"This is the reason I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He
had something to say. He said it...He had summed up—he had judged. The
horror!" (70)
"'The last words he pronounced was—your name.'"
I raised my head. he offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and
the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed
sombre under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an
immense darkness. (77)
There it is. The most
studied book in American college and university.
From this moment on, you'll begin to recognize all the references to the
story that are around you—Donald Trump himself has been compared to Kurtz (William was ahead of that curve). It has never stopped resonating. I thought
last night: fifteen years after its publication, World War One began. It
made what King Leopold did to the Congo look like a tea party. And it
was a war waged by men just like Kurtz and Marlow: the best and
brightest of Europe. The same thing would happen in World War Two.
Vietnam was the brainchild of the graduates of the greatest centers of
American intellectualism, the Ivy Leagues. George W. Bush, who gave us
The War on Terror and torture (sanctioned by Harvard educated lawyers),
was a Yalie and Harvard Law School graduate. Barrack Obama,
a graduate of Columbia and—surprise—Harvard Law School, refused to
indict the architects of the Bush policy of "enhanced interrogation"
(they violated international law), and has widened the scope of drone
attacks, killing thousands. And the New York Times reported back when I last taught this book that the US enlisted a thousand former Nazis, including those involved in extermination, as spies,
hiding this program until...well, now. Now where does that heart of
darkness start? What Conrad saw so clearly was that the architects of
one of the most horrible genocides in recent history were men like
Kurtz—a poet and painter and musician, a good and moral man. Did the
wilderness drive him mad? Was it his hollowness? What was it that turned
him to the darkness? (Hmm...shades of Star Wars there perhaps)
1. So what is "The Horror" that Kurtz utters on his deathbed?
2.
Why does Marlow lie to The Intended at the end? Marlow expects the
heavens to fall on his head—but nothing happens. This is an act of mercy
to the devastated woman—but it is also a terrible lie that allows her
to think Kurtz was a good and moral man, the man she knew. Should Marlow
have told her the truth?
3. What's the last paragraph of the story mean? What's its effect as the end of this tale?
In one of your answers above please quote. Write a couple hundred words, okay? And finally, as a preview of our viewing of Francis Coppola's free adaptation of the book, here is a clip from Apocalypse Now, starring Marlon Brando as Colonel Walter Kurtz, soldier gone rogue in Vietnam, and Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard, soldier turned assassin.
See you all tomorrow.
1. Right before Kurtz dies, Marlow observes "I saw on that ivory face the expression of somber pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror- of intense and hopeless despair." As Kurtz is dying he is feeling all of these innate human emotions, and perhaps gaining some greater understanding of the emotions and himself. If we believe in the idea that this 'jungle experience' brings out "the heart of darkness" in man, then maybe as Kurtz is dying he is seeing the true nature of man (as something terrible) and he is horrified by it. The entire story gives a sense that Marlow is look for something. He doesn't understand himself or the world around him. Why is colonialism going on? Why does he feel these intense emotions in the heart of the jungle? Marlow, along with almost everybody else in the story, seems to believe that Kurtz has some understanding of the answers. If Kurtz truly does have some understanding of the answers to these difficult questions of life (or even if he simply thinks he has the answers), that vision may lead him to see dark truths about his life and the world.
ReplyDelete2. There are a few possible reasons that Marlow lied to woman. obviously, this lie makes her feel better, and it solidifies her perception of Kurtz as a good, intelligent man. Another possible reason is that Marlow thinks he has some understanding of Kurtz that the woman doesn't have (which is probably true). Perhaps Marlow thinks that if he had told the woman the truth, it would have only made her sad, and she still would not have understood Kurtz's true 'essence'. Even though every character seems to have a similar (and obsessive) understanding of Kurtz, Marlow thinks that he sees something deeper than other characters.
I think that lying was the right thing to do. This way she feels more connected to Kurtz and more loved. If Marlow had told the truth, she would have felt all the same emotions of grief, but also would have had to deal with doubts about her relationship with Kurtz.
