Review of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Review of 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad Written by Joseph Conrad on the eve of the century that would see the end of the empire that it so significantly critiques, Heart of Darkness is both an adventure story set at the center of a continent represented through breathtaking   poetry, as well as a study of the inevitable corruption that comes from the exercise of tyrannical power. Overview A seaman sat upon a tugboat moored in the river Thames narrates the main section of the story. This man, named Marlow, tells his fellow passengers that he spent a good deal of time in Africa. In one instance, he was called upon to pilot a trip down the river Congo in search of an ivory agent, who was sent as part of the British colonial interest in an unnamed African country. This man, named Kurtz, disappeared without a trace- inspiring worry that hed gone native, been kidnapped, absconded with the companys money, or been killed by the insular tribes in the middle of the jungle.As Marlow and his crewmates move closer to the place Kurtz was last seen, he starts to understand the attraction of the jungle. Away from civilization, the feelings of danger and possibility start to become attractive to him because of their incredible power. When they arrive at the inner station, they find that Kurtz has become a king, almost a God to the tribesmen and women who he has bent to his will. He ha s also taken a wife, despite the fact he has a European fiance at home. Marlow also finds Kurtz ill. Although Kurtz doesnt wish it, Marlow takes him aboard the boat. Kurtz does not survive the journey back, and Marlow must return home to break the news to Kurtzs fiance. In the cold light of the modern world, he is unable to tell the truth and, instead, lies about the way Kurtz lived in the heart of the jungle and the way he died. The Dark in  Heart of Darkness Many commentators have seen Conrads representation of the dark continent and its people as very much a  part of a racist tradition that has existed in Western literature for centuries. Most notably, Chinua Achebe accused Conrad of racism because of his refusal to see the black man as an individual in his own right, and because of his use of Africa as a setting- representative of darkness and evil.Although it is true that evil- and the corrupting power of evil- is Conrads subject, Africa is not merely representative of that theme. Contrasted with the dark continent of Africa is the light of the sepulchered cities of the West, a juxtaposition that does not necessarily suggest that Africa is bad or that the supposedly civilized West is good.The darkness at the heart of the civilized white man (particularly the civilized Kurtz who entered the jungle as an emissary of pity and science of process and who becomes a tyrant) is contrasted and compared with the so-called barbarism of the con tinent. The process of civilization is where the true darkness lies. Kurtz Central to the story is the character of Kurtz, even though he is only introduced late in the story, and dies before he offers much insight into his existence or what he has become. Marlows relationship with Kurtz and what he represents to Marlow is really at the crux of the novel.The book seems to suggest that we are not able to understand the darkness that has affected Kurtzs soul- certainly not without understanding what he has been through in the jungle. Taking Marlows point of view, we glimpse from the outside what has changed Kurtz so irrevocably from the European man of sophistication to something far more frightening. As if to demonstrate this, Conrad lets us view Kurtz on his deathbed. In the final moments of his life, Kurtz is in a fever. Even so, he seems to see something that we cannot. Staring at himself he can only mutter, The horror! The horror! Oh, the Style As well as being an extraordinary story, Heart of Darkness contains some of the most fantastic use of language in English literature. Conrad had a strange history: he was born in Poland, traveled though France, became a seaman when he was 16, and spent a good deal of time in South America. These influences lent his style a wonderfully authentic colloquialism. But, in Heart of Darkness, we also see a style that is remarkably poetic for a prose work. More than a novel, the work is like an extended symbolic poem, affecting the reader with the breadths of its ideas as well as the beauty of its words.

