Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The ending of this story in my opinion was very strong. The last event in the story is what really hit home in my mind with all the things that Marlow saw throughout his voyage. Kurtz, a man who dies of illness in the Congo, utters the words "The horror, the horror" with his last breath. When Marlow visits Kurtz's fiancée, she asks what his final words were. Marlow cannot bring himself to tell her the truth but instead lies by telling her that his last word was her name. This part of the book was a powerful summation of the story as a whole, all the terrible things that Marlow has witnessed through his journey will stay with him for life. From the abuse of natives Africans, to being attacked by tribes and nursing a dying man Marlow has been through much and inability to even tell a women her fiancé's last words brings all of those things to a nice close for the reader. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to all those who enjoy more modern classics especially those with strong emphasis on human nature.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I feel that this week I have gotten into the meat of the story. And what a story it is. Marlow, the main character has left on his voyage into the Congo to explore. Along the way he is attacked by natives with guns who kill one of his crewmen. He makes it to the Inner Station which is the farthest any explorer before him has made it into the Congo and he intends on pressing further. Another parallel that I can draw between this book and The Catcher in The Rye is that, any small detail or event can lead to a monologue, flashback or analysis of human nature. Marlow spends pages upon pages analyzing the smallest of things that he notices about people. It is this aspect of the book that leads me to believe that the story is not what is important in the book and that the story is just a cover that can bear the true meaning that Conrad is trying to convey. I was going to blog about how I thought that the chapters were very long in this story, sometimes spanning 20-30 pages, but further investigation on my part yielded that the story is not divided into chapters but rather into "Parts" thus making it not such a big deal

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I began this book over my Christmas break on my cousins recommendation and I have to say that despite her rather negative reviews I have found the book to be very entertaining. One aspect of the book that stikes me is they the authors writing style, the book is told as a character telling the story much like Catcher in the Rye. There is tremedous detail in this book right down to the smallest of sounds and actions of people, this really makes this book worth reading. This book is takes place during the European movement into Africa, the Congo region in particular. I can relate the events of this book to what we learned in Global History class regarding this very topic. There are also other short stories in the book as well as "Heart of Darkness" making this book perfect for fitting my two favorite genre styles, classic and short story. I look forward to getting into the meat of this book.