Journal Nov. 25

Okonkwo- Okonkwo is a man who was born into a family of not hard workers. He is now a very hard worker with three wives and more than two children. He owns two farms full of yams. His family is very high up and he is young. He is respected by the elders since he has worked so hard. He is also the protagonist.
Nwoye- Nwoye is Okonkwo's son and is not a very hard worker in the beginning of the book. However he becomes a slightly harder worker and his father starts to get along with him a little more. His father is still pretty harsh on him because he wants him to be successful.
Unoka- Unoka is Okonkwo's dad. He is dead and Okonkwo didn't get along with him very well. Okonkwo didn't like him because he was lazy. He was in major debt with everyone. He also was very poor and didn't have any farms of yams since he wasn't a hard worker.
Nwakibie- Nwakibie is a rich dude who gives Okonkwo a large number of seeds. He does this because he thinks that Okonkwo is a hard worker and can handle the work. He gives Okonkwo the seeds at Unoka's funeral.
Ani- Ani is the earth goddess and is respected by everyone. She is supposed to be in charge of all the crops and people make sacrifices to her.
Wives- A lot of people are said to have wives but their names are never mentioned in the story. They are just called the first wife or second wife. I think that this book is kind of sexist in this way because the wives don't have names.
Daughters- Okonkwa's daughters are mentioned a lot in the reading. They are mentioned a lot in the end. Their names are Ezinma, Ekwefi, Obiageli, and Nkechi.

Art Journal Nov. 23

There was this one picture with a bunch of flowers and a black background. I walked by this picture and at first glance it made me feel warm inside because it had a lot of flowers. Then I looked at it and after I looked at it for about five seconds I started to feel cold and sad. I think it was the black of the background that slowly made me feel cold. Another reason why I probably felt good when I first looked at the picture is that the bottom of the picture was bright. The flowers were bright and so from far away I only noticed the bright part. As you got closer you could see the darker parts of the picture which were higher up. The top flowers looked like they were older because the petals were falling off and some of the flowers had holes in them. One could not see that the flowers were falling apart from far away so one could only see that it was a group of flowers. The flowers also reminded me as if they were from a funeral because the background was black. They also looked old because they were falling apart. The combination of these things made me feel happy from far away but sad when close up.

Journal Nov. 22

2.

I think at the beginning of the story it shows that she doesn't know how to feel about Edward. This is because no men have been introduced into the story. As the story progresses she meets an interviewer who I think is supposed to symbolized Edward. The interviewer likes her and hires her and then starts to try to touch her. I think this represents Edward becuase Edward likes her and brought her to Jumping Monkey Hill but he is also creepy. I think the bank trust manager is supposed to represent how she feels about Edward at that time. She likes him but also thinks that he is not paying close attention to her anymore. Edward then starts to become very creepy and is always looking at her body. The alhaji is also supposed,to represent Edward because whenever he talks to her he does not look at her eyes he looks at her body. He also wants her to be his personal contact even though she had not said anything through-out the meeting. He then tries get her to like him by showing her his perfume collection. He will do anything to grt her to like him just like Edward. Chioma then walks out and leaves her job. I think this shows what Ujunwa wants to do. She wants to leave Edward because he is creepy just like how Chioma left alhaji because he was creepy. I also thnk that having a story in a story was a good and intresting way to tell the story. It provided more depth to the story but the story was still easy to understand. It was better than just saying something like "Ujunwa wrote a story about how Chioma..."

Journal Nov. 21

I think that the white man's burden is trying to say that all of their problems come from the African people. To me it feels like the white man's burden is just blaming the Africans for creating problems. The the white man's burden makes the person writing it seem rich and spoiled because they are saying they have all these hard thing to do. However the things that they are saying are hard aren't even that hard. The white man's burden makes it seem like white people are higher up therefore they shouldn't have all these troubles. The white man's burden is also saying that they feel like it is there duty to colonize everyone and they are putting more problems on themselves . They could easily solve most of there problems but they just chose to complain. The black man's burden kind of makes the white man's burden seem childish and whiny. The black man's burden  contains more realistic problems as well as harder problems. To me, The black man's burden is kind of like, "Oh, you say you have all these problems but look at us, we have more problems." I think that this relates to the book because the white men feel it is there duty to colonize Africa and they are putting more problems on themselves. However, the African people don't want them. 

Journal Nov. 16

Overall, I enjoyed Heart of Darkness. I felt like it was a very good book to read. I thought that it was confusing at times and discussing it in class helped a lot. It had a lot of symbolism that I didn't pick up on right apt thoe beginning but after we talked in class I began to enjoy the book even more. I think that the protagonist could either be Marlow or the Congo and the antagonist could be either Marlow or the Congo. I believe that the Congo was the protagonist and all of the Europeans settling around the Congo were the antagonists. I think that heart of darkness could mean the heart of Africa. It could all mean the heart of up advanced people. Another possible thing that it could mean is colonization. The Europeans were trying to do something good which would be the heart. However this thing they were trying to do turned to be a bad thing for the colonized people and that was the darkness.

