across various media to understand the notions of bias, audience, and purpose;

May, T. (1899, February 18). The White Man's Burden [Cartoon]. The Detroit Journal.

“The White Man’s Burden” Cartoon - RationaleScholars are exposed to the notion of the White Man’s Burden in pictorial form prior to reading Heart of Darkness and grappling with questions of Conrad’s relationship to the “White Man’s Burden.”

Using an image, rather than text, allows for increased accessibility for students with disabilities or students who are ELLs to engage with and understand concepts relating to the “White Man’s Burden” prior to the anchor text.

Using a political cartoon provides explicit opportunities to grapple with the role of journalism, the impact of bias, and the contribution of visual details to meaning prior to the text, where these issues are more subtle.

Scholars are able to evaluate how “The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters” reflects the United States’ sentiments toward the British imperialism in the late 19th century by comparing the cartoon to “The White Man’s Burden” cartoon.

“Boss” - Noemia de Sousa, 1949TEKS 2(A): compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme;

TEKS 2(C): relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time.

TEKS 3(A): Evaluate the changes in sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time periods.

“Boss, boss, oh my boss!Why d’you always beat me up,with no pity at all,with your hard and hostile eyes,with your words that are as cutting as arrows,with that look of sharp disdain,and sometimeswith a humiliating clout from your own hand,even though everything I dois by nature submissive?

Oh, why boss? Tell me just this:what harm did I do you?(Was it because I was born with this skin colour?)”

Mitra, L. R. (n.d.). "Six Poems" - Noémia de Sousa[Scholarly project]. In Academia.edu. Retrieved January 2017, 12, from http://www.academia.edu/6853126/No%C3%A9mia_de_Sousa_Six_Poems

“Boss” - RationaleScholars read another text written in the first person, but from the perspective of a native African person, someone whose perspective is not represented in Heart of Darkness.

Scholars compare and contrast elements of the treatment of the native Mozambicans in “Boss” with the treatment of the native Congolese in Heart of Darkness, as well as the literary devices that convey these treatments.

Scholars will compare and contrast the perspectives in “Boss” and “White Man’s Burden” to understand the calls to action presented in both poetic works.

Scholars will be able “to relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time” and across time by evaluating the poetic devices used to portray the treatment of native Africans in “Boss” and Heart of Darkness.

“White Man’s Burden” - Rudyard KiplingTEKS 2(A): compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme;

TEKS 2(C): relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time.

TEKS 3(A): Evaluate the changes in sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time periods.

Take up the White Man's burden--Send forth the best ye breed--Go bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harness,On fluttered folk and wild--Your new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--In patience to abide,To veil the threat of terrorAnd check the show of pride;By open speech and simple,An hundred times made plainTo seek another's profit,And work another's gain.

Kipling, R. White Man’s Burden. Retrieved January 2017, 12, from https://public.wsu.edu/~brians/world_civ/worldcivreader/world_civ_reader_2/kipling.html

Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” - RationaleScholars read another text written in the first person from the perspective of a European person, in a way that represents a primary, nonfiction source.

Scholars compare and contrast elements of the call to action in “Boss” with the treatment of the native Congolese in Heart of Darkness, as well as the literary devices that convey these treatments.

Scholars will compare and contrast the perspectives in “Boss” and “White Man’s Burden” to understand the calls to action presented in both poetic works.

Scholars will be able “to relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time” and across time by evaluating the poetic devices used to portray the perspective of Europeans in “White Man’s Burden” and Heart of Darkness.

Apocalypse Now- dir. Francis Ford Coppola

TEKS 2(A): compare and contrast works of literature that express a universal theme;

TEKS 2(C): relate the characters, setting, and theme of a literary work to the historical, social, and economic ideas of its time.

TEKS 12(A): evaluate how messages presented in media reflect social and cultural views in ways different from traditional texts;

TEKS 12(C): evaluate how one issue or event is represented across various media to understand the notions of bias, audience, and purpose;

Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando. Omni Zoetrope, 1979. DVD.

Apocalypse Now - RationaleScholars will gain exposure to similar motifs, themes, and character dilemmas that are exhibited in Heart of Darkness as they manifest in the 20th century.

Scholars will be able to evaluate the film for discrepancies that may reveal differences in Conrad and Coppola’s perspectives on imperialism.

Scholars will analyze how the setting of the Vietnam War produces differences in theme and audience interpretations of the impact of imperialism on the Vietnamese.

