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Definition of Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved directly or indirectly, by making... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the story. Foreshadowing can be achieved... read full definition
Foreshadowing is a literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don't actually occur until later in the... read full definition
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Marlow's Journey:
In the first part of Heart of Darkness, Conrad establishes an atmosphere of gloom and dread by vaguely foreshadowing the outcome of Marlow’s journey to the Congo. In his first words, Marlow calls London “one of the dark places of the earth.” While this is technically a reference to the Romans colonizing England, it also foreshadows the conclusion he reaches at the end of the novella: Europe is at least as dark, corrupt, and immoral as Africa. Then, when Marlow describes how he thinks Roman conquerors must have felt upon reaching the site where London now stands, he foreshadows the entire course of his journey to the Congo:
Land in a swamp, march through the woods, and in some inland post feel the savagery, the utter savagery, had closed round him—all that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men. There’s no initiation either into such mysteries. He has to live in the midst of the incomprehensible, which is also detestable. And it has a fascination, too, that goes to work upon him. The fascination of the abomination—you know, imagine the growing regrets, the longing to escape, the powerless disgust, the surrender, the hate.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Hole:
The mysterious hole that Marlow sees when he first reaches the Congo foreshadows Kurtz’s death at the end of the novella. In Part 1, when he arrives at the Outer Station, Marlow sees the incomprehensible cruelty and wastefulness of European colonialism for the first time. He is surrounded by dying people, from the native laborers collapsing in the “grove of death” to the severely ill European agent who arrives at the camp from upriver to die. He sees how white colonizers have enslaved native Congolese people, rebranded them “criminals,” and given them pointless jobs, like blasting into a cliff face that isn’t even in anyone’s way. Then, Marlow sees a hole—which, because it comes shortly after the cliff blasting, also seems to be a pointless waste of resources:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I avoided a vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope, the purpose of which I found it impossible to divine. It wasn’t a quarry or a sandpit, anyhow. It was just a hole. It might have been connected with the philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do. I don’t know.”
Related Themes:
Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Hole:
The mysterious hole that Marlow sees when he first reaches the Congo foreshadows Kurtz’s death at the end of the novella. In Part 1, when he arrives at the Outer Station, Marlow sees the incomprehensible cruelty and wastefulness of European colonialism for the first time. He is surrounded by dying people, from the native laborers collapsing in the “grove of death” to the severely ill European agent who arrives at the camp from upriver to die. He sees how white colonizers have enslaved native Congolese people, rebranded them “criminals,” and given them pointless jobs, like blasting into a cliff face that isn’t even in anyone’s way. Then, Marlow sees a hole—which, because it comes shortly after the cliff blasting, also seems to be a pointless waste of resources:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I avoided a vast artificial hole somebody had been digging on the slope, the purpose of which I found it impossible to divine. It wasn’t a quarry or a sandpit, anyhow. It was just a hole. It might have been connected with the philanthropic desire of giving the criminals something to do. I don’t know.”
Related Themes:
