Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Flies (Heart of Darkness)


". . . big flies buzzed fiendishly, and did not sting, but stabbed." (88)

Flies appear throughout Marlow's journey countless amount of times. Conrad has flies symbolize death (as do many other things.) Some refer to the devil as "Lord of the Flies" because whenever someones life is ended, flies appear. On the occasion of a slaves death, as well as Kurtz's, Joseph Conrad makes a point to include flies in these scenes.

http://www.westopthebugs.com/images/DrainFlyLg.jpg

1 comment:

  1. make sense ....a question: what do you think of the use of the word efficiency in conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS?

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