The Heart of Darkness Book Report By Donte Johnson

This story starts of on a ship called the Nellie witch is sailing down the Thames River. The crew of the ship is the main character Marlow, a laywer, a accountant, The Director of Companies (he is the captain of the ship), and a unnamed person (he happens to be the co-narrator. I will explain later.). From this point, Marlow starts tells a story about the Thames River, witch reminds him of his past experience of when he was on the Congo River. He tells his experience to the crew. His experience is the story of the Heart of Darkness. The whole story is like a flashback of Marlows memories. From this point on, Marlow is the narrator. Marlow is employed as a river boat captain by a Belgian company named the Company. On the surface, the Companys goal is to help civilization by trade in the Congo, but the Companys goal is to get profit. In simpler words, there goal is to Disregard Congo, Acquire Currency (I put that in myself). From that point, he is put on a French steamboat, witch takes him to the mouth of the Congo River. When he arrives there, he finds that the steamer that he was supposed to ride to the Congo River, has been sunk. He stays there for several months till he gets supplies to repair is steamer. While there, he learns the the true side of the Company. He learns that the Company forces natives to work at their stations under unhealthy conditions. The natives are overworked, malnourished, and treated cruelly. While Marlow is at the station, he learns about Mr. Krutz, an agent of the Company. He also learns that Kurtz is very ill. From this point, he takes a fascination of Kurtz. After Marlows damaged ship is repaired, he sets sail down the Congo. He takes the manager of the Central Station, some agents of the Company, and some cannibals with him. They plant to go to the Inner Station, where Kurtz is. While on the Congo, he learns the dark nature of the Congo. He learns that sailing up the Congo aint no joke. They often hear

voices, drums, and screams in the fog of the Congo. While sailing on the Congo, they find a little hut witch had some firewood next to it and a note that said that the wood was for them and that they should proceed with caution. One night while sailing down the Congo, they heard screams. The agents got scared and feared that the natives were going to attack, and indeed they did. They shot arrows and thrown spears. One of the spears killed the helmsman (the driver) of the ship. The whole crew became discouraged because they though that the natives killed Kurtz. When they arrived to the Inner Station, they were amazed to see that Kurtz was still alive. They found a Russian manager with Kurtz. The Russian manager tells Marlow that Kurtz had ordered the attack on their steamer. They learn that Kurtz orders brutal raids on the surrounding area in search for ivory. The Russian manager makes it seem like that Kurtz is a god around those parts, and in a way, he is. The Russian sails upstream in a canoe, and from that point, he doesnt come back in the story. Then Kurtz goes into the forest alone crawling. Marlow finds him and gets him to get on his steamer. While on the steamer, Kurtz health fails fast. While on the steamer, Kurtz entrust Marlow with letters and photographs of his. Marlows steamer crashes on a island and it needs repairs. While repairing, Kurtz dies. Once the ship is repaired, they go back to where they started. A year has passed and Marlow is back in England where he meets Kurtz cousin. He tells Marlow that Kurtz was a great musician and universal genius. Then he meets Kurtz fiance. He finds her still in morning over Kurtz death. He gives Kurtz fiance the letters and photos that Kurtz gave him. She tells him that Kurtz was a man of great humanity. She also say that he was a man like no other. Then she ask what was Kurtz last words. He lies and says your name. Kurtz real last words were The horror! The horror then after that, the story that Marlow tells ends. This book gives names to two characters in this book (Marlow, and Mr. Kurtz). Marlow is the storyteller that tells the story in the Heart of Darkness.

The overall theme in my opinion is a simple one; we all are capable of evil, every one of us. We will commit crimes against our fellow man just to gain a profit. Greed effects us all. One quote to support this is The mind of man is capable of anything because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valour, rage who can tell? but truth truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder the man knows, and can look on without a wink. There are a few settings in this story. First there is the Thames River were the crew of five are one the Nellie. Then Marlow tells his story which brings us to a office in the Company. Then he goes to a major place in the story, the Central Station. This place is a horrible place where African natives are sent to work. This place is probably a port since the steamer that Marlow was on dropped him of there and because Marlows damaged steamboat was there. From there, they go to the Congo River, which is a dark mysterious place. The book mentions that the river to be foggy and shallow in some spots. Then they go to Inner Station. This is where Kurtz stays. It doesnt describe this place in detail but I imagine that this place is of high standard because Kurtz stays there and he is considered a god in the Congo. After they leave the Inner Station, they sail back up the Congo. After that, the other place that the story goes to is in England. This story has the following literary terms within, flashback, symbolism, allusion, irony, mood, and allegory. There isnt much to explain about flashback. The whole book is a flashback. Symbolism is used at one part in the book where I thought it was most appropriate. While Marlow was at Central Station, he saw a man walking to the river and

then he tries to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom. This is the way this uses symbolism, the water is what we all want in life, it is what we will work for, and it fuels the greed in our hearts. The bucket is us. The hole in the bucket represents that we will never be satisfied because we will never know how it feels to be full. The allusion is apparent in this book by the references to the Bible and to epics. The irony in this book is that a white Englishman (Kurtz) can become a godly figure in Africa. The book sets a mood by using fog and dark clouds to create a sense of mystery and darkness. This whole story is a example of allegory. The theme of this story is that we all have the capabilities to do evil, the story tells us this in a figurative way.