Here are 10 Good Trees Gone Bad

Here are 10 Good Trees Gone Bad Planting the wrong tree in the wrong place is a guarantee for future tree removal. Tree removal is, at best, expensive to buy and can be very dangerous if you decide to do it yourself - plus it is back breaking work. A lot of trouble and anxiety can be avoided by planting the appropriate tree in your yard to start with. Bad Tree Characteristics All trees have good and bad characteristics. It is a rare tree that will satisfy your needs throughout its entire life span. A tree can outgrow its original purpose very quickly or grow into its intended purpose very slowly. Understanding this concept is the key to proper tree planting in your yard. Ask yourself these questions when selecting a yard tree: Do I want a trees fruit and leaves to deal with as it matures? Am I willing to plant a fast growing tree but eventually have to deal with its constantly breaking and sprouting from roots? Do I have the space for a large and spreading tree? Trees People Regret Planting Here are ten trees that many homeowners have regretted planting. Think long and hard before planting these trees in your yard.Hackberry  - Although Celtis occidentalis is an important tree in regions where alkaline soils are problematic, it is a poor substitute  when other species are options. The tree has weak wood and messy in the landscape. It grows very large and hard to manage in the landscape. Norway Maple  - Acer platanoides was introduced into North Ameria over 200 years ago and has aggressively spread taking over native maple populations. The invasive nature of the tree degrades most landscapes over time. Silver Maple  -  Acer saccharinum is a maple with some of the weakest wood of the native North American maple. It  has a very short natural life and suffers continually from breakage and disease. Mimosa   -  Albizia julibrissin  or silk tree is a warm-climate invasive exotic and was widely planted for its beautiful flower and beauty in the landscape. It is subject to a major wilt disease and very messy in the landscape. Lombardy poplar   -  Populus nigra  Ã‚  is a North American exotic with absolutely no redeeming  features according to most horticulturists. It has been planted mainly as a windbreak but is short-lived and quickly loses even that ability. Leyland cypress  -  Cupressocyparis leylandii  has been widely planted as hedges over the last three decades. It is now out of favor to plant in all but the most expansive   landscapes. Planting them too close and a major disease makes them undesirable in the urban landscape.   Pin Oak  -  Quercus palustris is actually a very beautiful tree under optimal conditions. Like Leyland cypress, the oak needs a large area in maturity and is subject sensitive  to many soil  conditions common to many yards and landscapes. Cottonwood  -  Populus deltoides   is another weak-wooded tree, messy, massive and has an overwhelming spring shedding of reproductive parts. It still is a favorite  where trees are scarce. Willow  -  Salix  spp. is a beautiful weeping tree in the right landscape, especially in wetlands and near aquatic ecosystems. For these same reasons, it does not make a desirable yard tree because of the need for space and for its destructive tendency to destroy water pipes. Black Locust  -  Robinia pseudoacacia  has a place on our native forests, and even there can become invasive. This tree of thorns really has no place in a landscape enjoyed by visitors. It is also a heavy sprouter/seeder and can quickly overtake even large landscapes.

Characteristics of stratification system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Characteristics of stratification system - Essay Example Fifthly, the inequality distinction has certain levels which may be low in less advanced stratification system, high in systems such as caste and slave societies while a mild level exists in medium stratification societies (UVAWISE para.3). Ascription and achievement are means through which members of the stratification rise through the ranks to acquire a defined position in the society. While certain stratification systems emerge due to attainment, others are acquired by natural belongingness to a specific class of the society. For instance, a notion that slaves are likely to beget slaves may make it difficult to rise up the stratification system. Legitimation is the inherent consent and acceptance of the society that the leaders of the stratification system bear the apparent right to occupy higher statuses. In a power stratification system, for instance, members of the governed community have undoubted consent that those in positions of power, thereby donating legitimacy to their existence. Four social systems emerge from legitimation and they include elites, regimes, political economies and value systems (UVAWISE

