Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer

by CliffsNotes, Daniel Moran (Editor)

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format. In CliffsNotes on The Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer, you come to understand how each of these stories deals with the "dark side" of the human character. Heart of Darkness is a journey up the Congo River to where an ivory agent, Kurtz, has succumbed to human weakness and evil, and has disintegrated into a grotesque creature. The Secret Sharer is an allegorical examination of a timid man who struggles to stifle the more physical and dangerous part of himself. Eventually, he resolves this duality and becomes more daring—and, therefore, more complete. This concise supplement to Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer helps you understand the overall structure of the novels, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. Features that help you study include Classic literature or modern-day treasure—you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Genres: Classics

97 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

CliffsNotes is the original (and most widely imitated) study guide. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful while reading both stories. But sometimes I really have trouble swallowing this symbolic stuff. I mean (paraphrasing some stuff on The Secret Sharer):

Leggatt's hair is black and came out of the water. And the scorpion died in black ink. So the scorpion represents Leggatt and tells us that Leggatt is violent and nasty, just like the scorpion.

Yeah, right. Some of the other stuff I can believe, but how much of this is what the author really intended, and how much is the critic/analyst simply making up?

Someday, someone reviewing Tom Clancy's oeuvre will state:

The thug in this scene is explicitly using hollow-point bullets, which represent his "empty headed" lack of education and thus his unimaginative response to the situation, and also foreshadows the death of the politician a chapter later in the meteorite crater (or, as T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men would phrase it: "under the twinkle of a fading star"). Recall Clancy's political prejudices: he notoriously believed that all politicians are stuffed shirts, ergo hollow!

Really, I love Cliff's Notes, because they point out stuff I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. But ya gotta take this stuff with a grain of salt.

 

[CA Ram Melam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading a notes like this will always throw us contrapuntal insights on the main story. We must read book like this very plainly. It always needs a contrast.

[Ilenuca · Rating 3 out of 5]

i only read the part about 'heart of darkness' and i found it very useful and made me appreciate joseph conrad even more.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are reviewing the "notes", not the book or movie

I could not stand reading or watching anything about Vietnam for about 10 years. I eventually watched the movie “Apocalypse Now" I found it interesting but it did not relate to anything in the central highlands. Later I saw "Pork Lips Now" and could relate this to the movie. Finally, someone told me that the whole thing was based on "Heart of Darkness”. So I decided to read the book. I found it fascinating and much better than the movie. However, I could not see the forest of trees and needed some help in showing me what I was looking at. Because I was not in some school class, I turned to the "Cliffs Notes" Of course my views don't match the notes exactly but they gave me some questions to ask and showed me the forest. The notes include:
· Life of the Author
· Introductions to the Novel
· Lists of Characters
· Brief Plot Synopses
· Summaries & Critical Commentaries
· Critical Essay
· Suggested Essay Topics
· Selected Bibliography
Later I found a movie that was much closer to the original story,
"Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988)

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERY useful for side by side reading of the novella - I would highly recommend this for the first reading of HOD. This was not my 1st reaidng though, and I felt a bit frustrated at times at the scantiness of this resource.

[iris Smyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Conrad.

[Sridatta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely need this

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, but nothing spectacular.