Amaya's seminar!
Homework:
1. Finish your outline for Thursday's critiques
Possible avenue for literary analysis: "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Elliot and HoD and Apocalpyse Now
The poem begins with two epigraphs: one is a quotation from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness remarking on the death of the doomed character Kurtz. The other is an expression used by English schoolchildren who want money to buy fireworks to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day:
The poem is narrated by one of the "Hollow Men." (Is Marlow a "hollow man"?)
In the first section of the poem, a bunch of Hollow Men are leaning together like scarecrows. Everything about them is as dry as the Sahara Desert, including their voices and their bodies. Everything they say and do is meaningless. They exist in a state like Hell, except they were too timid and cowardly to commit the violent acts that would have gained them access to Hell. They have not crossed over the River Styx to make it to either Heaven or Hell. The people who have crossed over remember these guys as "hollow men".
Homework:
1. Finish your outline for Thursday's critiques
Possible avenue for literary analysis: "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Elliot and HoD and Apocalpyse Now
- This poem might be useful for some of your analyses of Heart of Darkness-- especially those of you examining what the heart of darkness actually is. Another option would be to do an analysis of characters in the novel as comparison to the hollow men in this poem. Is T.S. Elliot critiquing the men in HoD through this poem? Which men? Which aspects of society? Is Conrad? So in case you might be down with that, here are some points to consider in interpreting this poem.
- Dark message: If you aren't going to be a good person, at least be a really bad person and get yourself all the way to hell. How does this relate to Heart of Darkness?
The poem begins with two epigraphs: one is a quotation from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness remarking on the death of the doomed character Kurtz. The other is an expression used by English schoolchildren who want money to buy fireworks to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day:
- The English celebrate Guy Fawkes Day every November 5th with fireworks and the burning of little straw men or "effigies."
- Guy Fawkes was convicted of trying to blow up King James I in 1605 by stashing gunpowder underneath the Parliament building. The incident is known as the "Gunpowder Plot." But Fawkes and the gunpowder were discovered before the plan went off, and Fawkes gave up the names of his co-conspirators under torture.
- To celebrate Guy Fawkes Day, English children ask for money to fund the explosions of their straw effigies of Fawkes, so they say, "A penny for the guy?" "Guy" being his first name. You can read more about it here.
- But there's more. According to Ancient Greek mythology, a person who died would need to pay Charon, the ferryman, with a coin before he would take you across the River Styx into the realm of death. So the "Old Guy" also refers to the ancient figure of Charon. Apparently, someone is begging for a "penny" to give the ferryman to get across the Styx.
The poem is narrated by one of the "Hollow Men." (Is Marlow a "hollow man"?)
In the first section of the poem, a bunch of Hollow Men are leaning together like scarecrows. Everything about them is as dry as the Sahara Desert, including their voices and their bodies. Everything they say and do is meaningless. They exist in a state like Hell, except they were too timid and cowardly to commit the violent acts that would have gained them access to Hell. They have not crossed over the River Styx to make it to either Heaven or Hell. The people who have crossed over remember these guys as "hollow men".