Heart of Darkness
8:53 AM Edit This 1 Comment »
Since I was sick last week and I have no idea where we're supposed to be in Heart of Darkness, I read the whole thing and this post will cover my thoughts...lol.
Anyway, I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed Marlow as a main character for several reasons. For one thing, he's a good main character because he makes all kinds of observations, so the reader is kept well informed. At the same time, he doesn't really interpret these observations well, because he has yet to really understand either himself or the true nature of humanity, hence the point of the book. Because of this, he can be analyzed to death, and I love that.
I found myself really interested in Marlow's obsession with Kurtz. Until he met the man, and for some time after that even, he looked at Kurtz like some sort of unreachable god and not like the flawed man he was. He relied on only what he had heard of him, rather than actual facts. Kind of like gossip or folk tales. He built up this unbeatable man in his mind, and really put him on a pedestal. To me, it seemed like Kurtz was the very symbol of everything that made Marlow want to come to Africa. It was the great unknown, exploring the unexplored and all of the mystery that surrounds it. Like Kurtz, Marlow built up the African experience to be something amazing in his mind and was really unprepared for the reality of it.
Anyway, I would like to start off by saying that I really enjoyed Marlow as a main character for several reasons. For one thing, he's a good main character because he makes all kinds of observations, so the reader is kept well informed. At the same time, he doesn't really interpret these observations well, because he has yet to really understand either himself or the true nature of humanity, hence the point of the book. Because of this, he can be analyzed to death, and I love that.
I found myself really interested in Marlow's obsession with Kurtz. Until he met the man, and for some time after that even, he looked at Kurtz like some sort of unreachable god and not like the flawed man he was. He relied on only what he had heard of him, rather than actual facts. Kind of like gossip or folk tales. He built up this unbeatable man in his mind, and really put him on a pedestal. To me, it seemed like Kurtz was the very symbol of everything that made Marlow want to come to Africa. It was the great unknown, exploring the unexplored and all of the mystery that surrounds it. Like Kurtz, Marlow built up the African experience to be something amazing in his mind and was really unprepared for the reality of it.
1 comments:
I would agree with you that Kurtz was an engima to Marlow and a fascinating individual. Also true was Marlow's expectations of Africa and how hugely it fell short from that. Marlow is an interesting character that has many layers to him. Furthermore, I love how you describe him as not fully understanding his own self or the true nature of humanity.
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