Selling Down the River

The last of the works that I read for this project was Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, this book might not really deal with the insanity as people normally see it, more along the lines as how civilized people view other cultures and the way they live their lives as different, sometimes that view can lead to dangerous actions. The story of the dark and treacherous sail up the Congo River and how these five men face the obstacles that both the natives and Africa have to offer can be seen as a heroic effort, but of course that isn’t how the story leads itself to be told.
Paying close attention to the narrator of the story Marlow and how he changes going through the Congo, and the mysterious man named Kurtz who for most of the book is a faceless titan that Marlow becomes obsessed with. Kurtz is really just a man who lives in one of the villages along the river but the stories that are told about him are both incredible and horrific, certain things one must do to survive in the jungle can be seen as beastly to those on the other side. Also the relationship between the men and the natives is stressed, while Marlow and his crew are faced with blatant hostility from the Africans, Kurtz is seem as a friend and family member and when he leaves the group he is met with cries of sorrow and wails of anger.
Once they leave the village the true madness sets over Kurtz, the things he saw while in the jungle and the things he himself did cause him to loss what he had left of his mind and to them pass away. His last words spoken can only add to the mystery as to what he saw and did on that river, “The horror. The horror.” The journey through the river is where the story really lies, why continue if all signs are pointing for you to leave, to turn your boat around and not go any further, for what lies at the end of the river, that is where the true madness lies.