P.S. I'm lumping society and religion together because in the book's context (1930s deep south) religion is society's moral system.

First, there is Beloved, who is clearly obsessed with Sethe. She says that she came back to see Sethe. Beloved wants her to herself. So I can understand the jealousy with Paul D. But, this is what I don't understand. She sleeps with Paul D and Sethe loves him. So I am wondering why she would do something that could a) hurt Sethe and b) get her kicked out the house. If she loves Sethe, then why is she doing something to hurt her? Do you think she was doing it to hurt her, or simply because she wanted to know what it is like.

Second, you have Paul D. He loves Sethe and is willing to fight for her. However, when Beloved comes to him, he only tells her to go away. Eventually, he gives in and sleeps with her. If he loves Sethe so much, than why didn't he simply just kick Beloved out? Also, the whole "let's have a baby" is very childish. I think it would just add to the problem. It just seems like a very desperate attempt, a quick fix to a bigger problem.

Do you think they truly love Sethe?

At the very beginning, the ship is heading out of London. It is getting dark. The narrator says something very interesting, "Hunters for gold or pursuers of mame, the all had gone out gon that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of the might within the land, bearers of a spark from the sacred fire" (5). He's talking about imperialism, which just so happens to be one major issue in Marlow's story.

When Marlow finishes the story, even though there is only one paragraph from our narrator, we can tell that he is already changed. Instead of praising those who have gone out into the world to spread the British culture before them, he describes the scene in front of them, what they are heading towards, as, "leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky--it seemed to lead into the heart of immense darkness" (117). That sure didn't sound like his praising self before.

I think the point of Marlow's telling of his story is that it still haunts him. Also, he feels compelled to share the dark truth with the ones who are out to continue it. Perhaps that is Conrad's point of writing this book, too. Do you agree or do you have other ideas?

Throughout the novel, the Europeans constantly deal with darkness whether it means traveling through fog or dealing with dark vs light civilizations.  In the fog, the men hear screams but cannot determine where they are coming from, so the fear is there but cause is ultimately unknown.  Also, when the Manager says the scoundrel should be hanged, his uncle says that it would be definitely possible to do so because the Congo is so far away from any "light" civilization.  In this passage I think the light vs. dark comes from the savagery of the society, yet the men have not changed at all.  The Europeans are constantly fighting back darkness, yet they succumb to it and act similarly to it.

I still have a lot of figuring out to do but I think this is pretty good so far

"It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream- making a vain attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible which is of the very essence of dreams...."

If we read Heart of Darkness as the retelling of this dream like adventure, it accounts for all of the inconsistencies while giving strength the the real hard details in the story. While Marlow's narrative has been affected by the passing of time, as well as the components of the story that were so surreal he has had to question their existence, many observations he makes have the air of having already been analyzed. This seems to happen a lot in the retelling of dreams. I think the passage is equally as powerful when we relate it to our own lives. It articulates the frustration we tend to have with sharing what is ultimately an irreplaceable personal experience.

Several of the night scenes you only see part of a characters face, shrouding their identity to a degree. In the book the narration does the same thing only giving you bits and pieces of information at a time, and keeping you in suspense. This also happened at the end when he met Kurtz he was covered in the dark so you couldn't see his face. I think this was done for the same reason.

The scene where they got ambushed on the river I felt was conveyed perfectly. In the book there is a sense of chaos and panic. Nobody aboard the ship knows what to do or how to stop the attack. This chaos and panic is shown in the film, you can feel how scared the characters are. Are there more parallels or similarities between the book and the film?