First they killed my father Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

First they killed my father - Essay Example The memoir named ‘first they killed my father’ presents to the reader the history of khamer rouge terror in Cambodia through the story of a little girl from Phnom Penh who expresses the story in dreams and nightmares. In the beginning of the story, loung belongs to a family of three sisters and three brothers and life seems to be in good shape. Their father works in a good government office and their family is wealthy. In the whole book, the writer uses the theme of dreams and nightmares to bring out the clear insight in the understanding of ‘the terrible descent the family makes during and after the revolution in Cambodia’. She explains the experiences of her life as a child with minimal exaggeration and hence brings out the picture of the situation perfectly. During this period, the government is overthrown, their life gets to a turning point and the family is forced to move to a camp where they live with food rations and fear. Loung begins expressing the situation by a dream about food on New Year’s Eve and imagines about the death of a teenager named keav and dreams about the coming back of her Pa. In her dream, she views herself sitting alone on a table that is filled with all the types of foods she desires but she says she is afraid that the Khmer soldiers will take her food away(Ung,2000). In this dream, she passes the knowledge that in this period, the issue of food shortage is rampant and she explains that there are many deaths due to starvation. This kind of information from the memoir takes the readers emotion making the source more effective since the knowledge is more memorable (Howell & Prevenier, 2011). The memoir is written from the first person perspective and she draws the reader’s attention by the way she d escribes the struggles and pains that her family is going through. Memoirs can therefore be a good source of historical information since the person describes situations that

The Generation Gap Essay Example for Free

The Generation Gap Essay As generations come and go, they each possess individual values, attitudes, and goals that strike them apart from other generations. A gap has always been noted between the current generation and the others before it. Acting like a barrier, it keeps the different generations distinct. A number of factors play a role in the creation of this barrier. The previous generations have played a big role in shaping the newest generation by offering more help to them. Also, the newest generation seems to have developed a different attitude about and approach to life. My generations attitude about life is very unique compared to the attitudes of other generations. Laziness, selfishness, and greed have infected my generation. Since previous generations have made life so much easier for us, many do not truly appreciate it and take it for granted. Many lack the value of hard work and achievement. Also, they have this mentality that they can do anything they want without consequences or punishment. It seems many members of my generation are under this false illusion. This attitude sets a distinction between my generation and the others. The last key factor that makes my generation different is their open-mindedness. The older generation seems to be more closed minded to different ideas and viewpoints, while my generation seems to embrace them. The previous generations have stricter mindsets about intimacy, homosexuality and interracial relationships, they seem to stay strong to what values they have learned and stick with them no matter what, while my generation seems to question such values and learn to form opinions themselves. All of these elements show how different my generation is compared to other generations that came before us and how it is evolving from the previous ones.

Civil Disobedience: Are We Morally Obliged to Obey Unjust Laws? Essay

Are we morally obliged to obey even unjust laws? This moral question addresses what we commonly know as civil disobedience. In order to properly discuss civil disobedience and whether or not it is moral to disobey laws, we must first characterize civil disobedience. In Peter Singer's book, Practical Ethics he begins to characterize civil disobedience as arising from "ethical disagreement" and raising the question of whether "to uphold the law, even if the law protects and sanctions things we hold utterly wrong?" (Singer 292). Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay entitled Civil Disobedience that was published in 1854 in the collection of essays called Walden; or Life in the Woods. Thoreau first wrote of civil disobedience in opposition to the Mexican War, but his words still hold truth and meaning for us today. In Civil Disobedience Thoreau explains his ideas about government and whether or not we should obey laws that do not appear to the individual to be moral. Thoreau recognizes that there can be abuse to government, and simply because something is passed as law, does not make it right. He says: The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it (Thoreau 1). With civil disobedience, we are discussing government and the law, and if we should uphold laws, even when they are not morally right and how, if we are to go against the law, should we do that? We should not have to obey laws that are unjust, but we also must look at each individual instance where injustice is occurring and carefully determine how to act. Civil disobedience must remain civil and not become violent. If disobedi... ...ly enough said, that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made a man a whit more just; and by means of respect for it, even the well disposed are made the agents of injustice (Thoreau 2). Violence is hard to justify when discussing civil disobedience. The whole idea behind civil disobedience is that it is a way to bring attention to an injustice without causing harm to others. Bibliography # Singer, Peter.Practical Ethics. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press. 1993. # Thoreau, Henry David.Civil Disobedience and Other Essays. Dover Publications, Inc. Dover Thrift Editions. 1993 # The Sevagram Ashram. http://www.mkgandhi.org/sevagram/default.htm # People v Pitts. Michigan No. 186260. LC No. 95-003317. 1997. http://www.milawyersweekly.com/micoa/186260.HTM

