Heart of Darkness Part 2

One night while lying on his steamboat, Marlow hears the manager and his uncle talking about "that man", being Krutz, and how they disapprove of him. Soon Marlow is able to start up the river toward a sickly Krutz, who Marlow was to pick up and return. Marlow describs how "the earth seemed unearthly" as they moved deeper in the jungle. Fifty miles into the journey they find an abandoned hut, a pile of wood, and a note reading "Wood for you. Hurry up. Approach cautiously." In the hut Marlow finds a book entitled "An Inquiry into some Points of Seamanship" and he pockets it. One day they are forced to stop due to horrific fog right after they had heard a loud cry leaving them all frightened. Marlow describes the native cannibals they had working for them and wonders at their restraint in not eating the pilgrims. Shortly after the fog lifts they are attacked from the banks. The pilgrims fire their guns, but what scares the attackers away is Marlow blowing the steam engine horn. In the attack Marlow's helmsman is shot and killed. They suspected this means Krutz is already dead, but he is not. Upon arrival at the station, Marlow meets a Russian who adores Krutz and thinks he does no wrong, despite the fact he has tried to kill the Russian before. This Russian was the owner of the abandoned cabin and the book Marlow has. The Russian informs Marlow that Krutz ordered the attack on the steamer because he doesn't want to leave. He makes Marlow promise not to ruin Krutz's reputation when he returned to civilization. Through him Marlow finds out that the natives don't want Krutz to leave. He has became apart of their culture and customs. The night before they depart Krutz tries to run away to the natives, but Marlow stops him. When they leave the next day all the natives come out, but Marlow scares them all away with the horn except for the "barbarous and superb woman." Krutz grows weaker and weaker. He sums up his life in "The horror! The horror!" and dies. Marlow kept some letters Krutz had given him for keeping from the company workers and press, but he takes it to Krutz's fiance. Marlow lies to her saying that Krutz's last words were her name.
While I was extremely relieved to finished this book I did enjoy it, in a bored way. The end was definitely better than the beginning. I had a hard time summarizing the end. There is a little more action than the beginning but it's the conversations that carry the theme of the story and it's hard to summarize them. I definitely won't have any trouble listing examples of the author's style for this major work file. My two favorite are probably his use of capitalization and repetition. I liked the echoing of the title in the last line, "seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." While Conrad never gives the narrator a voiced opinion, the reader can get a sense of what he is feeling just from his very limited comments. When the helmsman died was really sad. Right before it was a peak of action for a very slow moving book, and then it suddenly seems to stop with his death. The Russian was highly annoying. His conversations with Marlow, however, are some of the most important in the book. I can't tell if I would have liked Krutz before he traveled to the heart of darkness. I know it was made worse be the jungle, but I believe he was arrogant even before he entered Africa. I get this from his fiance. She never saw him deep in Africa, yet she has the same adimiration for him that the Russian did. The way Marlow describes Krutz's voice is captivating. The way Conrad writes makes the reader hear Krutz's lines in that powerful and authoritative voice. Marlow's visit with Krutz's fiance at the end was enlightening. It made me believe that the heart of darkness didn't reliease anything that was not already in a man. While Krutz was driven near crazy in the jungle, his fiance describes him in a way that shows he always had the same characteristics. They were just more pronounced and crude in Africa. However, Marlow did lie to protect him and seemed to understand that something had happened to him out there. He must have felt that he hadn't been a bad man before he went. I'm not having an easy time saying what I'm trying to. I hope you are able to get the point.

Heart of Darkness Part 1

The book begins on a ship docked on the Thames river unable to sail due to the direction of the tide. The narrator briefly describes his other companions on the ship before speaking of Marlow. As they wait to sail Marlow begins to tell of an exploration from his younger days into Africa. He had always been fascinated with Africa and had to have his aunt pull some strings before getting a job as commander of a steamboat on what I assume is the Nile. Before he goes he is required to get a medical examine and the doctor measures the size of his head. He heads out on a French steamer and travels for weeks. The steamer moved a long despite the death and war surrounding it. Upon arriving at his station Marlow is surrounded by enslaved, starving, and diseased negros. It is here from the chief accountant that he learns of Mr. Kurtz, a "first-class agent." He is at that station ten days before starting on a foot journey with 60 other men. With arriving at the Central Station he learns that his ship has sunk and must be repaired before he can embark. While working on repairs he becomes acquainted with the manager of the Central Station who "inspired uneasiness." There is also another man whom Marlow realizes thinks he is well connected due to the strings his aunt pulled to get him commissioned. Marlow uses this to try to get pieces he needs for his steamer, but they don't come. Instead the very secretive Eldorado Exploring Expedition arrives with their leader being the uncle of the manager.
Dense is the best word I've come up with to describe this book. Every sentence is dripping with figurative language. I consider myself I fast reader, but it takes a while to really grasp anything in this text. I love Conrad 's use of capitalization to personify and emphasize things. I love the way "Darkness" is capitalized in some places. It adds power and authority to the word. The imagery is amazing, but sometimes I lose some of the actual meaning the first time I read something because of all the imagery. That's the reason it takes so long to read. I reread several times and when I finally see what exactly the passage is saying, especially when he was describing the condition of the Africans, it is horrifying. I love the imagery, foreshadowing, and just foreboding feeling when Marlow goes to get his commission. The ladies "guarding the door" represent the Fates. Conrad even says "She seemed uncanny and FATEFUL." The description of them is awesome for lack of a better word. They serve their purpose very well. The black wool represents the strings that the fates cut to end lives. When Marlow talks about being let into a conspiracy I thought of the Darkness. When he is talking about the unhumane acts of the previous captain of his boat, who was known as a civil man, it is foreshadowing of what the Darkness does to someone. His conversation when the doctor is also really interesting. It's easier read when there is actual dialogue and not just Marlow describing things and events. Marlow's reflections on the way a woman sees the world in her own way is really interesting. It could be considered sexist in today's society, but in Conrad's time it was just the way things were. Women didn't go out and deal in business and didn't face much of the harshness of the world, and so they viewed the world differently. Today that section of the book helps remind us of how things worked in that time. The useless work and death of the Africans represents the Darkness, the cruelty inside humans. I'm curious about Mr. Kurtz. Is he the "poor chap" Old Marlow referred to? All the figurative language is interesting and written beautifully, but I wish some action would happen.