It is often said that “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” however there is no other way to critique a book like this. To be as blunt as possible, I disliked this book. There was nothing coherent except for the simple plot: Marlow goes on a trip to Africa, where he hears of the enigmatic Mr. Kurtz. From then on, Marlow’s plan of action is to find Mr. Kurtz. Finally reaching him, Marlow discovers that he is ill and doesn’t have much longer to live. Although Mr. Kurtz is bedridden and barely speaking, he is able to gain the respect and admiration of Marlow before he dies. Marlow lives on to speak of the many epiphanies he had during his journey.
While I understand that the novel is suppose to tie in moving and insightful words about human nature and the soul, the novel seemed too muddled to really to bring these points to light. These profound topics were too spontaneous to be fully comprehensible. It seemed as if every conversation led to an intangible epiphany about the soul, death, and human nature.
The novel unfolded in a way that Marlow’s character came off as an egotistical man who thought highly only of himself and Mr. Kurtz, a man he barely knew. I don’t understand what was so special about a man who manipulated tribes into doing his bidding? He was ill from the moment that Marlow met him, which meant he was not even in the right state of mind to give any worldly advice. The few times he did speak sounded like conversations he was having within a dream; makes sense to him but to no one else. The only redeeming quality I can take from Mr. Kurtz is that he was a leadership presence that makes you want to follow him. However, the Russian’s stories, like how Mr. Kurtz held him at gun point for some ivory, shows that Mr. Kurtz is an unstable man with a lust that overrules his common sense. In addition, when Marlow went back home, he kept meeting people that told him anecdotes about Kurtz in which he couldn’t decipher fact from fiction. This immense respect for a man he doesn’t know is baffling as well and unlikely. The novel as a whole didn’t make sense.
posted by Kayla H.
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I can relate to your attitude about how much influence Kurtz has over Marlow and even the other people he comes into contact with. By the end of the book, it seemed that no one knew who the real Kurtz was, which irritated me because so much nticipation had been built and I felt cheated because the most climatic moment had been cut short.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. The plot was clear. Marlow set out to the Congo before he even hears of Kurtz. Once he does, this seems to be the whole purpose of his journey. As Kayla said, there is more to the novel than one man's journey to Africa to meet a man that instanly gained his interest and respect. There are other points in the novel such as colonialism, and human nature. However, I felt that you really had to dig deep to get to these points, and the book was not interesting enough to make me want to keep looking for more.
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