Info Second Quarter Notebook 30

Writing Jane Eyre Book Card 10

Reading Final Multiple Choice 50

Reading Final Timed Essay 50

Reading Heart of Darkness: Section 1 Second Reading Quiz 10

Reading Heart of Darkness: Section 2 Second Reading Quiz 10

Writing Timed: Poetry (Winter Sundays) 20

Reading Section 1 HoD (Class Determined Key) 20

WHO IS KURTZ?

The truth is messy…

Who is Kurtz?

Who is Kurtz?

Conrad’s character Kurtz represents the tortuous consequences of a civilized human returning to a more authentic state of being.

Before I left this country…

I would have said that no person should be put to death without a logical reason.

Then I left the country …

Imagine this…

You’re camping…

5 day trip Pack in your own food and water The campsite is a good five hour hike from the

parking lot, and from there a two hour drive back to civilization.

… and it’s great Gorgeous views, great weather, no

technology

Life is simple.

… but then you realize you’re running out of water

You have limited options, but you’re learning lots about yourself and feel it’s meaningful to stay the full time; you really don’t want to cut your trip short.

… so you do that thing that you swore you’d never do: You stop brushing your teeth in order to

conserve water.

For three days.

The trip ends

And you return to civilization feeling like you understand life on a more primitive level.

This doesn’t stop you from brushing your teeth ASAP, of course, but you’re proud of yourself.

The aftermath However, this little episode, this three days of

never brushing your teeth, you’ll never admit to your civilized friends. They won’t get it. They can’t understand the sacrifice. They’ll criticize why you didn’t just hike back right away, refill water, and brush your teeth like any other normal, civilized human would do.

Back to Kurtz:

Consider this: Kurtz went through the same thing (on a more extreme level):

His primitive camping trip = African jungle

His shameful secret = going tribal

His consequence = deeper understanding of humanity that was wrought with tortuous realization that these primitive roots can work

Humanity seeks simple, savage lifestyles:

Both my story and the camping analogy are similar in that they speak to a shocking yet familiar

return to a more basic, authentic style of life

Positives and negatives, and the negatives are kind of gross, and the positives seem worth it.

Consider this:

Kurtz crawls to the natives, and they to him: “The camps of these people

surrounded the place, and the chiefs came every day to see him. They would crawl…” (133).

“If it came to crawling before Mr. Kurtz, he crawled as much as the veriest savage of them all” (134).

“He can’t walk - he is crawling on all-fours – I’ve got him (141).”

Conrad’s character Kurtz represents the tortuous consequences of a civilized human returning to a more authentic state of being.

And this:

Kurtz implies that he understands the natives in a way that Marlow and the company do not:

“She put out her hands, shouted something, and all that wild mob took up the shout in a roaring chorus of articulated, rapid, breathless utterance.

‘Do you understand this?’ I asked.

… I saw a smile of indefinable meaning, appear on his colourless lips that a moment after twitched convulsively. ‘Do I not?’ he said slowly, gasping as if the words had been torn out of him by a supernatural power.”

Who is Kurtz?

Who is Kurtz?

Conrad’s character Kurtz represents the tortuous consequences of a civilized human returning to a more authentic state of being. Support or refute my thesis.

Use at least one piece of evidence in your writing.