Examples from placement

Whilst on my placement, there was a girl starting school full time; named Megan. Megan was why and reluctant to Interact with the other children, I noticed this and sat down next to her. To make her feel more secure, I tried talking to her In a calm voice. When listening to her, I was showing Interest In what she was saying, by positive facial expressions I made sure I gave enough time for Megan to think about her answer and if she answered correctly, I praised her to effectively boost her self-esteem and make her feel valued.However, she asked to participate in an activity that wasn't available, I calmly said in a slow voice â€Å"you are not allowed to do that†. When she kept asking, I reinforced my previous statement, to help her understand the boundaries expected of her. After she told me what games she enjoyed, I asked if she wanted to join in with the other children. Whilst asking her, I showed her pictures of the activities. Megan asked toxin the play-doe group, so I se tup an area for her.I introduced Megan to some of the other children, so she would feel more comfortable and welcome within the group.. Throughout the day, I was making sure Mean's needs were being met, for example asking her If she needed the toilet. I felt Like Megan was at an age, where she can Independently ask for the toilet, but to be safe I asked anyway. I needed to make sure that when asking her. I spoke clearly, so she could fully understand what I was asking and she could reply appropriately.I also, needed to make sure that she knew where things were, so she felt confident going herself. So I didn't lower Mean's self-esteem, I spoke to her in an assertive tone, if I had spoken to her in an aggressive manner it would have made her feel uncomfortable talking to me. For example â€Å"Can you please help the other children clean up? During my placement, there was a three year old girl, named Victoria. Victoria and family had just moved from Russia. Her parents could speak lit tle English and Victoria none.Very shy and reluctantly, she sat in the corner, playing by herself. I decided to have 1-1 time with her, and try to build a trusting relationship. I knew she was shy because she turned her body away from me and wouldn't make eye contact with me. Violator was obviously upset leaving her parents and feeling left out from the other children. In order for Victoria to understand me I spoke In basic minting to the picture of the sandpit, because she didn't understand English and it made it easier for her to understand which activities I was saying.When I gain some for her trust, she started using eye contact and more body language. By rubbing her eyes, I sat down with her and slowly and calmly asked what was wrong. She looked at me and said â€Å"tired†. I had to have her explain to me in more detail, so I showed her pictures of a bed and of possible activities she would enjoy. I made sure that I gave her enough time to reply, without interrupting and waiting patiently, or this could sibyl lower her self-confidence.She regained eye contact and pointed to the jigsaw puzzle. I taught Victoria a few basic words in English, by pointing to the object and waiting for her to repeat the word after me in English. When she repeated the word, I made sure I had positive facial expressions and body language, and praised her when she said it correctly. It was important that I used non-verbal communication, because it would affect her emotionally, by boosting her self- confidence and self-esteem and she would comfortable talking to me.If I made no effort to acknowledge she didn't know English, this would lower her self-esteem and make her feel isolated within the setting, because she wouldn't feel comfortable coming to talk to me and make her feel like she couldn't trust me. This means, she would have trouble communicating and interacting with the other children, and she wouldn't be able to tell me any problems she has; because of the lack of trust. To build our relationship further, in return, Victoria can teach me some words/phrases in Russian. This will allow us to have conversations in her language and she can feel more comfortable.

