Heart of Darkness is filled with paradoxes. I though the word “paradox” meant “a popular belief, a universal truth” but I was wrong. According to Princeton (haughty haughty) a paradox is “a statement that contradicts itself”. For example, when Marlow says he is “tired of resting” (p.70) we can say it is a paradox because being tired of resting beats the purpose of resting in the first place.
Or is it irony?
Princeton defines irony as being an “incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs”, so if Marlow rested he expected to be revitalized but ended up getting tired of that too it would be irony. If I look at the types of irony I don’t see this fitting in any of them but at the same time it stand pretty close to each without really stepping fully inside of a definition.
Another example of this paradox/irony comes in the phrase “the serenity became less brilliant but more profound” (p. 66). Since we’re talking about seamen I find it appropriate to point out how this immediately made me think of the sea. In shallow waters everything is vibrating, all the tiny little rainbow fish are friendly and you can see them even form the surface but one you go deeper, you can’t see much and you’re skin is covered in goose bumps but once a big, gray eagle ray swims by it makes sense you’d submit to the shivering and the boredom. The contradiction comes in as the “serenity” loses some qualities but gains others of a completely different nature and manages to remain serene.
The reason I don’t feel satisfied no matter how much I read is how Conrad takes a simple phrase and turns it into a never-ending philosophical debate between me and myself. As you look at every single bit closer you find that a single idea branches off in a million directions that have branches of their own which give me headaches.
~wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
miércoles, 23 de marzo de 2011
lunes, 14 de marzo de 2011
Greyscale
I’m going to make a confession: my book is highlighted all over. This means I can see what whoever did it was seeing that moment and certain patterns are created slowly. I complement the pink ink with notes of my own, little piece of paper stuck everywhere with arrows that point here and there bringing ideas together.
What I noticed upfront was the insistent appearance of dark, darkness, gloom. He describes the end of the world as being “the colour of lead, a sky the colour of smoke” (68). The image that comes to mind of a windy sea drawn in pencil, it brings to oneself a feeling of and infinite space lacking of promises. A sailor must feel like that when he is at sea, surrounded by a capricious mass of water millions of times bigger and stronger than he is.
In the middle of a very grey and dark environment Kurtz manages to find a speck of light. As Marlow begins to speak he describes the light brought about by the Romans “We live in the flicker- may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday” (68). I chose to interpret light not only as life, but as knowledge as well. The Romans were the imposers of great quantities of civilization in their time and I think Marlow refers to their ability to sail- they sailed around the world conquering here and there, bringing light through the water.
The River Thames is also mentioned to be a connection between men, a mean that brings all men together under the same goal and the same passion for discovering and therefore sailing. A boat filled with light making its way across the water waiting to arrive and break the darkness that was there "just yesterday."
What I noticed upfront was the insistent appearance of dark, darkness, gloom. He describes the end of the world as being “the colour of lead, a sky the colour of smoke” (68). The image that comes to mind of a windy sea drawn in pencil, it brings to oneself a feeling of and infinite space lacking of promises. A sailor must feel like that when he is at sea, surrounded by a capricious mass of water millions of times bigger and stronger than he is.
In the middle of a very grey and dark environment Kurtz manages to find a speck of light. As Marlow begins to speak he describes the light brought about by the Romans “We live in the flicker- may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was here yesterday” (68). I chose to interpret light not only as life, but as knowledge as well. The Romans were the imposers of great quantities of civilization in their time and I think Marlow refers to their ability to sail- they sailed around the world conquering here and there, bringing light through the water.
The River Thames is also mentioned to be a connection between men, a mean that brings all men together under the same goal and the same passion for discovering and therefore sailing. A boat filled with light making its way across the water waiting to arrive and break the darkness that was there "just yesterday."
Don't Tell My Momma I'm on It
Some say adrenaline is the best of drugs but I beg to differ: catharsis is.
When I discovered there was a word for it I was so happy I forgot to buy the book it took me an hour to find. I wondered what catharsis would look like to I could get it tattooed, so I could draw it all over the place and show the world the reason I read, the reason I like theatre and dense movies.
I used to try to share my romance with film but failed every time because when the credits rolled I heard no passionate sigh in the room but mine and once again the classic “I’ll pick the movie next time, yes?” It was heartbreaking and my hopes of sharing my obsession with certain lyrics or tiny book quotes went down the drain because there was no way of putting into my own words what true artists hadn’t been able to- hence said quote or said lyrics.
But there it was, an entire galaxy of mute frustration conquered by nine letters and three syllables.
When I discovered there was a word for it I was so happy I forgot to buy the book it took me an hour to find. I wondered what catharsis would look like to I could get it tattooed, so I could draw it all over the place and show the world the reason I read, the reason I like theatre and dense movies.
I used to try to share my romance with film but failed every time because when the credits rolled I heard no passionate sigh in the room but mine and once again the classic “I’ll pick the movie next time, yes?” It was heartbreaking and my hopes of sharing my obsession with certain lyrics or tiny book quotes went down the drain because there was no way of putting into my own words what true artists hadn’t been able to- hence said quote or said lyrics.
But there it was, an entire galaxy of mute frustration conquered by nine letters and three syllables.
ROFL
Comedy is what I live for.
I eat, sleep and brush my teeth with it.
When I get home I eat and then sit on the computer and watch stand-up comedy until I don’t find any of it funny anymore and so I give up and do homework. That’s where I’m at right now by the way.