Questions for seminar:

- Do you think Conrad was racist?

- Do you think that the arguement in Image of Africa were valid?

- What do you think heart of darkness means?

Journal Nov. 15

On page 10 in the kindle version, he describes the huts as having gaping holes and being very dark. This sets the mood of scary or abandoned. This intern makes colonialism seem like a scary thought because it is the white people who have been making these huts collapse. On Page 60 he starts talking about the fog and how thick it is. He also says that he cannot see through it and therefore he is unable to guide the ship. This make the mood seem mysterious. Out of nowhere he has the natives attack the ship. Since the story quickly changes from not knowing what's happening to all the sudden  being attacked, it makes the ambush much more dramatic. This puts emphasis on how bad colonialism is. The natives are attacking the whites because they don't like being colonized. A last example is when Marlow meets Kurtz. Kurtz is kind of just speaking random things and not making sense. This makes the mood creepy or confused. This mood helps when we find out that Kurtz has gone insane because of the Congo. Since he has also been hurt we find that colonialism is not only bad for the people being colonized but it is also bad for the people colonizing.

Journal Nov. 14 Addition

I thought of this like five minutes after I published my first journal. I think that the Congo represents Africa's growth and development towards technology. The Congo River is hard to travel and it takes a long time. It is also very windy with lots of turns. Africa is thought to be behind in technology and it is slowly starting to become more use to technology. This is like the river. Things move slow on the river and technology is growing slowly in Africa. It is hard for so e people in Africa to become use to technology just like it is hard to travel the Congo. However on the Thames River they are not going any where. This is because the tide is out. They are just going with the flow. This is kind of like England and technology. England is up to speed with technology so they can keep up with the technology of other countries. They can just go with the flow since they do not have to try to catch up. They will advance when the rest advances. The tide of the Thames represents the rest of the world and the boats on the Thames represents England. When the tide(world) is not moving it is very very hard for the boats(England) to move forward. However as soon as the tide(world) moves in or advances the boats(England) moves in or advances. 

Journal Nov. 13

I learned that all his art meant something. This kind of changed the way I looked at African Art. The book made it seem like African people didn't have any culture so therefore there artwork would have no culture. Now I know that African Art can mean a lot to the people making it even if it does not look like it means anything. I also learned that in African Art the higher the arms the more money one has. This was very interesting because there were two pieces and one had one arm raised and the other had both arms raised. I also learned that when faces are made in African Art it is usually not just a random face. Those faces are usually of someone close to the artist. They are also supposed to perfectly represent the person they are carved of. The fourth thing that I found interesting was how the artists could only use each cast once. This means that each piece was unique. Overall my favorite piece was any one of the statues with the nails in them. These were really cool because each nail represented an oath and it was almost like looking back into history. I also liked all the pieces with those small beads. Those must have taken forever to make because they are so intricate. In Heart of Darkness, I think that the symbolism between the Thames and the Congo is the most interesting. In pages 3-6 when the crew is on the Thames, they are just chilling out. I think that this shows that the Thames is much calmer. Since it is calmer it is safer and Marlow feels more at home. On page 8 & 11 he describes the Congo as a snake. I feel that this makes the Congo seem more dangerous because snakes are associated with danger. Also there is a general fear of snakes and there is a general fear of the Congo. The snake could also mean that the Congo is poisonous because it slowly poisons people over time making them go insane. I think by describing the Congo this way he is trying to show that it is dangerous and feared and the Thames is calm and safe. I think this plays into how he see England and Africa as a whole. I think that the Thames also represents all of England which would make sense because he feels that England is safe. I think the Congo represents all of Africa because Marlow has always thought of Africa as mysterious and things that are mysteries are usually scary. Snakes are also usually very aggressive. This could symbolize that the Congo doesn't like the English just like how snakes don't like people. However people can overpower snakes just like the English have overpowered the Congo and now trade on it. In the end, I think that he is trying to say that the Congo poisonous and dangerous whereas the Thames is safe and calm. He is also trying to say that the Congo doesn't want English invaders but the English invaders,have taken over.

Journal Nov. 12

The story starts off with five characters sitting on a boat. They are waiting for the Thames River's tide to go down so they can sail in. While waiting, Marlow begins to talk about what it must have been like for the Romans when they were first exploring England. He then relates this to him exploring the Congo for the first time. He decides to go to Africa on a ship to explore since he has always been intrested with Africa since he was a young child. Luckily a job opens up as a captain because one of the captains of a ship got into a fight with the people on the mainland and was killed. He travels down the coast of Africa for 30 day until he reaches the first station. At this station he sees many black people working. They are called criminals and a sent to work. However they are treated more like slaves. The manager of this station tells him about how good of a worker Kurtz is. Marlow is stuck at this station for ten days. He then travels to a second station with his partner. This trek takes him about 15 days. Once at the second station the manager of that station tells him even more about how good Kurtz is. The manager also says that his ship crashed into rocks and sunk. The manager said that it would take Marlow about three months to fix his ship. Marlow meets the brick maker who he has never seen make bricks. The brick maker tells him even more about how good Kurtz is. He is almost done with rebuilding his ship and all he needs are rivets. The rivets do not arrive on time. He then overhears the manager talking with his uncle about some plans. He gives up on building the ship because the rivets have not come and decides to focus on thinking about Kurtz.