Marketing Environment Essay

Marketing is a organizational function and a collection of processes designed to plan for create, communicate, and deliver value to customers and to build effective customer relationship in ways that benefit the organization and its stake holders. Profits and other organizational goals are achieved by creating value for customers. The creation of value is the realization of benefits that exceed the cost of products, services or other items. One important concept in marketing is the idea of utility. Utility is the satisfaction received from owning or consuming a product or service. In a market sense, utility is the value that marketers intend consumers to attach to that marketer’s product or services. A need is a necessity to meet an urgent requirement. A want is a desire for something that is not essential. Furthermore, demand is the financial capacity to buy what a person wants, for that business’s brand of products or services through marketing activities such as advertising. A brand is a promise to deliver to consumers specific benefits associated with products or services. Marketing influences you as a consumer through your current and future career choices, and through the economy. Marketing extends to a variety of tangible and intangible items; they are products, services, people, places, causes, events and ideas. Marketing concept is an organizational philosophy dedicated to understanding and fulfilling consumer needs through the creation of value. Marketing concept mainly focus on customers relationship. Customer relationship created when businesses and consumers interact through a sales transaction of a product or service. It will refer to customer relationship management (CRM). Marketing functions are activities performed within organizations that create value for specific products or services. In terms of understanding all these theory, we started Butterfly Travel Agency Sdn.Bhd to gain experience and knowledge in marketing as practically. Marketing Environment Marketing environment is a set of forces, some controllable and some uncontrollable, that influence the ability of a business to create value and attract and serve customers. Many factors influence value creation and the nature of customer relationships, including factors that are external to the business. Internal marketing is the implementation of marketing practices within an organization to communicate organizational policies to employees and internal stakeholders. Internal marketing efforts are the business’s resources, including human and financial capital. The external environment of a business involves activities, such as supplier and customer actions, that occur outside the organizational functions of a business. External marketing can be implements into microenvironment and macro environment. Microenvironment (Porter’s Five Forces) The microenvironment includes these forces close to a company, yet outside its internal environment, that influence the ability of a business to serve its customers. A tool that helps determine the power of microenvironment of a business is Porter’s Five Forces of competitive Position Model. Porter analysis can assist a business with understanding the potential for new product development the attractiveness of a particular market segment or the potential to reduce costs of supply or distribution among many applications. Macro environment The macro environment includes societal forces that are essentially uncontrollable and influence the microenvironment of a business. The macro environment contains the following variety of sub-environments are economic, social and cultural, competitive, legal, political and technological.

Herrold essays

Herrold essays Herrold was the first person to broadcast radio entertainment to people on a regular basis. He was considered a broadcasting pioneer. In 1921 Herrold received a license as KQW. In 1949 KQW became KCBS in San Francisco Charles Herrold was born in 1875 in the Midwest. He was raised in San Jose and he went to Stanford University. He later moved to San Francisco and set up an electrical manufacturing company, but unfortunately the big earthquake hit in 1906 and everything was destroyed. He went to Stockton and taught at a technical college. He later returned to San Jose and he started the Herrold College of Wireless and Engineering. Herrold was very interested in inventing a radiotelephone system. He wanted to make something that would make him very well-known, and very rich. His inventions were not very original scientifically, built they did allow him to broadcast. He received six U.S. patents for this system that he and his students were using to broadcast. It is documented that Herrold was the first to have a radio broadcast station. This happened in 1910. There is a notarized statement made by Herrold that was published in the Electro-importing Company catalogue. It stated We have given wi reless phone concerts to amateur wireless men throughout the Santa Clara Valley. Herrold was very serious and organized about his job. He always had his equipment ready and everything he was going to say before they went on the air. The people listening would wait for it. In 1921 a historian for RCA was trying to say that there is no way that Herrold could be considered the first broadcaster because people who were ordinary citizens could not by radios until KDKA and therefore men like Herrold and de Forest were not really broadcasters because their audiences were amateurs, not citizens. However, Herrold is considered the first to broadcast to an audience on a regular basis. Herrold ended up dying ...

