Heart of Darkness

These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the novel.

Personal Response Prompt

What are your first impressions of Marlow when you meet him in the frame story? What seems to have changed about him since he was a young man? Is either version of Marlow the kind of person with whom you would personally enjoy talking? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: Students should be able to pull details from the story’s frame narrative and from the opening of the main narrative to demonstrate that Marlow has changed significantly from the days of his youth. Ask them how his views about the absurdity of morality and imperialism and colonialism seem to have changed. If students answer this question early in their reading of the text, they can predict what might have changed Marlow during his time in the Congo. If they have read a substantial amount of the text, they can draw causal connections between horror and despondency and the changes in Marlow’s personality. Answers to this question can also open a discussion about how a reader’s reaction to a narrator shapes their reception of a text.

Post-Reading Analysis

Even today, there is substantial debate about whether Heart of Darkness is a racist text. Where do you see evidence that Conrad is trying to be anti-racist? Where do you see evidence that the text treats indigenous Congolese peoples as less human than European peoples? Is Heart of Darkness a racist text?

Teaching Suggestion: Prepare students for this question with the understanding that “racism” does not necessarily mean direct statements of one race’s superiority or inferiority: racism in a text can be manifested in subconscious choices of description, detail, and language, even in a text that is trying to point out the barbarity of imperialism and colonialism. It might also be helpful to discuss with students the difference between Conrad’s perspective and Marlow’s—for instance, ask whether Marlow or Conrad seems to most clearly see the absurdity of morality. Create a standard for the discussion that either includes or excludes the piece's historical context, because students can spend a substantial amount of time debating what was or was not considered racist in 1899.

Helpful links:

• an NPR interview with Chinua Achebe on his feelings about Heart of Darkness
• an insightful and detailed New Yorker article about this controversy
• Culture.pl’s nuanced discussion of Conrad’s dialogue