CliffsNotes on Conrad's Heart of Darkness & The Secret Sharer

Book Description

3 Reviews

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  The darkness in men's hearts

  With this novella Joseph Conrad brutally rips away the barriers that men build to hide themselves and exposes the evil that lurks in all men's hearts, waiting for an opportunity to get out.kurtz sails away into the dark continent full of ambition to build a bright shining society where men will be G ... (continue)

  With this novella Joseph Conrad brutally rips away the barriers that men build to hide themselves and exposes the evil that lurks in all men's hearts, waiting for an opportunity to get out.kurtz sails away into the dark continent full of ambition to build a bright shining society where men will be Gods. The result is unspeakable evil. What actually happens the reader never knows. They are just invited to look at the battered result of Kurtz's ambition. Marlowe returns and visits the now dead Kurt's fiancee, but is unable to tell her the truth about her beloved and makes up some romantic tale to spare her feelings. Nowadays Conrad is vulnerable to accusations of racism as he uses Africa to represent the dark continent. As always the politically correct have completely missed the pooint. The evil was in Kurtz, as it is in all men, not in Africa. And Conrad was exposing the wickednesss of colonolism which he was vehemently against, which anyone could find out if they read his works closely. In fact he was not a racist but years ahead of his time

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  moniq said on Jul 26, 2007 | Add your feedback

• 

  "The Secret Sharer" was a quick short story with a little drama concerning whether the stowaway would successfully get off the ship, interesting but not the main draw of this combined book. The main story, "The Heart of Darkness" was a book I'd heard about for a long time and had been wanting to re ... (continue)

  "The Secret Sharer" was a quick short story with a little drama concerning whether the stowaway would successfully get off the ship, interesting but not the main draw of this combined book. The main story, "The Heart of Darkness" was a book I'd heard about for a long time and had been wanting to read. Finally, after reading it, I can't understand the great draw of this story. It wasn't as savage as I'd imagined and the characters weren't fully flushed out. Maybe that's how the author intenionally wrote the story but I felt like a lot of background information that would have helped me understand the characters, their interactions and their motivation would have made this a much more compelling read.

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  Stcin10 said on Dec 20, 2010 | Add your feedback

• In my own--very personal--system of mental filing, Heart of Darkness is side-by-side with La Dolce Vita, i.e., classics I'm always slightly embarrassed about never having seen/read, even though I have. Repeatedly. They just leave such a tepid impression that I quickly forget them and go back to bein ... (continue)

  In my own--very personal--system of mental filing, Heart of Darkness is side-by-side with La Dolce Vita, i.e., classics I'm always slightly embarrassed about never having seen/read, even though I have. Repeatedly. They just leave such a tepid impression that I quickly forget them and go back to being embarrassed about these major gaps in my cultural education. Maybe I just want a BETTER Heart of Darkness or La Dolce Vita. Or maybe a mash-up.

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  Biscia said on Jun 21, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Paperback 100 Pages
• Edition: New
• ISBN-10: 0764585843
• ISBN-13: 9780764585845
• Publisher: Cliffs Notes
• Pub date: Jun 19, 2000
• Dimensions: 1355 mm x 839 mm x 65 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Hardcover, Library Binding, School & Library Binding, Unbound, Others and eBook

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