How to write a great two-page resume

How to write a great two-page resume For decades, there were some hard-and-fast rules about how you should write a resume: good-quality stationery, a rigid reverse-chronological format, only one page long. But as hiring and applying have changed over the past 10-15 years by going digital, so have those rules. What the â€Å"rule† now comes down to is this: your resume should be a lean, mean snapshot of your professional life. Most resumes are read either by robots or people using different devices, so the length is now much less of an issue. After all, an applicant tracking system doesn’t care how long your resume is- it cares about what’s in it. So let’s walk through some strategies for crafting a great two-page resume.4 steps to writing a long resume to get you hired1. Focus on content over lengthUnless you’re making an academic CV or an IMDB page, you don’t need to include everything you’ve ever done. That said, one page can feel like an artificial constraint. The happ y medium is expanding slightly to go in-depth where necessary (like your skills or your work experience) without having to obsess over fractional font sizes and margins that end up looking ridiculous. Tailor your work experience bullet points to the job you’re applying for now, including only relevant information.With two pages you have a bit more space to play with, but you should still give careful consideration to which elements you want to include. For example, two pages may give you more space up front to craft a significant summary statement instead of a pithy one-line objective. Use your extra space to make your narrative even clearer.2. Use the extra space to your advantageToo much white space can make a resume look skimpy, but some white space is also key for readability. Even if your resume goes through automated system to identify it for further rounds of review, it will (ideally) make it to a pair of human hands at some point. This means it has to be functionally good, but also presentable. Use your two pages to create a clear outline, with well-defined bullet points that are concise and easy for any reader to follow.Resumes that look like solid bricks of text often end up in the â€Å"I don’t have time for this† pile, so an eye-catching, highly readable format will help you position your resume well. Remember that the average hiring manager spends mere seconds looking at a resume to start, so you want to grab and keep attention any way you can. Boosting readability is an easy way to do this.3. Make your resume a cohesive documentYou don’t need to put your full contact info on each page, but it’s not a bad idea to include page numbers in a footer or a header, with your email address on the second page. That way, if your resume gets printed but the pages are somehow separated, the reader won’t be left mystified about why your work experience suddenly leaves off in the middle of 2015.4. Make sure you’re telling a storyYou’re asking the reader to stick with you through more than one page of text, so it’s important to stay on message and make sure you’re using every inch of that space to sell yourself. Start your resume by setting a clear message (again, a summary statement or an objective really helps here), and make sure that every section of your resume supports that story.A two-page resume is an opportunity to expand on your experience and achievements, and declutter your crowded one-page resume. As long as you pay careful attention to what you’re including and how, it can be a great asset for your job hunt.

Assignment 1: Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tasks of HR Managers - Essay Example It covers numerous areas of the human resource like recruitment, performance, and compensation among others. Designing HR strategies refer to formulating ideas, which will make an organization achieve its goals (Graham, 2010).   A Human Resources manager, director, or generalist plays many roles in an organization (Leatherbarrow, 2010). Basing on the size of the company, these HR jobs, might have overlapping duties. In larger organizations, the HR manager, generalist, or director has clearly defined and separate roles in HR management. These duties or responsibilities bring extra responsibility and authority in the hands of the HR manager, then the director, and eventually, the Vice President who might lead several departments such as the administration. HR managers, and occasionally HR directors, oversee numerous different departments, which are each led by specialized or functional HR staff such as the compensation manager, the training manager, or the recruiting manager. Human R esource managers are supporters of both the company and the persons who work for the company. Therefore, a talented HR professional conveys a constant balancing performance to meet both needs productively (Martin, 2010). Therefore, HR managers should have full choice in implementing and designing HR strategy. There is an ever-present jeopardy that the idea of strategic HRM can become somewhat nebulous, meaning pleasant to have but difficult to realize. The risk of creating a rhetoric or reality gap is heightened. Broad and habitually bland statements of strategic intent can readily be created (Mayo, 2011).  Ã‚