Creative Blog 1: Technology and Conrad

Technology is what allows some to feel superior to others. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the Europeans believed that they were superior and more civilized than the Africans. This was not because of their race, but because they were able to overpower the Africans. And the reason the Europeans were able to overpower the Africans is because the Europeans had more advanced technology and weapons. The Europeans had large ships and guns while the Africans only had row boats and knives. Had the technologies been switched, there would have no way for the Europeans to defeat the Africans and the Africans may have even attacked and enslaved the Europeans. Even today, it comes down to which countries have the most powerful weapons. Once one country had nuclear weapons, then the other countries started getting them too so that they could compete. But all of this technology doesn't really help anyone in the long run. There is a book called Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody that takes place a few hundred years after nuclear weapons have essentially destroyed the planet, making certain areas uninhabitable and causing mankind to regress back to the use of horses and candle light. A girl asks her old friend about the Beforetimers, referring to those who lived before the nuclear destruction. The man responds by saying, "'tis my feeling they was just mighty clever people--too clever for their own good," (Carmody 128). Humans really are too clever for their own good. Most of the grief, death, and destruction in the world is caused by things and technologies that humans themselves invented such as cars and guns. Humans survived thousands of years without these things and they do more harm than good, not just to humans, but also to the environment.

Conformity and Kafka Essay Introduction Paragraph

Conformity, whether good or bad, is a part of everyday life. There are two types of conformity: unconscious or conscious. Conforming without realising that you are conforming is more dangerous because you believe that you are contolling your actions when, in reality, you are being influenced by another force. Being forced to do something does not mean that you are conforming; conformity happens when you do something unconsciously that follows a certain trend, or when you do something because you feel pressured. Kafka and Conrad both explore conformity in abstract ways, taking it to the extremes.

Conformity and Kafka

There are two main forms of conformity. One is when you don't want to do something, such as smoking or drinking, but you do it anyway in order to fit in with a certain group of people. The other is when you do something without realizing it, such as dressing a certain way, because you have been influenced or pressured. The second is much more unconscious than the first. Gregor demonstrates the second because his family is what pressures him into working as hard as he does. In Heart of Darkness, the Europeans conform to the wilderness and freedom of Africa. This is also more like the second type of conformity because the Europeans did not mind giving up their civilized ways and they did not even realize that they were doing it. The Europeans continued to believe that they were helping the Africans become more civilized; Marlow is the only one who seems to realize how much the Europeans have actually conformed to savagry. The Europeans conform and then they go to extremes; similarly, Gregor also conforms to his society and goes to the extreme by turning into an insect.