Heart of Darkness Part 2 & 3

Marlow overhears the manager and his uncle questioning Kurtz and his methods. Krutz is deathly ill and Marlow, the manager, the clerk, and pilgrims start a journey on Marlow's repaired steamer to find him. On the way many elements test Marlow such as the weather and the direction and choppiness of the tide.

They stop to find a stack of firewood and a note was found that stated, "Wood for you. Hurry up. Approach cautiously." There was also a code a note that was suspected to be the work of the Russian trader. They continue their journey and are attacked by a group of natives, who killed one of their crew. They finally arrive at the Inner Station where they run into the Russian who is surprisingly and extremely fond of Krutz. They find Kurtz but he doesn't want to return to England, infact, he's the one who ordered the attack from the natives. The natives worship Kurtz and want him to stay. In the night Kurtz escaped from Marlow in attempts to reach the natives but Marlow caught him and the next day they were headed back to England. Kurtz dies on the river and his last words were, "The horror! The horror!"

Marlow returns and pays a visit to Kurtz's fiance who is in terrible mourning. She asked Marlow what was Kurtz's last words and he couldn't bring himself to tell her the truth so he lied and said he spoke her name.

Response: I'm not very fond of this book. I hate when it takes an author ten pages to state one fact. I did however love some of the insightful quotes that really made me think such as, "They had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares." I also admired Marlow and his outlook towards the end and I respected his loyalty for Kurtz. It amazed of how Kurtz had such a strong affect on people. Some people are natural leaders. I know how it is to lose someone and I would want someone to lie to me in a situation like that. Who wants to think of their loved ones in pain and suffering in their last hours? I'm glad Marlow lied and saved that woman of even more pain and heartache.

I'm ready to read something abundantly and ridiculously happy.

Heart of Darkness Part 1

Heart of Darkness starts off with a ship called, "The Nellie" banked at the Thames river due to the direction of the tide. The narrator gives a detailed description of all the members on the boat before reaching Marlow. Everything is silent and calm and Marlow decides to break the silence and tell about the past of the Thames river and all the adventures that took place. He then goes into his experience when he was younger and was employed, when his aunt pulled some strings, as a fresh water sailor at a Belgian company. He set off on a French steamer to Africa. He is surrounded by death, war, and horrible conditions on his journey. He reached station where he saw mistreated and neglected enslaved blacks being controlled by whites. He stays at station for 10 days and decides to set foot with 60 other men. When he arrived at Central Station he noticed that his boat had sunk and whether it was by accident, he is unsure. As he is repairing his boat he meets the manager of Central Station is becomes very uneased by his presence. Marlow then meets a man that had something to do with him getting his job and he tries to get supplies from him to fix his ship, but fails. The Eldorado Exploring Expedition comes sweeping in, with their leader being the manager's uncle.

Response:

This book was very hard to follow and I felt they took forever to just make one point. I kept having to reread certain parts because the complexity of the language was confusing. It was filled with very detailed descriptions and imagery. Figurative language was all over the place and I loved some of Marlow's perceptions and descriptions. One of my favorites was, "It is impossible to convey the life-sensation of any given epoch of one's existence--that which makes it truth, its meaning--its subtle and penetrating essence. It is impossible. We live, as we dream--alone." I didn't however like their ignorance and how they treated the Africans. The descriptions were sickening even though Marlow was trying to give us a real mental picture of what it was really like. I'm glad the times have changed. I'm interested to see how Marlow's journey will turn out and what new characters he has to introduce for the next section of the book.