Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa and then up the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company's stations. The native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company's service, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company's agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man's settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness.
Heart of Darkness is well written. The idea of a storyteller in the story is not unique but very effective. We could ponder over the word darkness for quite some time. The best way to ponder is with Cliff's Notes. I wanted him to get on with it. I guess I was a little impatient for the action and the conclusion. If it hadn't been for Cliff Notes, I would have missed half the things he was implying.
A merchant company is missing an agent, Kurtz, and Marlowe must find him. Traveling through harsher environments than he imagined possible, he may have found what he was seeking. As with many of this type of epic, the physical distance or direction is not as important as the transformation it plays on one’s soul.
I missed this book somehow in school. The reason I started to read this book before I became immersed in it was to see how close it came to the movie. No, not the movie you are thinking of. "Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death" (1988). The film was shot primarily in the avocado groves maintained by the University of California at Riverside (UCR), which the university uses for horticultural experiments. Adrienne Barbeau is Dr. Kurtz.
The horror.... the horror...
So, you will want to see the movie “Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death” (1989) by Adrienne Barbeau as Dr. Kurtz. Or another adaptation, “Apocalypse Now” (1979).
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