3. The last paragraph compares Marlow's position to Buddha. This imagery gives the sense that Marlow is a person who shares immense wisdom about the truth of life. As the narrator grasps what Marlow has said, his perception of the world is suddenly darkened. It does not matter where he is going (both in a geographic sense and a metaphorical sense), it seems that he is headed towards darkness. Clearly, the idea that the world is defined by the dark nature of human beings is a depressing thought. As Marlow gained greater understanding of himself and the world, he grew more depressed and dark.
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ReplyDeleteKurtz, in the moments before his death, mutters aloud that he is “lying here in the dark waiting for death.” But as he dies, Kurtz’s expression looks “as though a veil had been rent,” exposing him to a “supreme moment of complete knowledge.” Here, Kurtz, for the last moments of his life, escapes the implicit ignorance that “the dark” casts him in, the “deceitful flow from the heart of impenetrable darkness” that Marlow described earlier, and sees the truth of humanity’s existence and nature: “The Horror!” Marlow elaborates later on: “his stare… was wide enough to embrace the whole universe, piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness. He had summed up- he had judged. ‘The horror!’” Kurtz, throughout his experience in Europe and in Africa, has seen atrocities and holocausts committed by both himself and others, and now, on his deathbed, looks back on his life and those of others and sees humanity as having a heart of darkness.
ReplyDelete“Repeat them,… I want-I want-something-something-to-to live with,” the Intended asks Marlow after he accidentally reveals he had heard Kurtz’s last words. She then cries “I loved him!” Marlow hates liars, but in this case, where lying might mean forcing the woman to live with nothing, if she lives at all. Marlow claims that he didn’t tell her because doing so “would have been too dark, too dark altogether.” Here, Marlow suggests that by telling her, he would just be adding to the inhumanity that Kurtz had seen, adding to the darkness. He would have destroyed that “inextinguishable light of belief and love” that rests on the woman’s forehead, the symbolic last refuge of humanity’s hope, the hope that maybe humans can do good. And by doing that, Marlow doesn’t just keep the hope that humans can do good alive, he does good himself- he lets the woman live, held to her belief.
The last paragraph, where the “tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky- seemed to lead into the heart of immense darkness,” contrasts with the narrator’s initial description of the Thames at the beginning of the book. There, he imagines the heroes of the British Empire being borne out to sea in order to take to the far ends of the earth the “spark from the sacred fire… the dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires.” Over the course of the novel, Marlow has changed the narrator’s view; no longer does the narrator see imperialism as a glorified jingoistic adventure, but rather for an arduous trek into the worst of human nature. This change in mood is also reflected in the overbearing darkness the narrator sees at the end, while at the beginning he was only looking at London, the “lurid glare under the stars.”
1. I think that in his moment of death Kurtz has an epiphany. This is a common notion, that just before we die we make some great discovery, figure out the answer to the question (whatever that may be) by reliving our life in an instant. Marlow wonders: “Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge?” (69). So perhaps Kurtz does relive his life, and he finally sees “the horror” of what he is, what he has become. But he repeats himself: “The horror! The horror!” (69). I like to think that he saw the horror of humanity, of colonialism, as well as the horror within himself.
ReplyDelete2. Marlow begins by saying that Kurtz illuminated something about himself, and I was hoping that his actions at the end would show us what he discovered. And I think they do, although I’m not sure if I understand it completely. I think that Marlow sees the humanity in the Intended; he is touched by her, moved by her grief and her love. He loves her, in a way, because she represents the goodness of human emotion. This is the first lie he has told in this book, and it is a lie for good: he allows the Intended to live with a sense of peace, of closure. She feels like Kurtz truly loved her, even though we know the truth is that he did not (as far as we know—I don’t think he was capable of love). I think that he did the right thing in telling the lie because he made someone else happier, or at least gave her a small measure of comfort.
3. Marlow is in a Buddha pose, a pose of reflection and mediation—he is perhaps coming to peace with these events, with the lie. We end of course with more imagery, this time of the Thames, and we see “the heart of an immense darkness” (77) right there in London. Conrad brings “the horror” back to the heads of the Company; they (or at least the narrator) see what their greed has brought upon the world.
