Best of the Week: Frame Narrator

I think that one of the best discussions we had this week was about the frame narrator in Heart of Darkness. I found it to be really interesting how we talked about what the implications of a white, European frame narrator, and how that impacted the way the novel was written. I think that the fact that Marlow and Conrad were both white and previously exposed to European prejudices is extremely influential in the opinions presented in the book.

Thinking about Marlow as a free black European was extremely difficult, because (based on the book) we don't know much about how blacks viewed their African counterparts, but I think that this idea was very important. It made me think about the implications of this novel and the effects they can have on students across the world, and throughout time.

For example, how could the travels of a prejudiced man who penned a novel have affected the people in Little Rock several decades ago have viewed the colored students that came to their school? I also thought that the point Sam made during our discussion was very valid: would anyone have payed attention to Marlow (as a part of Conrad) had he not been a white European?

Overall, I think that Marlow is really an extension of Conrad, and therefore Conrad forced what he knew onto Marlow; for all we know Marlow should have been a black European, or a white who wanted to understand the Africans. Conrad's opinions and ideas are clearly shown through Marlow, and had Conrad been anyone else, Marlow would not have existed.