Heart of Darkness

I read Heart of Darkness last year, but I still found it a little confusing this time that I read it. However, it did make more sense than the first time. I think that this book is definitely one that you have to read a couple times in order to fully understand everything. I like what we said in class today about how Conrad wrote this book in buched up, confusing words.....so that it kindof resembled the jungle. To me, this book was about Marlow finding himself through his journey to see Kurtz. He had heard mostly all praises about this great man and was looking forward to finally hear his wise voice. However, when Marlow finally reached that point, I think that he found the station a bit disturbing with all the heads on the poles and what not. I think that throughout Marlow's journey up the river, his human consciousness became less and less prevalent. At the beginning, he war horrified with all of the people running around  in chains and firing randomly into the jungle; however, by the end he had kindof almost accepted this wildness and was only slightly disturbed by the things he saw. When he met Kurtz, he realized that he seemed kindof normal, even though he still praised him. I think that the whole story, maybe once fully understood, can be related to the reader's life. It involves a journey where you may change and in the end, you might be pleasantly surprised, or disappointed depending on your choice on path. I'm not really sure if I'm on the right track here.....these are just some ideas!