Heart Of Boredom

As much as I do enjoy reading a good book,reading Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, was much more like draging my feet through mud instead of sitting down to be captured by a good book. Now, don't get me wrong AP Literature enthusiasts. I know this is a collge level course, and I thouroughly appretiated the descriptions placed in the book. Because up to page 25 (where I have read unto) I could really feel the , "The tidal current" running, "to and fro" leading me not into "crowded... memories of men and ships" but instead it lead me to day dream, so I kept finding myself having to constantly re read passages.

I was not so thrilled by the start of the novel, and yes, AP literature is about understanding the text, but I was far more drawn to the start of previous novels I have read this year such as, Pride and Prejudice, and, The Count of Monte Cristo (A novel I have almost finished reading).

Reading to the entrance of this blog, I apologise if it appears rude and almost ignorant about the book ( which it probably is) , but I do not want to come off as a person who entirely hated what we are reading (heavens no!). If anything, I was impressed and inspired by several of the descriptions, which Mr.Conrad gives his character, Marlow, the honor to say.

I feel that the way Marlow was introduced was very random. We started the novel off with one person, who called himself "I" and he introduced us to Marlows story, describing the man as a "seaman, but...a wanderer too." From the first 25 pages, you can see that Marlow has wandered the earth, but has also wandered through history. His knowledge is seen when he tells of "old times" not just of his memories, but of history previous to his , like when the Romans first came to the sea "nineteen hundred years ago." He is a story teller and he goes on to tell the story of the Romans, "Imagine the feelings of a commander of a fine-what d'ye call 'em?- trireme in the Mediteranean, ordered suddenly to the north; run overland across the Gauls in a hurry; put in charge of one of these craft the legionaries," he goes on to explain more, but just this small passage shows part of his intelligence and experience.

I thought that everything Marlow said was very philisophical sounding. Such as when he said, "mind, none of us would feel exactly like this. What saves us is efficiency-the devotion to efficiency." It is an interesting quote which your brain practically turns into a toungue twister.

The ups and downs of this mans life is interesting, and its almos random how he just suddenly starts talking about his life. Overall, I am still not that interested in the novel, but it's not all bad, there are still some interesting short stories inbettween, like the white man who tried to kill the african chief.