Reading Worksheet:
"Heart of Darkness," pp. 129-58 After you finish reading "Heart of Darkness," write a paragraph in response to the following question. I will collect this worksheet on Wednesday but will not grade it.
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1. What does Mr. Kurtz mean when he cries out "The horror! The horror!" (p. 147)?
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Extracts from resulting paragraphs; these could later be used as part of an in-class invention exercise to generate paper topics:
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1. "He was looking back on his life and thinking about his many defeats and terrors--what they led him to: materialism Everyone is led to it."
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2. "He ws face to face with death, and [it was not] a pretty picture. Kurtz knew pain and hate and the horrors of the world. That was the only comment fitting for him as he realized this and died."
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3. "[H]e has popped out of his craziness and realizes what disaster he has wreaked on upon these people."
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4. "Mr. Kurtz, who was powerful, feared death and was horrified at the fact that death could overpower him. Kurtz, who had many accomplishments, felt that his life was in vain because at the end death took over."
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5. "Kurtz...says 'The horror! The horror!' because what he is seeing and realizing about life, his and in general, is not good."
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6. "He is describing the horrible treatment of the natives by the colonists. He finally sees that he and Marlow are mixed up in mistreatment of people no [worse] than themselves."
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7. "He finally saw the light...he finally understood all he had been doing and the terror and horror of its effects."
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8. "He obviously was terrified/haunted by something toward the end of his life. He knew he was about to die and at that moment imagined 'some vision' and cried out."
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9. "The life he lived as a journalist, he truly didn't want to go back to it. His conscience was catching up with him from the past ways he used to get information for his articles."
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10. "Kurtz had a certain control and he knew it. He became ill and could not achieve all he intended in his life. I believe this was the reason he cried, 'The horror! The horror!' He also saw many miserable sights and felt he was trapped in darkness."
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11. "He can't believe there's nothing he can do but wait for death to find him. Kurtz can't handle the fact he's not powerful enough to overcome death."
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12. "He is speaking of the horrors he has seen in himself, the horrrors he has seen in the heart of the jungle and the horror he has seen in humankind. He is speaking of the horror of death and the horror of living. He is able to make this statement because he is reflecting back on his life itself just as his has reached the end."
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13. "After his slow death and miserable life, he's looking back and wants to put an end to the horror. He wants to leave the darkness."
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14. "I think Marlow thought kurtz had looked at the darkness in himself, the world and others and saw 'The horror! The horror!' It was part good, part bad."
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