1. I think when Kurtz says “horror”, he is describing what colonization is really like. He's describing the injustice of what European imperialism causes in Africa and to the African people. I think the only way he knows how to describe the events in Africa is simply by saying “horror”. It also speaks to human nature and its evil tendencies (I guess that could be the heart of darkness). I think it suggests that the horror is not imperialism and colonialism on its own, but the people who enact it. That opens the door to the question of “are we all capable of this horror”.
ReplyDelete2. Marlow lied to The Intended because he wanted to spare her the horrific things that Kurtz did and all that happened there. She says that she wants “something-something-to-to live with” so Marlow telling her what Kurtz really said would just haunt her for the rest of her life. Marlow being someone who hates lying, sacrificed a part of himself to give her some peace which is as good a reason to lie as any. I think his decision to do so is commendable but I'm hesitating to say that it's right because no one can determine what's good for another person. Yes she will most likely be happier without knowing the truth, but maybe that wasn't what she needed. Maybe what she needed was to know what went on there and what Kurtz was like there.
3. The line “the heart of an immense darkness” sticks out to me because it in a way gives me a way to interpret what the heart of darkness is. If the heart of darkness is referring to the horrors that occur because of imperialism/colonization (in this case in Africa), then this line acknowledges what's/who's to blame for it. I think the ending is recognizing where all the darkness stems from. One of the place being the Thames where people from London set off to go to Africa.
1. As Kurtz escapes the "deceitful flow from the heart of impenetrable darkness" he has a moment of "supreme knowledge" screaming out "the horror! the horror!" However, Kurtz doesn't ever really make it clear what the horror is. His last words are so vague that all a reader can do is make guesses as to what it means. While it is tempting to read his words as a realization of the horrors of colonialism, it is also necessary to consider Kurtz's actions; the end of his life is spent trying to preserve his fame. Since no way is clearly better than the other, the reader is left recognizing both simultaneously. Thus, "the horror" is Kurtz's realization of his failures; that he has not only exploited Africa to further his political future but that even after doing something as despicable as this, all of his ambitions have still amounted to nothing.
ReplyDelete2. I think there's a couple of reasons; first after leaving Kurtz and coming back to Belgium all of the interactions that Marlow has had with people who knew Kurtz have been strangely positive for a man so disgusting; they all seem to worship him. I feel like this makes Marlow question his own view of Kurtz. Second, I think that Marlow knows what it's like to have a truth that you have taken for granted your entire life to turn out to be a lie. Marlow believed in the value of colonialism, only to see it for the horror it was. I think he is trying to spare Kurtz's Intended from this fate. Telling her would only drag her into the darkness, not save her from it. After all it takes "a man" to resist the darkness. While this has slightly misogynistic overtones, it is an act of true mercy by Marlow.
3. The last paragraph serves to make sure the reader understands that the heart of darkness is right there in London, and in the heads of the company. It serves to force the listeners to recognize the destruction that colonialism has wreaked. In his buddha pose, Marlow gives a sense of legitimacy to his opinions. However, as he reflects on imperialism, one also wonders if his reflection is beginning to let him accept the lie, the falsehood. It seems like even though Marlow recognizes the horror of colonialism, he wants to make peace with himself to return to his life, like how he let the woman live thinking Kurtz died thinking of her.
1. “The Horror” is Marlow having to confront his past actions and acknowledge the sum total of his life’s work. This could be interpreted either optimistically as him coming to understand the immorality of his actions and regretting his past decisions, or pessimistically as him just regretting that he never fulfilled his dreams of vast profit and power. If we interpret in optimistically, it means that maybe, hiding somewhere inside Kurtz’s heart of darkness, was a shred of decency and awareness that had been suppressed but finally emerged in Kurtz’s “moment of complete knowledge.” This would mean that perhaps there is a glimmer hope for society, a hope for penitence. However, this type of realization is only valuable if it occurs sooner in one’s life, since a realization had on a deathbed won’t have a great impact on the dying person’s future actions.
ReplyDelete2. I think Marlow did the right thing by not telling The Intended the truth about Kurtz. The only possible consequence of honesty would have been that her worldview was shattered and her memories of her beloved destroyed. It’s not as though telling her the full truth would have somehow enacted a great social change and an end to imperialism. Lying was an act of mercy, nothing more, nothing less. The sky didn’t fall, because, as Marlow says, “the heavens do not fall for such a trifle.” However, I do think that Marlow should try to tell everyone at the company about what happened to Kurtz, since maybe that could lead to an actual policy change, like better supervision of employees.
