Study Guide for Midterm (Summer 2009)

It seems like we've just begun,but I'd like to start posting our midterm guide as soon as possible.  The take home midterm is due July 27, but since it will cover what we've discussed in class, I want to make up this guide sooner rather than later.

We began our summer session by defining literature and watching some scenes from Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now (1979).  Coppola's film reworks Heart of Darkness, resetting it during the Vietnam War.  For people in the late 1960s and 1970s, Vietnam was extremely controversial and, for some, disillusioning.  (BTW, in the interview we saw, Joseph Campbell alludes several times to Vietnam--even though the interview took place in the mid-1980s.)


If you would like to rewatch some of the scenes that we saw, here are links to YouTube videos.  The first is the beginning when Willard (Coppola renamed Marlow) is in Saigon, waiting for his mission:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzM4D2_uOP0

Next Willard gets his mission:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iw1KobfPwk

Then he and his men meet Col. Kilgore. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmrEo85vuEI

I am not able to find a video of the rest of this scene, but here is the scene where Lance surfs and Willard mutters "Charlie don't surf."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiRTONtkVb8

Finally, here is the scene where Willard & Chef encounter the tiger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbFvAaO9j8M



Tuesday we discussed the first part of Heart of Darkness.  I gave a brief definition and history of the novel.  Here is a link to a more extended definition.

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/define.htm

Here are some outlines of the 18th, 19th, and 20th century novel.  Note that Conrad is not included in this history! 

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/origins.htm

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/19thcent.htm

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/20thcent.htm

For more information about Conrad's life, see this very full chronology:

http://conrad-centre.w.interia.pl/pages/chronology_en.html

This page has more detailed information about Conrad's most well-known novels:

http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/conrd-01.htm

Below is the album cover for the soundtrack of a 1960s movie based on Conrad's novel Lord Jim.  (Marlow also narrated this novel as well.  In this novel, he mentions that he likes to mentor young men.)


Among the topics we discussed Tuesday were the frame narrative (story within a story), the unnamed narrator & Marlow's depictions of London, Marlow's depiction of Brussels ("whited sepulcher"), his description of Africa (coast & the first station), his audience's perception of him, our perception of him, his relationships with women (specifically his aunt), his relationship with other Europeans, and his perception of the native workers.  Since we discussed Marlow's admiration for the accountant with his starched cuffs and collar, we watched a little more of Apocalypse Now's scenes featuring Col. Kilgore.


On Wednesday we moved on to part 2 of Heart of Darkness, focusing on its depiction of Africa and Africans as well as of Europeans.  Some key scenes were Marlow's depiction of his fireman, his reaction to the death of the helmsman, and his encounter with the young Russian.  A number of you mentioned Chinua Achebe's "An Image of Africa":

http://www.idst.vt.edu/modernworld/d/Achebe.html

We also took another perspective on Conrad's novel, examining the more recent history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (aka DR Congo or Zaire).  For more specific information, see this link to my earlier Multiply entry:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/84/Reading_Heart_of_Darkness_Historical_Background>Reading Heart of Darkness (Historical Background)

Here you may rewatch the YouTube documentary on Patrice Lumumba that we saw in class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrcX3XUm7eA

In addition, these are links that I sent you with the questions for Wednesday:

This is a link to an English-language trailer of the movie Lumumba :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLh4LGadxoU

Here are links to Al-Jazeera English's documentaries on the Congo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d4dFYiIzK8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpd3ykS4QOQ



Although we did not listen to the music of the Baka people until Thursday, I am linking it here since it fits in better with Wednesday's emphasis on African history and culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Xj_oLkRT4


Thursday we moved on to part three of Heart of Darkness and another perspective: Joseph Campbell's outline of the hero's journey.  Do you think that Marlow follows the hero's path?  If so, where does he cross the threshold?  who are his helpers?  and what is the elixir that he brings back?  Was his elixir that compassion that he shows to Kurtz's fiancee? 

To review the outline, you may go to this link from UC Berkeley:

http://orias.berkeley.edu/hero/JourneyStages.pdf

To watch more of the video that we saw in class, go to this link:

http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/herojourney.html

We also discussed Marlow's expectations of Kurtz, his impressions of him, the reasons why Kurtz escaped into the woods & Marlow went after him, and his final interview with Kurtz's fiancee, his Intended, as well as the novel's last paragraph.

On to Things Fall Apart!!