The Heart of Darkness Reading Notes

Setting: Mid 1800’s. Narrator and companions are on the River Thames and actual narration happens in Middle/Southern Africa

Part I:

The tale begins as a sailor tells of his story as a steamboat captain in his time in Africa while the entire company at hand waits for the waters to shift in the River Thames. The man gets a yearning to explore and through his family is able to secure a position as a steamboat captain for a trading company working in Africa. As he goes down, the French seem to fight some sort of war with the people of Africa as he sees their ships firing into the brush at some unknown enemy. Upon arrival at his trading station, he is told that his boat got sunk not more than a couple days ago and that it has been a year since his predecessor died on the job. He tries to be friendly and get the boat patched up but it seems like everyone else at the station is perfectly happy doing nothing and consume their days by petty one-upmanship. This is also due in part that it takes months to get the simplest useful supplies such as rivets into the station from the coast. Its not that the company doesn’t have any, he saw the rivets down there, but the transportation system from the coast to the station is unreliable at best.

Part II:

            The sailor gets his boat up and running and leads an Eldorado expedition into the jungle for a bunch of pilgrims with the side assignment in finding Mr. Kurtz, the trade manager in the area. The steamboat makes dreadfully slow time up the river. Along the way the expedition encounters many obstacles in the river including an eerie fog that makes them have to drop anchor and wait it out or risk running aground. They encounter some natives who on first encounter are friendly enough but then later run into a bunch that attacks the boat. Oddly enough however they are scared off by the blow of the boat’s whistle. They finally get up to the trading post to retrieve Mr. Kurtz, what remained of him at least.

Part III:

            Mr. Kurtz’s assistant tells the pilgrims what happened to Kurtz after all the ivory is loaded on board. Kurtz fell ill a couple times and he nursed him back to heath. In the process, with all the alone time Kurtz had, he went a little insane, slaughtering whole villages for ivory. He finally succumbs to another illness but not before leaving a lasting impression on the sailor and all those in the company. When the company does go back down river, the sailor gives his account about what happened in Africa but held all of Kurtz’s personal stories that did not involve the collection of ivory out of the report despite many demands. He passes out what few possessions to Kurtz’s cousin and lover. She startles the sailor because although it has been six months since his death, she is and forever will be in mourning for his loss.