3. Once again, the narrator is emphasizing that this heart of darkness is not unique to africa or unique to kurtz. This darkness is ubiquitous, present even in the greatest city in the world. London may be “civilized,” but that doesn’t mean that its people can escape the darkness embedded in every person. This certainly lends a more pessimistic feeling to the end of the book, which is appropriate, considering everything we’ve just read. Unlike Candide, which ends on what is arguably a solution to the problems presented, Heart of Darkness ends with complete despair. Also, it’s interesting to me that Marlow starts the story in an idol pose and ends his story in a buddha pose. I’m not sure exactly what the significance of this is, but it might be interesting to discuss.
1) As Kurtz is on the verge of death, clamoring about “The Horrors,” Marlow describes his expression as having “some sort of belief; it had candour, it had conviction, it had a vibrating note of revolt in its whisper, it had the appalling face of a glimpsed truth…” On his death bed, Kurtz becomes an all-knowing being with “all the wisdom, all truth, and all sincerity.” The acquisition of this knowledge and state of being is a “moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats.” Kurt’s defeats were made clear. Kurtz went mad as his heart of virtue was tainted by the even darker core of the African jungle. He represented everything that can go wrong in humans when men are put into the heart of darkness, becoming a part of “the Devils of the land.” It's horrific, but on his death bed, Kurtz realized these horrors. He knew the truth of it; he was revolted by it, resulting in his dying expression of candour, conviction, revolt, wisdom, and truth.
ReplyDelete2) Marlow hates lies, his reason being “There is a taint of death, a flovour of mortality in lies – which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world.” In this case, the truth is what would result in death, as The Intended would could herself if she were to know “The Horrors” Kurtz when through. A lie, on the other hand, would give her “something – to- to live with.” So in the end, Marlow rejects the truth, the cause of death, that of which he detests.
3) First, the last paragraph clearly established that the audience was listening and that they gained truth from the story. They're left stunned by the story, and “nobody moved for a time.” That was the importance of having the audience of affluent Europeans, and having the narrator speak for the final paragraph. Also, the last sentence introduces a final meaning for “Heart of Darkness.” “The tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth...seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.” The water extends forever, reaching every single end of the earth. The narrator implies that the water leads into a “heart of immense darkness,” meaning the entire world is encompassed by the “Heart of Darkness.” This falls in line with the idea that all off humanity is subject to “The Horrors” known by Hurtz. We are all inherently evil, and when put into isolation, we will become, in Marlow’s terms, the Devil.
1. “The Horror” is the extent of human nature, and how dark it can really be. Kurtz delved into this darkness headfirst, lopping off people’s heads and threatening the death of his subordinates if they didn’t hand over “his” ivory. He was hungry for everything, reveled in his peer’s idolization, and for a while seemed convinced of his own immortality, wandering off into the woods even after being introduced lying on a stretcher. Whatever civility Kurtz started with was forsaken in favor of disturbed, violent self-absorption and insanity. Kurtz the european is incomparably more savage than any of the supposed “savage” native people we saw. The best of Europe, once allowed to act and be without previous societal expectations and pressures, became an utter mad man - a murderer. That is the horror. Conrad, after all his writings about the river and whatever various ominous foliage they passed at the time, impresses upon readers that that isn’t the point - the forest is not inherently dark, it is people in it; humans are doing these things and being this way. Humans have, and are, the heart of darkness: under the correct circumstances, we can all be savage.
