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Foreshadowing
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis:
Heart of Darkness is structured as a frame story (or a story within a story). The novella truly takes place not in the Congo itself, but onboard the ship Nellie in the Thames River, as Marlow tells four other sailors about his travels. Thus, he isn’t talking to the reader, but rather to fellow English sailors: people who might go on voyages like his own, see their expectations similarly dashed, and inadvertently contribute to the evils of European colonialism in the process. One of these other sailors actually narrates the novella’s first few pages and final paragraph. For instance, in Part 1, he introduces Marlow’s story by saying:
The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
Related Themes:
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Heart of Darkness is structured as a frame story (or a story within a story). The novella truly takes place not in the Congo itself, but onboard the ship Nellie in the Thames River, as Marlow tells four other sailors about his travels. Thus, he isn’t talking to the reader, but rather to fellow English sailors: people who might go on voyages like his own, see their expectations similarly dashed, and inadvertently contribute to the evils of European colonialism in the process. One of these other sailors actually narrates the novella’s first few pages and final paragraph. For instance, in Part 1, he introduces Marlow’s story by saying:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside, enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.
Related Themes:
