January 15 – Heart of Darkness

1. January 15 – Heart of Darkness Agenda: • Impressionism • Example • Notes • “Old Chief Mshlanga” • Discussion Questions • “The White Man’s Burden” • TPSFASTT & RQ’s • Reading Time Goal: • Make sense of the beginning of the story • Introduce impressionism in literature Take out: • Notebook • Pen/Pencil • “Making Sense…” Worksheet • Supplemental Reading Packet Homework: • Read to the break on page 82 • Complete the 2nd Journal Entry

2. Impressionism in Lit • Answer the first two questions on the worksheet when you see the image on the following slide • Answer the remainder of the questions after seeing the full image

4. Monet- The Boat Studio

5. Impressionism in Lit • The term Impressionism was derived from Monet’s painting ‘Impression: Sunrise(1873). • The word was used by the unfriendly art critic Louis Leroy to describe the group, meaning that the paintings were unfinished and lacked details and laborious work that traditional artists had done. • The term has been adopted in an alternative sense to describe the visual experience that was transitory and rapid: the Impression stamped on the senses. • The impressionist style centers on the mental life of the characters by observing their impressions or sensations instead of interpreting their experiences. • Impressionistic writing often implies a response to an event or subject rather than describing the actual feelings that are evoked. • Allows the reader to form his or her own ideas as to what the writer is trying to convey, as opposed to the writer telling outright how he or she sees and feels about a subject.

6. Example • “The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway. In the offing the sea and the sky were welded together without a joint, and in the luminous space the tanned sails of the barges drifting up with the tide seemed to stand still in red clusters of canvas sharply peaked, with gleams of varnished sprits. A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. (p.65)”

8. “Old Chief Mshlanga” – Reading Questions • To what extent does the narrator represent the whites’ view of Africa? • Why is language emphasized in the story? • Does the narrator recognize the complexity of her position? • What does the narrators characterization of the landscape suggest? • How do you respond to the narrator’s thoughts about her “heritage”? • What is the message about colonialism/imperialism?

9. Write down your thoughts: • Complete a brief image analysis • What do you see in the image? • Given your understandings of imperialism and orientalism, comment on the picture here • What does it do? Explain using visual evidence

10. “The White Man’s Burden” • Written by Rudyard Kipling (author of the Jungle Book, Captain Courageous, and The Man Who would be King) in 1899 • George Orwell called him a "prophet of British imperialism". • Literary critic Douglas Kerr wrote: "He is still an author who can inspire passionate disagreement and his place in literary and cultural history is far from settled. But as the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognized as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced. That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with."[ • Continues to receive both praise and criticism for “The White Man’s Burden” • What is the subject of this poem? • Who is the audience (who is the author speaking to)? • Characterize the speaker. • What is the speaker’s attitude towards the subject (tone) and how what words/phrases help determine this tone? • How is the “white man” characterized by the speaker? • What are some of the “duties” the speaker says must be done? • What is the “White Man’s Burden”?

11. The White Man’s Burden