A Man or a Journey?

   In the classic literary novel, Heart of Darkness, author Joseph Conrad is well-known for his incorporation of deep symbolism.  There are symbolic themes of dark versus light, wilderness and civility, and as I read the book, I noticed that Conrad even used characters to represent his motifs.  One of the most prominent characters in the book, Mr. Kurtz, seems to symbolize the dark journey in and of itself.

The narrator of the tale, Marlow, describes how he began the adventure with an intense desire to discover. As to what he wants to discover, even he is unsure, but he feels and inexplicable yearning to get out of the old routes of his life and into the wilderness of what is now the Congo.  From the beginning, he is told of a man just as mysterious as the waters he is about to enter—a Mr. Kurtz, who has a rumored wealth of knowledge, expertise, and ivory from his travels.  Marlow craves to simply hear the man speak, and says later on in the story, “I was cut to the quick at the idea of having lost the inestimable privilege of listening to the gifted Kurtz” (Conrad 67).   At this point, Marlow has never met the man, yet thinks of him with the same sense of desire he has to navigate the unknown territory.  Both Kurtz and the land represent riches, adventure, knowledge, mystique, glory; the latter the source of untold resources, the former an example of the fame awaiting those who manage to tame them.

                Kurtz’s fate also follows the pattern of disenchantment that Marlow comes to experience as the journey goes on.  As Marlow sees the bloodshed and horrors of the “civilizing” they are doing throughout the land, he realizes that the adventure he has sought is far from noble and simply ends in ruin.  Kurtz is the physical representation of this.  When Marlow finally meets him, (his “coming to grips with reality”), he sees Kurtz as an influential man who has been indoctrinated in the local savagery and obsession with lucrative ivory.  He describes his first impression of Kurtz as follows:

“The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball—an ivory ball; it had caressed him, and—lo!—he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation” (68).

               

Both Kurtz’s life and Marlow’s adventure in the darkness come to an end, and both are spoken of in ironic reverence and adoration back home in the city.  Marlow is known as one who has braved the unknown and come home a survivor, yet is severely broken and damaged as a result of the trip.  He tells no one of these horrors, letting them believe what they’d like.  He does the same with Kurtz’s memory.  He refrains from describing Kurtz’s madness and dark habits in the jungles, instead allowing his friends and loved ones to cling tightly to the high esteem they have for the dead man.

                Now bringing this back to our day: many Internet users are like the city people of Marlow’s day.  They see those who dare to explore and exploit the facets of the Web as brave and slightly foolhardy. Some people are like Marlow, who are interested in the journey and set out to try their luck in the darkness.  Then there are others who, like Kurtz, embrace the Internet and its components wholeheartedly and are able to profit immensely from it.  But these are they who sometimes lose contact with reality and allow the online world to transform them into a monster who, seemingly normal to those around them, are internally lost in the obsessive and captivating wild into which they have entered.

Navigating the Darkness

It's easy to get the plot of the book, a seaman named Marlow is telling of his travels through Africa. But for the life of me, as much as I read the book, I couldn't understand the allure of the book. This is when I decided to jump into the reviews and discussions a little earlier than I anticipated, and this is the moment I began connecting Marlow's strange journey to my strange journey in this unexplored area of the internet.

Connecting to other people through a book started out as an intimidating prospect. And on the flip side, connecting to the book through other people seemed even near impossible.

So when we were told to read the book "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad and use it to connect to others on the Amazon, Kindle, and Goodreads platform, I was about ready to have a heart attack.
Reading has always been a highly personal endeavor for me. Many times, I wouldn't even discuss something I read with someone like my mom. The book had become too personal, the characters were mine, and it was as though the author had become a dear personal friend. And in my mind, if I talked to someone else about these things, they would lose their value to me.

However, once I decided to overcome this and really take this assignment seriously, I was surprised to find that these other people whom I've never even met helped to drastically change the way I was connecting with the book as well as finding a new way to think about what it was I was reading at the time.

Suddenly the characters in the book were taking on new life. Other's opinions of the themes of the book made me begin to think about what was really being said behind the words, and the appreciation that this community had for this piece of literature made me even more curious as to what Marlow would do or say next. On the Kindle itself I was able to look at the most popularly highlighted quotes, many of which I would have never thought to deem important. But seeing the importance of these quotes to others created a wonder as to why they were important, and what made them so important to such a vast amount of people.

My mind started to wander, looking for new themes, or wondering what would have changed if maybe Conrad had changed even one little character trait in the mysterious Marlow, or made him take a different path. And the funny thing is, others had these same views! The views people were sharing was saying so much about them individually, until I felt as though I came to become friends with not only the author, but also the people who felt so strongly about his work as well. It was almost like finding a mutual friend that brought us together.

"They were men enough to face the darkness." -Marlow

Thanks, Marlow, I am man enough to face this darkness that is the internet. 

On the Same Boat

I wish I had read more of the reviews before diving into “Heart of Darkness,” by  Joseph Conrad.  The novel seemed just seemed too allusive and dark to me. The book definitively is both dark and allusive, but I didn’t completely understand why. I just wasn't connecting with the book. After a few pages in I decided to quickly assess what the book was all about I looked up the plot overview on spark notes, but it didn’t seem to cover what I wanted to know.  

I understood what was being told, but I was curious to know the WHY? Why had the author chose to focus in on this somewhat odd seaman Marlow to write a book about? I would have loved to sit down with Joseph Conrad and ask him personally all my why questions about his sultry novel; however, I came across my own personal gold mine of reviews! 

If I had only read the context of the book before plunging in it would have made so much more sense! I found a review on Amazon that cleared up why Joseph Conrad wrote about Marlow. It is very possible that Joseph Conrad was simply writing about his own endeavors with a few detail changes. He CONNECTED with his own "fictional character." I then found myself reminiscing on the times I had connected with Marlow as well. 

Marlow is compassionate about his profession, and is even willing to put himself in daunting situations to attain his goals. He is not speaking in his native tongue in a job interview, but in French! Although I have no desire to be a seamen I have found myself in various situations just like this. I made the connection! 

I along with many others felt that Conrad's voice was the voice of Marlow, and he was heavily influenced by the racism circulating at that time. 

This blunt racism and even sexism initially made me cringe, but through reading the reviews on goodreads I feel like I have come to better understand who Marlow and Joseph Conrad truly are. 

I hope no one says that about my writing...

In the eBook "Writing About Literature in the Digital Age" co-author Samuel McGrath focuses on three ways we experience literature: through consumption, connection, and creation. This "connection" experience is central. As he said:

"We benefit from people who are invested in our books and have spent time reading and thinking about them. The results aren't always a golden nugget of information, but they have often proved enlightening."

I looked into how "Heart of Darkness" was connecting people on Goodreads and I found that Samuel was right about the results of this connection not always being "golden nugget[s]." One example comes from the latest review of the book. 

"It was like raking my fingernails across a chalkboard while breathing in a pail of flaming cat hair and drinking spoiled milk."

Actually, as I think about it more, that is a golden nugget. See, even though I don't agree with it, it was a chance for me to make some sort of a connection with another human being. That is valuable! This book on this social media platform just linked me with someone else in a way that would not have been possible with any other medium. That is incredible! Think of the value that comes when we connect with someone we agree with on these reviews. For me this happened as a read the review of a man that used Cliff Notes to help him with "Heart of Darkness." I had such a similar experience as I looked for guidance in navigating Conrad's prose. Bing, connection! 

Books and the reviews of them on sites such as Goodreads helps us to think critically about our reading experience through connection with others. We have to weigh other's opinions and we have to analyze our own. This truly enhances our experience with literature.