Conrad and Calvin dealt with the extreme trauma of losing Buck in the accident. These two characters exhibited their emotion in 2 very different ways. Conrad sought to return to his past matured self while Calvin sought to find himself over again with the new absence of his wife. These two characters have mirrored expectations for the future because Conrad wants to return to his past state of being while Calvin wants to start new in the hopes of enjoying a time like the past. Calvin and Conrad’s equal desire for a better future is similar, but also different due to the point each is in their lives. Conrad was a very studious and popular person before the accident that resulted in his depression. This past is what Conrad pursues. He does not
Based on Conrad’s character in the movie, he could be described as having more of an intuitive grieving style. This style of grieving utilizes more of the affective domain and uses little of the cognitive (Martin & Doka, 2011). For the intuitive griever, grief is characterized by the experience of painful feelings. The feelings of guilt and sadness were those that Conrad experienced the most. After
Conrad even starts talking to Jeaninne a lot sooner in the movie then in the book. She helps him overcome his depression. Seeing Dr.Berger also helped him with his depression. He helps him decide to quit the swim team, and that makes him less stressed, but it happens at different times in the book and the
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness explores the intellectual, emotional and moral growth of characters throughout the novella. This character growth has been a recurring theme in literature, with the poet William Blake, among many others, exploring theories of the movement between innocence to experience. Although Conrad does not strictly address character growth in this manner, characters that do and do not undergo psychological growth are portrayed quite differently. Those who undergo these psychological changes are portrayed favorably, that is Marlow, the frame narrator, and Kurtz. These characters throughout the novel undergo significant change, for some it is gradual
Regarding psychological functioning, Conrad is under the vicious cycle of depression. His brother’s death led him to adapt a negative explanatory style. This in turn resulted in his depressed mood and cognitive and behavioral changes. He also believes that he has disobeyed his parents and does not deserve their forgiveness or affection (1:09:38). Conrad lives with a sense of guilt, not only for attempting suicide, but for things he had no control over (ex. Karen’s death). From a socio-cultural approach, Conrad depression worsens due to his unstable relationship with his mother, along with other relationships in his life. Throughout the movie, we clearly see that Conrad’s mother does not understand the severity of Conrad’s mental state. She frequently believes that Conrad is fine and wants their lives to ‘get back to normal’ (0:24:37). She believes Conrad’s mental health is a phase that can be fixed by simply being harder on him. The movie also takes place in a time where discussing mental health is taboo. Mental illness was significantly less common and thought to be a touchy subject. Throughout the movie, we can see that people do not know how to approach the Jarretts about Conrad’s state and frequently stumble through conversations or do not understand the situation (0:22:14; 0:31:52; 0:48:05). This plays a part in Conrad’s depression because he feels he can’t talk to or relate to anyone
Literature is never interpreted in exactly the same way by two different readers. A prime example of a work of literature that is very ambiguous is Joseph Conrad's, "Heart of Darkness". The Ambiguities that exist in this book are Marlow's relationship to colonialism, Marlow's changing feelings toward Kurtz, and Marlow's lie to the Intended at the end of the story.
He is definitely feels guilty for the accident even though he couldn't do anything to try and prevent his brother’s death. He definitely went through the bargain stage before everything and is now going through it once again. Conrad is really hard on himself. He punishes himself because he thinks that if he is punished enough, he won't feel bad. Conrad feels guilty and responsible for the death of his brother even though, there is nothing he could have done better to save him. He is similar to his father in that he feels responsible and
The emotional agony that Conrad experienced following the death of his brother almost led to his end. The conflict inside of Conrad is only the beginning of his suffering. The emotions that engulf one's mind can swallow them up and eat them from the inside out. They demand to be felt, but the management of the emotional conflict has been just as important. For example, when the Jannett family is together to take family photos, including the grandparents, the disconnect between Conrad and his mother are clearly visible to the naked eye. After being asked to take a picture with her son, Beth hesitates, violently insisting a different photo to be taken in order to avoid accepting and showing the increasing disconnect between her and her son. Siting and watching, Conrad struggles internally to decode the intentions of the scene depicted in front of him before he burst into an outrage. Initially, Conrad practiced silence in the form of withdrawal. Thus, he situated himself in the isolated window chair. The actions of his mother spoke to him in the sense that she hated him, wishing to have nothing to do with him. The silence remained silent until he burst with rage, projecting the instructions of his father for the camera to be given to his emotionally silent mother. Conrad rested on the assumptions he formed based not only on his mother’s current action, but passed actions as well, to reveal what he
He was used to live in his brother’s shadow, but when the boat accident happened to them, he was the only one to survive. As he was always indentifying himself the less important one, he considered it was wrong that he was the one who would still have a life. As a result of nervous breakdown, he tried to kill himself with cutting his wrists in the bathroom, fortunately his father found out and save him. Then he went to the psychiatric for four months. When he comes back, there are still issues he needs to deal with.
