Heart of darkness literary analysis
~Literary Analysis: Heart of Darkness~ FORM, STRUCTURE AND PLOT: The novel is organized into 3 parts. The story is told through the protagonist reminiscing about an experience of his. The story is not told in chronological order:: The protagonist narrates a story to the “frame narrator”. So we go from the protagonist telling his story at some time after the main plot events to the events he describes. And then we come back to the protagonist narrating. Therefore, the story’s narrative is “framed” by those 2 sequences. There is a bit of foreshadowing in the novella, but it is not very clearly displayed as such. There are a few parallel events-such as the first authors description of the Thames waters as he is about to embark on a journey. He describes it appraisingly before we hear Marlow’s narrative. When Marlow’s narrative ends, he describes the same waters as dark, gloomy and heading into darkness. The plot, when looked at literally is fairly simple. Marlow takes command of a steamboat in the Belgian Congo, and meets Kurtz, a man widely talked about. He learns of the atrocities Kurtz has committed, and sees the sick man die from disease.