57 pages • 1 hour read
Joseph ConradA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Irony can be tricky. Irony puts tremendous responsibility on the reader. It juxtaposes multiple incongruous realities in the hopes that the reader will perceive what often the characters themselves do not or refuse to. The difference between what the characters perceive and what the reader understands creates irony.
Although the story is constructed on Conrad’s stinging critique of European colonialism, that criticism escapes both Belgians within the narrative, and it is up to the reader to note the significant differences between what the Belgians profess and the reality of their outpost life. Neither Belgian moves toward the sort of epiphany that would indicate they have come to terms with the hypocrisy of the European occupation of central Africa. Despite their privileged position as emissaries of Western civilization, they are lazy, incompetent, unfocused, and entirely self-involved, none of which they actually understand about themselves. They see themselves as the white men able to direct the operations of the outpost when in actuality the entire outpost is under the de facto guidance of Makola, who, despite his fawning nature with the white men, loathes them and sees them as comically inferior.
By Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim
Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad
Nostromo
Nostromo
Joseph Conrad
The Secret Agent
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
The Secret Sharer
The Secret Sharer
Joseph Conrad
Under Western Eyes
Under Western Eyes
Joseph Conrad
Victory
Victory
Joseph Conrad
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