Wang AP Lit

         Heart of Darkness has a seemingly simple plot. After all, the novel chronicles a sailor who travels along the Congo River into the heart of Africa. As he does so, the sailor Marlow faces various tribulations, which include repairing his damaged ship and defending himself from fierce African natives. The novel is centered around finding–and meeting–Mr. Kurtz, who is supposedly a charismatic and skilled tradesman. While Marlow succeeds in completing this task, he is disappointed by the selfish, mad Mr. Kurtz he finds and he eventually returns to Europe in order to continue Mr. Kurtz’s legacy. Conrad’s novel does not contain elaborate family dramas and other backstories, as have other novels I have read. Yet the beauty and ingenuity of Conrad’s masterpiece lies not within his plot itself but within his descriptions. His prose is rich in imagery and characterization, and effectively conveys his purpose: to argue that colonization of Africa corrupts the hum...

To any nonwhite person: “Where are you from?” To an Asian: “Are you good at math?” To an African-American: “Do you want to play football when you grow up?” In the United States, minority groups are often asked these types of questions known as micro-aggressions. A micro-aggression is defined as a subtle but offensive comment or action directed at a minority or other nondominant group that is often unintentional or unconsciously reinforces a stereotype. Though not as traumatizing as blatant displays of racism, micro-aggressions can oftentimes be tiring and hurtful when one experiences many of them on a daily basis. As our society becomes increasingly diverse and connected, many people have become outspoken about their experiences with micro-aggressions to raise more awareness about preventing them. In her short story “Jumping Monkey Hill,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie focuses on the stereotypes and micro-aggressions that native Africans experience. Adichie chronicles the fictional exp...

        In his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor , author Thomas C. Foster once said, “Sometimes a meal is just a meal, and eating with others is simply eating with others. More often than not, though, it’s not.” In literature, the act of eating and food itself can be used in a multitude of different ways that go beyond simply providing nourishment to the characters on the page. According to Foster, eating meals can often symbolize acts of communion and can represent close relationships of trust between characters; conversely, family dinners that go awry convey mistrust and tension and even the breakdown of familial ties. Other times, authors use food to assign a sense of identity to their characters. This is frequently the case in stories that focus on the immigrant experience. We are always exposed to food, and food represents an consistent aspect of our constantly changing lives. We find comfort in eating familiar foods, and eating familiar foods transp...