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Situational Irony
Definition of Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating sensory impressions, incomplete ideas, unusual syntax... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's extended thought process, often by incorporating... read full definition
Stream of consciousness is a style or technique of writing that tries to capture the natural flow of a character's... read full definition
Key Examples in Heart of Darkness
Part 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Most of Heart of Darkness consists of Marlow telling his story to a group of other sailors. Even though the novella never puts the reader directly inside Marlow’s mind, his free-wheeling storytelling technique still brings his stream of consciousness to the foreground. It makes the story’s structure largely psychological: rather than unfolding in linear time, the narrative mostly follows Marlow’s thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. Marlow comments at length on individual moments that he considers significant, while often skipping over days or even months of his journey in less than a sentence. For instance, while describing his meeting with the Russian, he recalls:
The glamour of youth enveloped his parti-coloured rags, his destitution, his loneliness, the essential desolation of his futile wanderings. For months—for years—his life hadn’t been worth a day’s purchase; and there he was gallantly, thoughtlessly alive, to all appearances indestructible solely by the virtue of his few years and of his unreflecting audacity. I was seduced into something like admiration—like envy.
Related Themes:
