Renée Santo

Period 4
September 22, 2010

Meta-Cognitive

Surprisingly enough, the title of my poem, The Fate of the Less Fortunate, was

the last component to be written on my work. After scratching out the endless

possibilities, The Fate of the Less Fortunate was voted most suitable. The reader may

question how the title reflects or relates to what is written beneath it, and I can understand

their confusion at first. But, look at it this way. In the late nineteenth century when Heart

of Darkness was published, history will tell that women’s influence and importance to

society was on the rise. Women had been subordinate to men during the time period in

which Heart of Darkness was published. Therefore, the novella reflects on this view and

proves the women were the less fortunate citizens in Europe. The men in their lives and

their society in fact determined their fate. Women had no other role in society other than

to be a “trophy” wife. Conrad wrote “Do not come down from the pedestal where I have

placed you, even though that would bring you closer to me” (Schneider 483). This quote

says it all. If women were allowed to share in the light (ideas, concepts, positions in

society), they may have dominated and the higher power (the men) did not approve.

It only makes sense to discuss the theme of my poem and how it relates to Heart

of Darkness after describing my title. I took the secreted theme of feminism in Heart of

Darkness and made it the fundamental theme of The Fate of the Less Fortunate.

Feminism in my poem is portrayed as it is in Conrad’s novella, with the image of the

Intended. Marlow, the narrator of Heart of Darkness, “noticed a small sketch in

oils”(Conrad 25) representing a woman draped and blindfolded carrying a lighted torch.

Marlow describes the movement of the woman as “stately”(25) and the effect of the

torchlight on her face was sinister. To Marlow, the photographic portrait offers an ideal

iconic image of femininity. During his encounter with the Intended, Marlow is shocked

when she did not listen “without mental reservation, without suspicion, without a thought

for herself”(72). The illusion Marlow creates is shattered and the resulting contrast

between a woman as an iconic object and a woman as a speaking figure is intolerable for

Marlow. In The Fate of the Less Fortunate, the Intended represents all women and their

struggle against feminism.

Without reading my poem, my audience will visually notice that the epigraph is

positioned at the center of the page. The epigraph reads “Fiat Lux” which means, “let

there be light.” I placed this quotation in the center of the page away from the rest of the

poem because in the end, the overall desire for women is to be able to let their light show.

Sharing in the light women provide is a goal they will have to work to reach. That is why

it is “out of the reach of” the other text on the page. The only way to break down my

poem is chronologically. This way, I can go in depth about the techniques I incorporated

and understand their importance.

The Roman numeral I notes the beginning of my poem. It indicates the first ten lines,

or the first section. Making Roman numerals my subheadings was a way for me to

introduce a new section of the poem without giving away its meaning. Next, the reader

will see that the first five lines of the section are aligned left. This is when the narrator of

the poem is speaking. The narration of the poem is done in the mind of the Intended. That
is, when the lines are aligned left, the Intended is sharing her thoughts and preparing us

for what she is about to say. The first indentation occurs at “Save me indestructible

light.” This notes the pleading and begging of the women to be noticed in society and to

be able to come down from the pedestal they have been placed upon. I must note that it is

not a pedestal of worship. In this time frame, the light women hold is nothing but sinister,

evil and the opposite of the truth. After the word “empty” in line 5, line 6 is indented.

The empty space left before lines 6 through 10 indicates the empty feeling that the

Intended is facing.

In this first section, there is a lot of imagery and figurative language. “The immense

matted jungle” is a metaphor for men. Picture a jungle; there are trees galore. Now, allow

you rmind to see that image as men of the European society in the nineteenth century.

There are more men in society than women and the adjectives “immense” and “matted,”

explain the commotion that is being caused by them. There is no room for women to

escape men’s objections. Lets discuss pronouns. The “W” in “Woman’s” and the “H” in

Her” are both capitalized. Whenever a pronoun for the Intended is present, the first letter

of the pronoun is capitalized. Since biblical times, women have been an important aspect

to the lives of men. If He is going to receive proper recognition, so should She. Another

reason for making the pronoun proper is because the Intended represents women as a

whole, not just one.

Lines three through five read “Her strength struck you blind, left you empty.” The

image Marlow originally perceived of the Intended is now destroyed. When the Intended

speaks, Marlow feels a sensation of disappointment because he didn’t notice how

powerful her words could be. His shock is the reason for the words “struck” and “empty.”

The word “Darkness” is bolded in the first section of The Fate of the Less Fortunate.

When a reader sees a word in bold, they assume that it must be important to the text. This

is exactly what I wanted my audience to notice. In order to leave a bold impression on the

reader about the vexed tone of the poem and the deep voice of the speaker, I had to make

the “Darkness” more noticeable. Darkness is a shadow cast over the poem. It can also be

referenced as one of the emotions the Intended has towards men as they see her flame as

impure.

Moving on, I will analyze the second section, or Roman numeral II. To begin, I

decided to leave this section to the mind of the Intended. I did not have her speak here

because I felt it was important to really let the language of my poem sink in. As

aforementioned in the last section, if God is going to be recognized as a superior, then

women should receive the same honor. This is clear since “Her” and “Herself” are both

made higher powers by capitalizing the first letter in the female pronouns. Section two

shows the most anger in my poem. There are two bold faced words present in this

section. They are “evanescent” and “evil.” The alliteration of the “E” and “V” in both

words creates a chilling image. “Black”, “rotting”, “mournfully”, and “poisoned” are all

threatening, disturbing words. Even more so when they are strung together. Lines 14

through 15, “centre of the earth ablaze with heat,” represent the heart and soul of the

Intended. Her core is burning inside because she is so angry toward Marlow for his

reaction to her speaking and about the feminist views in her society. I find the last three

lines of section two the most important lines of the whole poem. The indentations form a
visual staircase, which leads to the decline of a woman’s light.

Section three, otherwise noted as III, automatically refers to the image of the

“immense matted jungle” from the first section. But, this is the only comparison in this

part of the poem. Section three of The Fate of the Less Fortunate is filled with

contrasting views. The first one would be “vegetation” and “death” in the same concept.

We all know that vegetation means to grow or sprout. Namely, this is the opposite of

death, or the end of life for a person or organism. The next contrast occurs when the

Intended is speaking about “triumphant Darkness.” Audiences do not usually view

darkness as triumphant, but sorrowful. Not only is she speaking, but the Intended is also

explaining that she cannot convey the sensation of darkness. When the poem is once

again aligned left for the last time, the Intended speaks of “no open breasts.” Because

lines 25-27 are aligned left, they can be considered closed. The blindfold and evil are left

to embrace the Intended. As humans, we see an embrace as open arms, comforting and

welcoming. In Shakespeare’s work, he incorporates a woman’s bosom in his text because

it is a symbol of warmth and tenderness. But, evil’s embrace is slowly but surely putting

out the Intended’s flame. A “Woman’s vegetation” faces a stunt in its growth because the

threat of evil is heavy as an axe. If you have ever felt an axe, the blade is sharp and cold.

The last line of my poem was meant to create the illusion of an axe, coldhearted just like

the men in society. The last word of my poem is “lingering” with no punctuation after it.

The threat of a man’s axe will forever be posed on women in society. Without a period to

stop the lingering, the power men possess will continue to repeat with history. In fact, this

is the reasoning for why there is no punctuation in my poem whatsoever. In Europe, there
has not been a change in the idea of women as “trophies.” This is represented as there is

no punctuation to change the tone of the readers voice or how it is read.