On many "Top 100" lists, Heart of Darkness is a tale of Africa and the darkness one man finds in it. The story is told by Marlow, a former steamboat captain who had worked on a river in Africa for an ivory trading company. He's since moved on, and is recounting his Africa experience with his current crew members. In his time on the river, he was exposed to the horrors of the African interior- the darkness within- evil white traders exploiting the natives, cannibalistic local tribes, etc. Most of the book involves his quest to find Mr. Kurtz, a legendary ivory trader who's posted a few hundred miles upriver, and has fallen ill. Marlow & co. take two months, but finally find him, surrounded by 'savages,' as Marlow puts it, and they take Kurtz back downriver, but he passes away on the journey. Kurtz gives Marlow some papers to deliver to his fiancee, and his last words are the famous "The horror! The horror!" lines, which pretty much sums it up.
I thought this was okay, but not nearly the classic people make it out to be. Some worthy topics are explored, like the human darkness and savagery within, but they're not really fleshed out- just touched on and accepted in a fatalistic way. Chinua Achebe (author of Things Fall Apart) didn't like how Conrad portrayed the natives as savages without principles, and I see his point, although to Marlow, they probably appeared as such. All in all, there are better works that relate the horrors of the colonial conquest of Africa.
Rating: C
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