English Extension Prelim Flashcards
Colonialism
Overview of Colonialism
The practice or policy of acquiring land for the purpose of extending empires, and exploiting the land and resources for economic gain.
The Belgian Empire
Overview of Colonialism
1901-1962
Colonised the Congo to monopolise the ivory industry, but under the facade of the “white man’s burden”.
“White Man’s Burden”
Overview of Colonialism
Western nations saw themselves responsible for civilising Indigenous peoples of other nations, regarding their lifestyle savage.
This was often performed through churches, missionaries and other institutions being established to assimilate Indigenous people into the white Christian way of life, resulting in oppression and eventual loss of culture.
The British Empire
18th-19th century
To place the surplus of convicts, the colonists established a strong colony in Australia and the Indigenous peoples suffered greatly under the empirical rule. Deemed “terra nullius”, the Aboriginal Australians were regarded as part of the flora and fauna in consensus.
Links to “white man’s burden” → caused generational trauma from horrific massacres and misdeeds such as the Stolen Generations, in which the deemed superiority of Europeans and Christianity resulted in children being stolen from their families and an irreversible loss of culture.
The Journey
Narrative Elements
- Key structural element to establish a setting of constant movement and change, causing the characters to adapt to said environments and investigating man vs nature
- Presents both physical journeys and mental journeys as the characters shift to follow their changing settings
- Changing environment brings true nature into question
The River
Narrative Elements: Heart of Darkness
Sense of place, liminal, symbolic of form and structure + framing narrative of Thames links to journey through the Congo.
The Bush
Narrative Elements: The Tracker
The impenetrable/unreadable nature of the Aussie bush lends the Tracker power as the colonialists are considerably out of place, the bushland being far removed from English landscape and conditions.
Vastness hghights the insignificance of a man’s race.
Marlow
Character Study: Heart of Darkness
- Moral grounding point of the story who aims to impart the message that we must confront ugly truths
- Encompasses the hardworking, decent everyman but is changed through th journey and haunted by the shade of Kurtz
- Admires and is loyal to Kurtz (adherence to colonial regimes) and does not tell Kurtz’s Intended of his misdeeds (refusal to apologise for colonial injustice)
- Antithesis of Kurtz for being eager to leave while Kurtz fears being taken away; feeling sympathy while Kurtz kills; disliked by the company that worships Kurtz; remaining sane while Kurtz falls to madness
Kurtz
Character Study: Heart of Darkness
- A microcosm of the white man’s failure in Africa: he goes equipped with the finest technology and the highest philanthropic ideals and ends up injuring and killing that Africans and stealing their ivory
- Shows the consequences of inadequate self-knowledge: if you aren’t aware of the darkness within you, you won’t know how to fight it if you ever need to
The Russian
Character Study: Heart of Darkness
- “That man has enlarged my mind.” → Innocent and morally blind to Kurtz’s evil
- Comparable to the Follower for surviving in the “heart of darkness” through innocence but having blind obedience towards a cruel figure
- Herd mentality
The Manager
Character Study: Heart of Darkness
- Initial reverence of Kurtz becomes disapproval when he poses a threat to the company
- Represents objective morality as he has strong beliefs of what is right and wrong
The Tracker
Character Study: The Tracker
- First face of the Indigenous community: exploited and “educated” by white Australians (Stolen Generation)
- Seemingly docile “civilised” black who blithely echoes his companions in their scorn for his race.
- The Tracker is notably aware of white Australian culture, such as Christianity which he mentions at several points in the film. This likely links him to the Stolen Generation, who were relocated to mission and institutions to be reeducated and civilised according to British values.
The Fugitive
Character Study: The Tracker
- Second face of the Indigenous community: the violent, criminal and barbaric
- European stereotype of Indigenous people
- Unseen for majority of the film, remaining an elusive figure with an apparent connection to the land for being able to remain ahead of the search party.
- Faces Indigenous justice (revealing the civilisation of Indigenous communities)
The Fanatic
Character Study: The Tracker
- First face of the white Australian community: continues to be dominating and oppressive.
- “Today’s rightwing-neo-nazi”
- Encapsulates European ideals to assimilate + subdue Indigenous ‘criminals’
- White superiority
- It is notable that despite having knowledge and understnading of the Indigenous relationship with the land, he does not respect it
The Follower
Character Study: The Tracker
- Second face of the white Australian community: younger and more open to understanding the injustice.
- Representative of naivety → our ideals are shaped by society
- Begins with minimal voice, but slowly gains perspective over the course of the journey.
- Character is highly linked to the symbolism of his ukelele, which represents his innocence and ignorance
- Liberal: supporting change and equality
- Points gun at Fanatic: loss of innocence and turning to violence to achieve his means
- Irony: used of violence (similar to the Fanatic) to achieve the opposite
