Heart Of Darkness Diction Essay
Heart of Darkness
Kareem Metwalli
Class 8
In this excerpt from the novel, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the author effectively portrays the Congo River as an inhospitable location unfit for human existence. Through Conrad’s diction, syntax and detail of the environment, the author reveals a great deal of psychological stress, due to the hostile environment, which leads to physical anguish.
Through the author’s usage of oppressive diction, the author illustrates a hostile environment where society and humanity are devoid, and in effect expresses how the environment dominates Conrad’s mental security and ultimately leads to his physical devastation. The author describes the air of the environment as “warm, thick, heavy and sluggish”, thus accounting a physical stress that he was forced to endure; however this physical stress takes a toll on his psychological health, claiming that the environment “cuts off” the past and takes you “far away – in another existence.” If one looses their sense of the past, then as a result, the …show more content…
It becomes evident that the passage is written in the first voice, relatively late into the excerpt; “I got used…I had to keep…” The passage began as a descriptive analysis of a heartless yet powerful environment, however as the passage progresses, the author recounts the overall effect that the environment had on him, illustrating a ruthless and distressing ordeal. The usage of anaphora in these sentences reveals this sensation of merciless torture, a record and list of all of the grueling aspects that he faced: “I had no time…I watched… I shaved” This anaphora shows the author’s loss of control, fear and overall despair that he witnessed and suffered from, all representing conditions that lead to the author’s psychological fall; with this mental collapse, the author finds himself in a critical physical
Kareem Metwalli
Class 8
In this excerpt from the novel, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the author effectively portrays the Congo River as an inhospitable location unfit for human existence. Through Conrad’s diction, syntax and detail of the environment, the author reveals a great deal of psychological stress, due to the hostile environment, which leads to physical anguish.
Through the author’s usage of oppressive diction, the author illustrates a hostile environment where society and humanity are devoid, and in effect expresses how the environment dominates Conrad’s mental security and ultimately leads to his physical devastation. The author describes the air of the environment as “warm, thick, heavy and sluggish”, thus accounting a physical stress that he was forced to endure; however this physical stress takes a toll on his psychological health, claiming that the environment “cuts off” the past and takes you “far away – in another existence.” If one looses their sense of the past, then as a result, the …show more content…
It becomes evident that the passage is written in the first voice, relatively late into the excerpt; “I got used…I had to keep…” The passage began as a descriptive analysis of a heartless yet powerful environment, however as the passage progresses, the author recounts the overall effect that the environment had on him, illustrating a ruthless and distressing ordeal. The usage of anaphora in these sentences reveals this sensation of merciless torture, a record and list of all of the grueling aspects that he faced: “I had no time…I watched… I shaved” This anaphora shows the author’s loss of control, fear and overall despair that he witnessed and suffered from, all representing conditions that lead to the author’s psychological fall; with this mental collapse, the author finds himself in a critical physical