Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

The Heart of Darkness was one of the shortest long books I have ever read. It was only 72 pages long, yet it took a couple weeks to get thourgh. As near as I can tell, Conrad uses the book to show what drives different people. In the jungle, the men reverted to their simplest forms. Each man had to find something to live for in order to not give up on life. Mr. Kurtz, for example, lived for the acquisition of ivory and power. The Russian was so devoted to Kurtz because Kurtz represented a greater purpose. Even outside to jungle, Kurtz's Intended needed his memory to live for. The other thing the jungle did was bring out the faults of the men. Kurtz was power hungry, and with no people around to judge him, Kurtz was barbaric. Once he was among white men again, he seemed to understand what he had done (his dying words being "the horror, the horror"). Another point that Conrad seemed to push was that women create an alternate world. The two main examples were Marlow's aunt, who thought that the jungle was this savage place full of adventures and missionaries, and Kurtz's Intended, who believed that Kurtz was faithful to the last, and would have been heart broken to learn otherwise. In a way, though, the men also created thier alternate worlds. Kurtz had his savages to worship him. The trading company had its ivory. People within the company were focused on different positions to hold. Everyone had a focus upon which they built thier world.