Heart of Darkness #6.1

Although Kurtz's painting is meant to represent justice, with the woman bringing light and seeing everything equally since she is blindfolded, Conrad uses it as an ironic symbol. It can be assumed that Marlow would disagree with the painting's intended meaning because of the frequent sarcasm that he uses to tell his story. In the context of the story, the woman no longer represents justice, but she instead represents the white Europeans who are taking over Africa and enslaving the natives. The Europeans claim to be bringing light, knowlege, and civilization to the darkness and, in some cases, may actually believe it. The woman in the painting who represents the Europeans is blindfolded, meaning that the Europeans do not realize and see the true evil nature of their actions. Furthermore, the sinister look that the light casts on the woman's face reveals that although the Europeans believe they are doing good by enslaving the Africans and "civilizing" them, they are in fact bringing out their evilness and increasing their savagery.

Heart of Darkness #2.1

Marlow starts off with an account of London in old times because he wants to compare London to Africa. He does this by saying that England used to be uncivilized just like Africa and, and so the Romans colonized England just like the English colonized Africa. The civilized cultures always think that it is their duty and their right to "civilize" the ignorant and less capable cultures. The civilized cultures think that they know what is best and so they ignore the protests of the cultures they are destroying.

Tone/Mood

Tone is shown through diction and is very important in a poem because it influences the poem's mood, which in turn influences the reader's interpretation of the poem. For example, in "Daddy" by Slyvia Plath, the tone is very resentful, bitter, and regretful. Grasping the poem's tone and mood prevents misunderstanding the poem. Because of the tone in this poem, it is made clear to the reader that this is a very serious poem and allows the reader to understand the speaker's inner struggles.

Diction

Diction, or an author's choice of words, influences the sound of a poem, which influences the poem's tone, which influences the poem's mood and the reader's interpretation of the poem. In Ozymandias, for example, the author starts off by using very delicate words, such as "antique" and "sculptor," which gives the poem a feeling of remembrance and thoughtfulness. Then, when the king is quoted, the words become stronger and a tonal shift occurs. The words in the quote connote power and dominance, which affect the tone. But then the words become quiet again in the last few lines, emphasizing time's subtle dominance over everything, even things as mighty as King Ozymandias.

Imagery/Figurative Language

In the poem "Pondering," E.E. Cummings, uses such vague language that it is difficult for the reader to decipher what he really means, but the reader is still able to obtain clear imgages from the author's descriptions. For example, "motheaten forum" (2) is an example of imagery because it paints the picture of a very old, dusty, neglected place and contributes to the setting of the poem. The personification of the stone is an example of figurative language because stone cannot literally cling to anything, but it implies a desperate and pitiful state.

Poetry Sounds

The sounds in "To an Athlete Dying Young" reflect the melancholy mood of the poem and the progression of the athlete's life from happy and glorious to sad and peaceful. Words in the first two stanzas, such as "cheering" and "high" sound somewhat grand and positive, and therefore depict the athlete's life However, words in the following stanzas, such as "whithers," and "fade," have more melancholy, yet peaceful sounds and relfect the sadness and sense of helplessness towards the athlete's death. In "Ozymandias", the sounds are, generally, very delicate, such as in words like "antique," "wrinkled," and "sculptor." However, the sounds change when the author quotes King Ozymandias. They change into stronger and demanding sounds. The sounds that words such as, "king," "look," and "mighty" make reflect King Ozymandias' strength and power, but the rest of the poem's delicate sounds reveal how fragile the king's empire and statue really were compared to time. Both poems have a majority of softer sounds, but there are tonal shifts, in which the sounds of the words also change.

Theme/Symbols

Themes are present in both Pride and Prejudice and Hamlet, but more so in Pride and Prejudice. However, symbols are not used very much in either story. In Hamlet, the poison is a reoccuring symbol and represents death, since it was used to kill Hamlet's father, Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. In Pride and Prejudice, the only real symbol is Pemberley, which represents everything that Elizabeth could have and claims not to want, meaning that she could have all of the wealth, but she would also have Mr. Darcy.
The main themes in Hamlet include death and indecisiveness. Hamlet constantly deals with these themes throughout the play. In terms of death, not only does he have to face his father's death, but he also has to face his father's ghost along with the deaths of Polonius, Ophelia, Gertrude and himself. Because of his indecisiveness, Hamlet suffers consequences, such as being killed himself. He tries the entire play to make up his mind about what to do about Claudius and while he tries to do that, the other characters get killed. Had he killed Claudius sooner, it would have at least spared the lives of Polonius, Gertrude, and Laertes. Hamlet's indecisiveness, however, is what keeps the play going and teaches the moral of the story which is that you should make up your mind sooner rather than later. In Pride and Prejudice, the themes include marriage, love, and social class. During the entire novel, Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with marrying her daughters and entire novel is in fact based on marriage: will Jane marry Bingley? Will Bingley marry Ms. Darcy? Will Elizabeth marry Mr. Collins? Will Charlotte marry Mr. Collins? Will Elizabeth marry Mr. Darcy? Will Mr. Darcy marry his cousin? Will Mr. Wickham and Lydia get married? etc. From the theme of marriage comes the theme of love, which revolves mainly around Elizabeth who, unlike the other characters, except maybe Jane, wants to marry for love. She struggles between marriage, which helps her family and love, which helps herself, because it seems that she cannot have both, like when Mr. Collins proposes. The other theme is social class which plays a very prominent role in who will marry who. The Bennets are below Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, mainly because of Mrs. Bennet, and that fact is exploited by Mr. Bingley's sisters, who represent the worst of the judgemental society. Despite their social inferiority, however, both Elizabeth and Jane manage to marry for love and get wealth at the same time.