Scholars will analyze differences presentations of imperialism based on historical, author/director, and cultural context by comparing Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness, and their respective themes.

“An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”- Chinua Achebe

TEKS 8(A): Analyze the consistency and clarity of the expression of the controlling idea and the ways in which the organizational and rhetorical patterns of text support or confound the author’s meaning or purpose.

“Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as ‘the

other world,’ the antithesis of Europe and therefore of

civilization, a place where man's vaunted intelligence

and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant

beastiality. The book opens on the River Thames,

tranquil, resting, peacefully ‘at the decline of day after

ages of good service done to the race that peopled its

banks.’ But the actual story will take place on the River

Congo, the very antithesis of the Thames. The River

Congo is quite decidedly not a River Emeritus. It has

rendered no service and enjoys no old-age pension. We

are told that ‘Going up that river was like traveling back

to the earliest beginnings of the world.’”

Achebe, C. (2016). An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The Massachusetts Review,57(1), 14-27.doi:10.1353/mar.2016.0003

“An Image of Africa” - RationaleAchebe’s argument provides the scholars with a model for articulating their opinions (or the opposite of their opinions) on Conrad’s racist depictions of the Congolese.

Scholars would be exposed and would evaluate a modern criticism and understanding of Conrad’s perception of imperialism at the time of the Belgian occupation of the Congo.

This informational article, both in its conventions and ideas, presents students with a university/college-level text pushing the 12th grade students toward college-readiness.

Scholars will be able to evaluate their opinions on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in conversation with Achebe’s argument by comparing his various claims to their own using text evidence from the anchor text.

Text Set RationaleHeart of Darkness has a lower lexile and various levels of meaning with which students

can engage. For my students in particular (who have had gaps in their English Language and Reading education due to inconsistency in teachers), the multiplicity of theme allows the students in both our AP English Literature and the on-level English IV.

To prime students for the conversations on imperialism, the class will analyze the cartoons, “The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters” and the “White Man’s Burden.” As it would be analyzed in tandem with Chinua Achebe’s “An Image of Africa: Conrad’s Racism in Heart of Darkness” and poems such as “White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling and “Boss” by Noemia de Sousa, Heart of Darkness will permit scholars to anchor their learning about imperialism, racism, and the mistreatment of native Congolese in various scenes throughout the text.

Text Set Rationale (cont.)When Achebe’s article is read after Heart of Darkness, scholars are able to have

language for the racism that Conrad writes into the story, while “White Man’s Burden” and “Boss” provide students more accessible language and formatting (poems with relatively simple structure) to understand the various perspectives of the European and Congolese (African people broadly), respectively.

Although the language - specifically conventions and sentence structure - presents challenges to students, the majority of our scholars have been subject to racism in their daily lives, and many of them have born witness to imperialism while living in their home countries or living in the United States as the nation takes part in imperialism abroad. Much of the class is passionate about social and racial justice, which provides them with entry points to the varied levels of meaning and theme, regardless of their analytical abilities. The supplementary texts provide scholars with various entry points to the anchor texts and ways to develop criticisms or defense of the text.

Text Set Rationale (cont.)As our scholars engage with either the IB program or prepare to become globally

minded citizens, it is important for them not only to learn about imperialism and its various manifestations, but also, and more urgently, how various populations have been affected by imperialism and how their experiences are remembered through literature. While Heart of Darkness may be controversial in its content and depiction, the text set serves to provide a range of perspectives and representation of people who have interacted with imperialism, both as oppressors, the oppressed, and their progeny.

Works CitedApocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando. Omni Zoetrope, 1979. DVD.

Achebe, C. (2016). An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The Massachusetts Review,57(1), 14-27. doi:10.1353/mar.2016.0003

Conrad, J. (2005). Heart of Darkness: Norton Critical (4th) Edition (4th ed.) (P. B. Armstrong, Ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Unknown American artist. “The Devilfish in Egyptian Waters.” The Granger Collection, NYC., 1882.

Kipling, R. White Man’s Burden. Retrieved January 2017, 12, fromhttps://public.wsu.edu/~brians/world_civ/worldcivreader/world_civ_reader_2/kipling.html

May, T. (1899, February 18). The White Man's Burden [Cartoon]. The Detroit Journal.

Mitra, L. R. (n.d.). "Six Poems" - Noémia de Sousa[Scholarly project]. In Academia.edu. Retrieved January 2017, 12, from http://www.academia.edu/6853126/No%C3%A9mia_de_Sousa_Six_Poems