Heart of Darkness was definitely a little hard to follow. It helped significantly to read King Leopold's Ghost first in order to understand what took place in the Congo, and the extreme circumstances that Europeans put African natives in. Because Heart of Darkness was a bit more difficult to read I don't really feel that I got the full effect of the book.
In this particular case it kind of struck me as odd that Marlow was almost shocked at what was going on in Africa when he arrived
there. I know that it was not widely believed that King Leopold was treating natives the way he was and doing the things that he was doing, but I thought that people were at least aware of that accusations. Marlow didn't seem to be in complete disbelief but he seemed to be trying to take in what he was seeing and experiencing with a bit of caution. It also almost seemed to me that every one else in the story seemed to get very much caught up in the disturbing history of the Congo; meaning, they partook in the cruel acts. Whereas, Marlow seemed to almost just do enough (which is always to much), in order to at le
ast be partly accepted and live through his experience.
Joseph Conrad, the author of Heart of Darkness
1 comment:
Remember that Conrad was there in 1890 -- before the outcry against King Leopold, in fact, when Leopold was seen in Europe as a great humanitarian.
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