ReplyDelete2. I think Marlow did the right thing. Telling her the truth would benefit Marlow’s own agendas - to never tell lies, and to expose Kurtz and his true self as he has done for the listeners on the boat - but what good would it do for a mourner? This lie benefitted her, so while it was a lie, I think it was a civil thing to do. Marlow says, “There is a taint of death, a flavor of morality in lies - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world,” (27) I think this “flavor of morality” is exactly what he catered to in these final pages. Marlow put morals above his own ideals, which is something no one else in this book seemed to do. Kurtz, of course, displays this most plainly, “ I saw him open his mouth wide - it gave him a weirdly voracious aspect as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all the men before him” (59). Kurtz had no such restraint; he was what he wanted to be, and did what he wanted to do, and didn’t consider anyone else’s feelings on the matter. Kurtz himself, while not deserving of such a loving and trusting wife, is dead and gone and cannot benefit from the lies - this is entirely for The Intended’s benefit. Marlow’s lie goes against his beliefs and his comfort, but it was the right thing to do.
3. After such a grave story, you’d think there’d be some sort of reaction from the listeners, but nothing is said on the matter. After a short silence, one remarks on the ebb of the river, bringing us back to the surroundings. This river was the beginning of many important historical happenings - as was Marlow’s river. Rivers are pathways, allowing exploration, but exploring has led us to dark places. Considering the people on the boat gain from the European presence in Africa, they are now becoming aware of the looming darkness their own beloved Thames leads to. “What greatness had not floated on the ebb of that river into the mystery of an unknown earth?… The dreams of men, the seed of commonwealths, the germs of empires”(5). What have these dreams and germs gotten us? Empires are borne of atrocities, and even the most benign dreams of exploration end in severed heads on poles. With all this information about where people can go and what horrors they can become when given the chance, still sitting and floating on their own river, none of these men manage to say anything. It is difficult to tell whether they are trying to digest or to forget what they have heard today.
1. Kurtz experiences something that he has never before experienced as Marlow talks to him in his cabin right before he dies. Marlow says, “Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge?” It is not exactly clear what this supreme moment of complete knowledge is. It’s clear that Kurtz’s is not gaining knowledge of something that pleases him because he is absolutely horrified. I don’t have any evidence-based guesses for what Kurtz is feeling that would cause him to cry “The horror!” but it could be that he saw the darkness. It is highly possible that during his whole time at his station he was able to rationalize his absurdly cruel and savage ways. I think he was completely unaware as he let the darkness inside of him consume him, and maybe, during his final moments of life he sees the darkness and himself and is filled with horror.
ReplyDelete2. Even though Marlow despises lies, he lies to Kurtz’s Intended because telling her the truth would cause the darkness to consume her completely. Throughout his interaction with the Intended, Marlow keeps mentioning that darkness that is surrounding them and growing in volume and power. The only thing that has not succumbed to this darkness is the Intended: “With every word spoken the room was growing darker and only her forehead smooth and white remained illuminated by the unextinguishable light of belief and love.” After meeting Kurtz, Marlow is very aware of the darkness in a way that he never was before. He understands the horrifying power of the darkness and by lying to the Intended he is fighting against it. He decides fighting against the darkness is more important than telling the truth.
3. I think the last paragraph is trying convey the truth that the darkness is everywhere. It has gotten darker outside, and clouds have covered up much of their former view. The waterway is “leading to the uttermost ends of the earth” which I think implies that the intense darkness they are experiencing on the river is actually everywhere. It is also interesting how the narrator has really picked up on Marlow’s story, using the phrase heart of darkness, just like Marlow did. One of the reasons that the men in the boat are so fascinated with Marlow’s story is because they are starting to sense the darkness that is all around them (and in them) and they are attracted to the darkness because of “the fascination with the abomination.”
1. As Marlow says, Kurtz was “the remarkable man who had pronounced judgment upon the adventures of his soul on this earth” (69), and with that in mind, the “horror” that Kurtz cries out is that of his own self, his own heart. His is “the voice” of mankind, and as such, speaks of all our true nature and true potential. We have the potential to be cruel, self-serving, murderous creatures, the potential to be Kurtz. We all have this “heart of darkness”, whether we’ve traveled to Africa or not. As the narrator says “the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky—seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness” (77), the narrator isn’t in Africa. He isn’t isolated in the depths of the African forest; he is sitting on a boat in the Thames, yet the darkness is still there to lure him into his own treacherous heart. This unavoidable truth about mankind, the darkness that resides within us all, that is the “horror” Kurtz breathes at the end, the life he has lived.
