"The Heart of Darkness"

I found this week’s reading to be a very interesting read. “The Heart of Darkness” is a literary work that I believe will be timeless.  I know if I was to read the story again and again something new would stick out to me. The images and symbolism within “The Heart of Darkness” is what allows its reader’s to find meaning in the decisions the author Joseph Conrad makes. “The Heart of Darkness” can represent civilization, savagery, darkness, power and many other ideas that have an effect on meaning behind the story itself. “The Heart of Darkness” is a novella that I encourage be exposed to all students in their high school years. Even part of the story would create very meaningful and intellectual conversations.

In class on Thursday we were assigned to read articles that were different literary criticisms. I thought this task was going to be very tedious and not useful. After starting and completing the activity with others in class my thoughts were definitely changed. Through our readings and discussion I was able to hear even more details of the stories that did not stick out to me in the beginning. The criticisms of others can make you think even more about the ideas and meanings represented in “The Heart of Darkness.”

Fiction Findings!

               At the start of the semester I had no idea what to expect about EN234 Intro to Fiction. I would soon learn though. Through EN234 I have learned more about fiction then I could every imagine. I found many of the readings that were assigned very interesting and new to my reading list. Many of our readings definitely placed a twist in the average readings any person would complete.

For example I would have never read stories such as "A Rose for Emily", "Metamorphosis", or our classes very first reading " Bluebeard." Each piece of literature was a twist in my mainstream thinking of fiction. Most often I believe people think of happy endings and fairy tales when they hear the word fiction. A person hears fiction and thinks fake or not real. In many cases it can be a super extreme but in others it could almost a person reality.

In the different readings through this midpoint in the EN234 semester I would say the most shocking discovers I have come to find are the large differences in how fiction has been created over the years. Their has been a lot of new readings and the understanding of fictions history that has been very enjoyable and expanded my thinking on the many possibly genres that can fall under fiction.

I would say the most surprising thing learned so far in this semester happened right at the start of the readings assigned in class. The idea of our first readings "Bluebeard" and "A Bloody Chamber" being considered a fairy tale completely blew me away. Everyone knows fairy tales would never consist of such horror and violence. Until a person takes the time to learn and understand the possibilities of fairy tales and fiction they will never know that their understandings of a genre can change in a instant.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" ---> Close Reading

Close Reading of Edgar Allan Poe's  story "The Tell-Tale Heart"

Poe writes, "And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage." (Poe 729)

In  Edgar Allan Poe's writing you can see madness everywhere. Reading the paragraph above shows that the man in Poe's story is completely insane. The man tries to cover up his insanity by convincing himself and the readers that he is not crazy. The fact that he tries to do that and tells us that it is a over-acuteness of the senses proves he has lost his mind. This man hears the quick, dull, low sound that he says he knows well. How can you know a heart beat well? The lune the man is would have to of listened to the heart of the old man over and over again while it was still alive to know that you can hear it still beating. The beating of the dead heart as if a watch shows Poe's theme of clocks with in his works and how the heart "continues on" after being dead as time will if a watch is to stop. The very sound that gives person life torments the man to have enraged fury as if a large drum encourages a solider. The emphasis on the repetitive sound shows the unbelievable comparison back to the haunting beat of the old mans heart. The man will never be the same even if he is away from the old mans heart. The beating will continue just as time will . Thump...Thump!!

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart" 1843. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction. Ed. Ann Charters. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 727-731. Print.