The stages of grief are demonstrated in Conrad’s relationships with his family and friends. Conrad has experienced depression and a suicide attempt in response to his brother’s death. At the beginning of the book, Conrad is going through the first stage of grief, which is shock and denial. Conrad’s father, Cal, worries about Conrad’s mental health and gives him the name of a therapist. However, Conrad does not call him. Cal believes that Conrad, “ ought to stick with the plan --’” (13) However, Conrad “can’t [because he] is swimming every night…[He doesn’t] need to see anybody. [He] feels fine’ (13). Conrad is uncomfortable talking about the death, and seeing a therapist would require him to talk. Conrad is afraid to feel his emotions. He thinks if he just avoids thinking about his brother’s death, he will be okay. The second
Berger, "She loved my brother, too. It's just me"(120). He concluded that Beth could not love him because there was something wrong with him. After the big fight that Conrad had with his parents, he revealed to his father his opinion of Beth's feelings for him. Conrad tells him, "All right, then. She hates me"(114). Because Conrad felt that there was something wrong with him, he did not know how to react to situations nor did he know when to express his feelings. For his Christmas present, Conrad's parents and grandparents bought him a car. His response to this extravagant present was, "Yeah, okay… Thank you both, it's beautiful really. It's terrific"(126). He was not overly excited, as one should be, on receiving such an extraordinary gift. He was not quite sure how to act, so he repressed all of his feelings. In an early conversation with Berger, Conrad said, "What I'm doing here is that I had to come"(41). This proves that Conrad was in denial of his psychological state and foreshadows Conrad's severe state of depression. Conrad repressed all of his feelings and emotions. He told Berger, "I don't feel anything"(98). Later on in the conversation, Berger told Conrad that the "Only way you're ever gonna get to know him [the guy in the closet] is to let him out now and then."(100) This alludes to the fact that Conrad repressed his feelings and was extremely depressed. All of these factors led to
In a conversation with psychiatrist Dr. Berger Conrad is asked who does most of the worrying and he answers "My father, mostly. This is his idea." When asked about his mother he says "She's-I don't know, she's not a worrier." Clearly Conrad thinks that his mother doesn't care about him. Conrad also goes on later to say, "My mother and I do not connect."
Chalk-faced, hair-hacked Conrad seems hell bent on continuing the family myth that all is well in the world. Their initial sessions together frustrate Dr. Berger because of Conrad's inability to express his feelings.
"Restraint! I would have just as soon expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst the corpses of a battle," comments Marlow as he questions why the hungry cannibals aboard his steamer hadn't gone for the white crew members (Conrad 43). "The glimpse of the steamboat . . . filled those savages with unrestrained grief," Marlow explains after recalling the cries of the natives seeing the steamer amidst a brief fog lift (Conrad 44). "Poor fool! He had no restraint, no restraint . . .a tree swayed by the wind," speaks Marlow of a slain helmsman amidst an attack by tribal savages (Conrad 52). "Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts," says Marlow a few moments after he tells of his first glimpse of
In both Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex, their respective authors depict race and ethnicity as complicated and intertwined subjects that constantly inspire discrimination against those of different races and ethnicities. In Heart of Darkness, Africans are depicted as inferior to the Europeans, but even the Europeans have differing castes depending on their nationality. In Middlesex, the same applies. While technically white, the Stephanideses are Greek and thus foreign and inferior to Americans. To overcome this, they become more American, both voluntarily and involuntarily.
Chinua Achebe, a well-known writer, once gave a lecture at the University of Massachusetts about Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, entitled "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Throughout his essay, Achebe notes how Conrad used Africa as a background only, and how he "set Africa up as a foil to Europe,"(Achebe, p.251) while he also "projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization."(Achebe, p.252) By his own interpretations of the text, Achebe shows that Conrad eliminates "the African as a human factor," thereby "reducing Africa to the role of props."(Achebe, p.257)