Thoughts on Students’ Papers on Conrad and His Contemporaries

How does Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness relate to and explain the relations between Europe and the rest of the World in the late-19th century? Analyze the novella using at least 7 contemporary documents and photographs as context. What specific links can you make between the documents from the period and the novella itself.

1.         Quotes as proof.

            a.         The longer the quote the more you need an extended analysis (usually following the quote) to state how it relates to your argument.

            b.         Indent and single space long quotes (more than 3 lines)

            c.         Words are important to show how Conrad means one thing and a contemporary means something similar or different:

                        i.         so quote, but quote sparingly the bit that relates directly to the comparison.

                        ii.        Importance of Conrad’s words in Heart of Darkness. Some papers were good on context, but no quotes from the novella. Why not?

                        iii.       Retell only those parts of the narrative that fit your argument; your retelling is part of your proof, not needed to prove you read the book.

            d.         If you quote, quote exactly.

2.         Assertions and evidence. If asked for evidence or quote for proof, that doesn’t mean I don’t think your argument might be correct. It means you have provided any basis for it in the paper.

            a.         Racism, greed, etc. should not just be asserted but should be rooted in specific examples.

3.         Ultimately, the question of whether or not imperialism was a “good thing” is an important question, but not one you can answer meaningfully in 5 pages. Focus on what you can prove (the relation between Conrad and his contemporaries; the relation between critiques and defenses of imperialism, the relation between the theory of imperialism and real processes in Conrad’s and others’ words from the period).

            a.         the evils, necessary evil, or the “great good” of imperialism in the long run is not something for which you have a lot of evidence one way or the other (“in the long run, we are all dead” as John Maynard Keynes wrote)