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    Use of Narrative Technique in Heart of Darkness

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    faisal jahangeer
    Joseph Conrad used a frame narrative technique in Heart of Darkness, influenced by medieval storytellers. This involves one narrator introducing a story which is then narrated by another character. In Heart of Darkness, the first anonymous narrator introduces Marlow, who then narrates his journey down the Congo River. Marlow's narrative is divided into three chapters that end on cliffhangers about his encounters with the elusive Kurtz. After each chapter, the first narrator takes back over the story. Conrad used this technique to explore themes of imperialism and the human capacity for good and evil.

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    Use of Narrative Technique in Heart of Darkness

    Uploaded by

    faisal jahangeer
    2K views2 pages
    Joseph Conrad used a frame narrative technique in Heart of Darkness, influenced by medieval storytellers. This involves one narrator introducing a story which is then narrated by another character. In Heart of Darkness, the first anonymous narrator introduces Marlow, who then narrates his journey down the Congo River. Marlow's narrative is divided into three chapters that end on cliffhangers about his encounters with the elusive Kurtz. After each chapter, the first narrator takes back over the story. Conrad used this technique to explore themes of imperialism and the human capacity for good and evil.

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    Joseph Conrad used a frame narrative technique in Heart of Darkness, influenced by medieval storytellers. This involves one narrator introducing a story which is then narrated by another character. In Heart of Darkness, the first anonymous narrator introduces Marlow, who then narrates his journey down the Congo River. Marlow's narrative is divided into three chapters that end on cliffhangers about his encounters with the elusive Kurtz. After each chapter, the first narrator takes back over the story. Conrad used this technique to explore themes of imperialism and the human capacity for good and evil.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    2K views2 pages

    Use of Narrative Technique in Heart of Darkness

    Uploaded by

    faisal jahangeer
    Joseph Conrad used a frame narrative technique in Heart of Darkness, influenced by medieval storytellers. This involves one narrator introducing a story which is then narrated by another character. In Heart of Darkness, the first anonymous narrator introduces Marlow, who then narrates his journey down the Congo River. Marlow's narrative is divided into three chapters that end on cliffhangers about his encounters with the elusive Kurtz. After each chapter, the first narrator takes back over the story. Conrad used this technique to explore themes of imperialism and the human capacity for good and evil.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Use of Narrative Technique in Heart of

    Darkness
    Joseph Conrad used frame narrative in Heart of Darkness under the influence of the
    medieval tale telling poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Boccaccio. The device
    of frame narrative which is also known as narrative within narrative has become one
    new technique for Conrad to narrate his story to the readers.

    Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)


    The narrator in this technique does not involve himself in the events, but keeps
    himself at a distance so as to observe all the accounts of the characters and delivers it
    to us. The two narrators go on describing the events one after another, interweaving all
    the incidents. In frame narrative, one narrator makes frame by introducing and
    explaining the events at the beginning, then handing over the narrative to another
    narrator and at last again resuming the narrative himself. The first narrator remains
    apart, but still he is with the crew members and is one of them.
    In Heart of Darkness the first narrator remains anonymous and according to some
    critics, the anonymous narrator is the author himself. So, in that sense, Conrad is the
    first narrator and he narrates in such a way that sometime his identities merge with the
    second narrator, Marlow. The first narrator's introduction gives entry to the central
    issues that Marlow is going to deal with in the rest of his narrative: the gloomy role of
    the city as a center of civilization, the nature of imperialism, an individual's ability to
    explore one's mind and reach to the core of the subconscious. The author has
    excellently used poetic language to give the clearest view of physical setting and the
    effects of outer setting to the inner landscape of Africa.
    The whole narrative is divided into three chapters and it is interesting that the each shift
    from one chapter to another ends in the crucial moment in Marlow’s approach to Kurtz.
    At the first break, Marlow just hears about Kurtz and becomes eager to see him thinking
    that he might be an idealist. From this point, the narrative is carried further by Marlow.
    At the second shift, he becomes too curious about Kurtz just before discovering about
    his real truth. This, each pause and shift have significant value in the narrative
    demanding listener’s attention and their reaction upon the incident. From here, the rest
    of the responsibility of the narrative is taken by the first anonymous narrator.
    According to Edward Said in his book titled Joseph Conrad and the Fiction of
    Autobiography, 1966, p viii, Conrad has used ‘retrospective method’ to convey what he
    could not mediate upon at the time of the experience. In the course of the narrative,
    Marlow moves back and forth to introduce past in order to understand the present and
    the interrelationship of past and present.

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