ReplyDelete2. While Marlow may have saved The Intended from an immediate moment of reckoning, as we’ve seen with Kurtz, truth is unavoidable. There is absolute truth in the world: love is good, hate is bad, kindness is righteous, murder is contemptable. These are values that may become obscured in this lawless land, but these are not truths that kind hind when faced with death, the ultimate equalizer. This woman’s feelings may be temporarily saved by this lie, but what happens when this belief in the greatness of Kurtz turns into exoneration of all his sins? Will she become the same monster that Kurtz was? I don’t have answers to these questions, but they are ones that we are forced to consider because of this lie Marlow tells. It could force the woman to succumb to her own heart of darkness, whereas had he told her the truth, she may have reckoned with it and come to the realization the “horror” with enough time left in her life to change.
3. As I said in the first paragraph, I believe the last line in intended to present this darkness we’ve all grown so accustomed to in Africa right to our front doors. These men, the narrator and the mighty band of elites, are sitting on a boat in the Thames. They live in a civilized society, yet they are continuously approaching the darkness. This last paragraph turns the story away from the wildness of the jungle and towards the familiar nature of our own world, one that also contains a heart of darkness.
1. The horror is the juxtaposition of the facade of good intentions, the justifications Europeans use to keep their sanity, and the brutal nonsense that is the reality. Kurtz sees everything he ever was, everything he set out to do, and the thing that he became, and he sees the horror. Marlow saw Kurtz and the realities of colonialism, then returned to hear Kurtz's intended going on about virtue and is unable to tell the truth. Brussels is the white tomb that houses the same darkness that Marlow sees in the jungle. As pretty as it may be, it is a lie. Everyone in Europe pretends not to know the truth of the matter, and they've almost fooled themselves into forgetting it.
ReplyDelete2. By the end, Marlow sees the darkness everywhere. He says that "with every word spoken and only her fore-head smooth and white remained illumined by the unextinguishable light of belief and love" (74). He calls her faith "that great and saving illusion that shone with an unearthly glow in the darkness," and is ultimately unwilling to corrupt that (75). This woman is the only pure thing he still sees. Marlow lies because he believes that is the lesser of two evils. He would rather tell a lie help the spread of another darkness which is more sinister in his view.
3. While Marlow is willing to protect Kurtz's intended from the truth, he doesn't do this for his companions on this boat. They can do something about what's happening. We know that the Director and the narrator at least were awake and paying attention, and the narrator's view has changed. He sees not a shining river but a sombre one. This paragraph shows that the story has an effect. Marlow does here what he couldn't in Brussels, he tells cuts the barrier between Europe and the colonies. He shows people at home what's really happening, and they listen.
1. "The horror" that Kurtz is describing is the reality of colonization and its effects on the Africans. He's finally coming to terms with the fact that this practice is extremely detrimental and is basically an attribute of genocide. He's realizing that his trade and his part in all of this has harmed many and that he can't take any of it back. He's contributed greatly to the deaths and mistreatment of too many people and he finally recognizes it right as dies.
ReplyDelete2. I think Marlow lies to the woman to because her life is incredibly bleak and she talks about never being happy again. The truth is too dark for him to tell her and him lying to her allows her to continue to believe in this illusion she's kept herself believing. Him lying to her also relieved her of her guilt and gave her a memory of him for her to hold on to. She tells him "Don't you understand I loved him - I loved him - I loved him" (76), and I think this profession of love is what drove him to lying to her. He's not able to look this desperate woman in the eye and tell her the truth, knowing that the rest of her life would be lived in sorrow and despair. She doesn't have much to live for and I think Marlow giving her this last memory to hold on to gave her the will to go on and the missing piece she's obviously been yearning for for a while.
3. I think the last paragraph is a comparison/contrast of the beginning of the book when Conrad is first describing the water and what it portrayed. And while I think he was being incredibly descriptive, I also think he was being kind of vague. We've seen before how he's described an element in his story for pages upon pages, yet her he dedicates one paragraph to what the water and sky look like. This to me was Conrad speaking to how vague people in general are and how there is no exact answer to all this. I think the picture he's portraying doesn't allow the reader to obtain any real conclusion of the text, but I think it does allow the reader to apply what they observed in the story to real life and to people in the world.