Heart of Darkness
Part 3
by Joseph Conrad
Marlow and a company manager meet with Kurtz, who has become gravely ill. Marlow finds himself ostracized after defending Kurtz.
Marlow and a company manager meet with Kurtz, who has become gravely ill. Marlow finds himself ostracized after defending Kurtz.
The central character, John Melmoth, is a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for 150 extra years of life and spends that time searching for someone who will take over the pact for him; the novel actually takes place in the present, but this backstory is revealed through several nested stories-within-a-story that work backwards through time (usually through the Gothic trope of old books).
This introduction provides a frame for the main narrative of The Scarlet Letter. The nameless narrator, who shares quite a few traits with the book’s author, takes a post as the “chief executive officer,” or surveyor, of the Salem Custom House. This section introduces us to the narrator and establishes his desire to contribute to American culture.