Heart Of Darkness

I found that this book was the easiest to annotate, which is cool, because it was the hardest to read. The pages seemed like they would not end and the plot appeared to be so simple that reading the book was very dull.

It was strange, though, because once I reached Part III, the last part of the book, it intrigued me and caused me to finish the book and pay attention to the details. I realized that the story Marlow was telling was not told for entertainment, but for the end of the book, showing how Kurtz's darkness prevailed.

The way I annotated it was through using a glossary (which helped me very much!), underlining important parts, and by circling every time I saw the word darkness. At first, I just circled darkness because I wanted to understand the title of the book, but by the end I noticed that darkness is the most important and symbolic part of the book.

I found out that in the book, darkness is the safe place...Marlow even says, "The sunlight can be made a lie, too." Kurtz had gone so insane with greed (because of ivory) that he became senseless, explaining why going back to Europe and "reality" would be out of the options for him. In the end of the book when Marlow meets Kurtz's loved ones and acquaintances, he is confused by how they described him as a musician and activist. Kurtz had changed when he went to the forest and became consumed in darkness, it was the only way he knew how to be.

It was interesting that after Kurtz died, a lot of things Marlow associated with him was darkness. Especially when he met Kurtz's "Intended" in Europe and how everything turned dark when Marlow was speaking to her.

It still confuses me why the natives liked Kurtz. Didn't they realize his insanity when there were decapitated heads on sticks of people from their tribe?

I still don't fully understand this book, but the main plot actually interests me now when I am trying to figure things out.