Character Description: 

- Marlow: Marlow is the protagonist of the story and is intelligent. He is also philosophical and talks a lot. His crew is somewhat annoyed by this and they don't usually respond to him. He likes telling stories and is really good at it. He is also adventurous. I believe that he is younger like maybe in his 30s. 

- Congo: I believe that the Congo is a antagonist in this story. The Congo is dangerous and not very well explored. It is also somewhat feared in this book because of the people that live there. The Congo is described as a snake. I believe that this is because it slowly "poisons" people and makes them go insane. 

- Kurtz: Kurtz is liked by everyone that Marlow has met. He is the best ivory gather and gets more than any other person. The leaders of the company in England say that they have great plans for him. On the other hand, I believe that he is and antagonist. I think that he is distracting Marlow from his goal of exploring Africa. He is making Marlow think of him more than think of exploring Africa. I also think that Marlow will get jealous and some bad competition might start between them. 

- Manager of second station: The manager of the second station seems like a fake. He doesn't seem to know much and is only good for keeping the things running. He doesn't know how to make new adjustments and he seems only to be in it for the money. 

-  Marlow's partner: Marlow's partner was unnamed and seems weak. He is somewhat overweight and he faints a lot. Marlow has to care for him when he faints. He also does not seem cut out for the job and is only in it for the money.

- The Director of Companies (on the ship): He seemed responsible and trustworthy. He also seemed intelligent but very focused and serious.

- The Accountant (on the ship): He seemed childish and not very serious. He was trying to play dominoes on the ship. 

- The Lawyer (on the ship): He seemed greedy because he was lying on the only pillow and rug on the deck. He seemed intelligent and serious. He seemed like he was a friend of the narrator. 

Journal Nov. 5

I found Spain's reasoning for why they were taking over colonies very interesting. They said that the Indians did not have natural laws so they were not fit to govern. They also said that they should govern for the Indians because the Indians did not know how to govern. It was funny how they made it seem like they were looking out for the Indians by governing them even though they treated them unfairly. Another interesting thing was the difference between Marxism and Leninism. I had heard of Marxism but I never knew what it was. Lenin seemed like he didn't like colonialism. He was saying about how colonialism was only for economic purposes. One example is when a producer has sold all of the country his goods then no one will want to buy them anymore. The producer will colonize other places because those people might want to buy it. They will also colonize if they run out of resources in their country. Lenin also said that countries will usually colonize if they have a lot of economic problems because then they can put their economic problems onto those other countries that they have colonized. Marx said that it wasn't only for economic purposes and it was also for spearing culture. I found it interesting how we are still looking back at colonialism and still trying to understand it. I would have thought that we would have just forgot about it since it doesn't happen. I found it suprising that Joseph Conrad lived near the Congo River. I expected him to not live anywhere in it but to just be interested in it. Knowing this makes the book seem almost more real. He experienced all of these things, maybe not firsthand, but he sure saw some off this. This makes the book seem like it is written slightly better now that the author has experienced what he is writing about. I was also interested in Kurtz. He or it seemed very mysterious and creepy. I think that we are all attracted to mysterious things which is why he seems so interesting. I did not really understand what or who he was which is why I am interested to read the book. The line, "At the point when Marlow's panic sets in, Kurtz becomes a more material presence" really interested me. It made me think that Kurtz was just a figure of Marlow's imagination. Kurtz then might make Marlow insane because Kurtz is so crazy. As Marlow becomes more insane p, Kurtz becomes more real, which makes Marlow even more insane. This seems really interesting. I would really like to find out the relationship between Kurtz and Marlow. I want to see if my predictions are correct or if they are totally off. 

Journal Nov. 1

I really enjoyed this project. I felt like I learned a lot of valubale information. It was weird how much I felt like I was connected with Kermit. It felt like I had been with him for more than just an hour. He was so open. If I had been interviewed I do not think that I would have been that open and I really admired that about him. My favorite part was going to the interview. I think that the bond formed between us and Kermit would not have been as strong if we had not gone to his house. It was very interesting seeing his house. My least favorite part was transcribing. I didn't dislike transcribing but it was just my least favorite this to do. I found it very hard and I had to pause many times but I felt like I learned a lot at the same time. Next time I would want to be a lead interviewer. I feel like I could ask him even more follow up question and I feel like I would take even more out of this experience.