When I heard all I had to do was blog about comedy I though It’d be an easy job but then I realized I didn’t know where to start, there’s so much to say about it!
To me the beauty of humour is that it is completely inexistent. You can’t write something that everyone’s going to find funny because “funny” is a concept that changes from one person to the next. Being funny is the hardest of jobs because it requires complete control over the language you are speaking and the culture you are living in. It is mandatory to have a connection with the audience you are dealing with so they’ll understand why what you are saying is funny and you have to trusts their brains to be okay enough to see the pun or understand the twist.
You laugh at something because most likely you just reduced a complex concept into a simple one, because you had enough information to grasp what the speaker was saying, because you thought you were the only one or because a huge coincidence just happened. Next time you laugh at something, try to think why you laughed at it and I’m sure the answer won’t some easy.
I have a mania of questioning simple things to the point I annoy myself, I decided form now I won’t share my queries with nobody but myself… and Google.
I eat, sleep and brush my teeth with it.
When I get home I eat and then sit on the computer and watch stand-up comedy until I don’t find any of it funny anymore and so I give up and do homework. That’s where I’m at right now by the way.
When I heard all I had to do was blog about comedy I though It’d be an easy job but then I realized I didn’t know where to start, there’s so much to say about it!
To me the beauty of humour is that it is completely inexistent. You can’t write something that everyone’s going to find funny because “funny” is a concept that changes from one person to the next. Being funny is the hardest of jobs because it requires complete control over the language you are speaking and the culture you are living in. It is mandatory to have a connection with the audience you are dealing with so they’ll understand why what you are saying is funny and you have to trusts their brains to be okay enough to see the pun or understand the twist.
You laugh at something because most likely you just reduced a complex concept into a simple one, because you had enough information to grasp what the speaker was saying, because you thought you were the only one or because a huge coincidence just happened. Next time you laugh at something, try to think why you laughed at it and I’m sure the answer won’t some easy.
I have a mania of questioning simple things to the point I annoy myself, I decided form now I won’t share my queries with nobody but myself… and Google.
Conspiracy
It was hard for me to understand what was going in this act as I sleepily read through and found no landscape in the tone of the story to keep me aware that something important had just happened. Usually I can get away with doing my reading when It’s late and I’m tired because I can just follow through an pay attention when something sounds (inside my head, I don’t read out loud) important, but with Chekhov’s little people yelling at the most unimportant details and ignoring the most heartbreaking of stories it’s not easy to see when something really matters with eyes half-closed.
I was thinking maybe Chekhov did it on purpose: a conspiracy against drained students.
Not really, but what he did do on purpose was try to hide the most shocking parts of his play within the play. As an audience we follow the character’s lead to understand a story but when they lead us away from emotion and into boredom it can get a bit strange. As realistic at Chekhov’s writing is, I don’t think that as a real person I’d ever be able to hear a story like Charlotta’s and let it slide just like that- I may be an awful person but I’m not all screws and tin. I’ve been trying to think why he would intentionally make his play boring and all I can come up with is lame and predictable “he’s trying to mirror real life and life is uninteresting and so are we blah blah” blah.
I’ll keep thinking about it I promise.
I was thinking maybe Chekhov did it on purpose: a conspiracy against drained students.
Not really, but what he did do on purpose was try to hide the most shocking parts of his play within the play. As an audience we follow the character’s lead to understand a story but when they lead us away from emotion and into boredom it can get a bit strange. As realistic at Chekhov’s writing is, I don’t think that as a real person I’d ever be able to hear a story like Charlotta’s and let it slide just like that- I may be an awful person but I’m not all screws and tin. I’ve been trying to think why he would intentionally make his play boring and all I can come up with is lame and predictable “he’s trying to mirror real life and life is uninteresting and so are we blah blah” blah.
I’ll keep thinking about it I promise.
Cheer Up Chekhov
Chekhov is a jerk… in a good way. Whenever I think of him the image I get is that of a bitter old man, very smart, but an outcast. He seems to me like one of those who at family gatherings sit silently in the corner and watch as they mentally reduce everyone around them to drooling, synchronized mice. An arrogant a**hole who you don’t really want anything to do with in fear of falling captive of his excruciating judging, but then again there’s no use in complaining about his personality when every time you try to take a stab there’s a hard concrete wall that in big white letters remind you Chekhov is infinitely smarter than you… and to him you are nothing.
But that’s just me.
By reading his work you can see he doesn’t think highly of society and what stings the most is that those shallow, dull, dumb characters he lays in front of you actually remind of this or that person. What truly had me devouring the pages was the semi-psychotic search for which of the characters I fit into. Was I the uppity maid? The self-victimizing peasant? The shapeless child?
Chekhov interests us because it bring a certain discomfort we can’t our finger on, I started off thinking it was a boring old-people play but then I saw the twisted eye behind it and I liked it.
But that’s just me.
By reading his work you can see he doesn’t think highly of society and what stings the most is that those shallow, dull, dumb characters he lays in front of you actually remind of this or that person. What truly had me devouring the pages was the semi-psychotic search for which of the characters I fit into. Was I the uppity maid? The self-victimizing peasant? The shapeless child?
Chekhov interests us because it bring a certain discomfort we can’t our finger on, I started off thinking it was a boring old-people play but then I saw the twisted eye behind it and I liked it.
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