1. The document contains posts from four students - Emma, Angela, Kurtis, and Tonia - discussing their reactions to Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness. 2. Most of the students found the novel challenging to read and understand, with some having to reread passages. They also reacted negatively to the racism and brutality against natives depicted in the story. 3. While the students struggled with interpreting the novel, they generally analyzed Conrad's portrayal of colonialism and imperialism, themes of darkness in humanity, and questions around the character of Kurtz.

1. Respond seperatE to each student with 100 words
minimum...SEPERATLEY!!!!!!
Original Post- The forum for this week addresses the third
learning objective: Produce an original opinion based on
assigned literature.
Discuss your reaction to
Heart of Darkness.
Do not simply explain why you liked or did not like it but
consider whether you agree or disagree with Conrad. Determine
his purpose and critique the text. Be sure to defend your stance
with cited evidence from the reading.
Points you may consider in your response include:
What does the reading have to do with you, personally?
How much does
Heart of Darkness
agree or clash with your views of the world and what you
consider right and wrong or moral and immoral?
Were your views and opinions challenged or changed by this
piece? How?
What was your overall reaction to this text? To whom would
you recommend this reading?

2. What unanswered questions are you left with?
Posts-
Emma
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad was challenging to read,
because of the way it was written and because of the dark
themes in the piece. Conrad included strong, rich details which
helped me navigate the story, though it was a little challenging
for me to understand certain parts of the book. Much like many
of you, I had to reread a couple of the passages to clearly
understand what was happening and what Conrad wanted to be
the takeaway from that specific passage. I thought it was well
written, but I did not agree with the brutality the natives
endured within the piece.
After hearing a shrieking scream, we see how the men on the
boat’s initial reaction is to grab their guns. “Two others
remained open-mouthed a whole minute, then dashed into the
little cabin, to rush out incontinently and stand darting scared
glances, with Winchesters at ‘ready’ in their hands” (Conrad
35). One can understand that they be fearful, but at the same
time, it makes you question humanity when men are ready to
shoot at anything without knowing what or who it is.
The reading personally reminded me of all of the hate, darkness,
and evils in our world, through history to modern times. It made

3. me evaluate the racism towards the natives in this story. They
were viewed, stereotyped, and judged based on the simple fact
that they were natives in Africa. The reading went against my
views and values. I realize there is racism within society, but I
will not stand for it or anyone in support of it. It deeply saddens
me that it is 2018 and we’re still dealing with racism.
If I were to recommend this reading to someone, I might
recommend it to someone who doesn’t realize the scope of
racism. This text would definitely open their eyes up to how
disgusting the treatment of people can be based on their skin
color or where they are from. Heart of Darkness allows us to
understand the severity of racism back then, and relate it to
similar instances throughout history, up into circumstances in
today’s society.
The one unanswered question I am left with is the same
question many of us had after reading the text – why did
Marlow feel it necessary to lie to Kurtz’s Intended? Because he
did lie, I question Marlow’s intentions for lying. Did he do it to
make his relationship with Kurtz more significant, did he do it
to make Kurtz’s fiancée feel better about his death, or another
reason?
-Emma
Sources
Conrad, Joseph and Virginia University of. Heart of Darkness.
Generic NL Freebook Publisher, 1996. EBSCOhost,
ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.

4. aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=nlebk&AN=2010611&site=
ehost-live&scope=site.
Angela
Professor & Class,
I have to admit, like so many others in class, I did find this
reading difficult as well. I did not have any prior experience
with reading Heart of Darkness in school and I thought it was a
bit difficult to understand. I wouldn’t say the reading had
anything to do with me personally, but I really didn’t enjoy
reading this book and found myself reading and rereading parts
of it for better understanding. What I gathered is Conrad wanted
the readers to connect with how difficult it was for Marlow to
fight to find Kurtz. Kurtz was a monster, a tyrant who only
cared about power. This book does not coincide with my morals
and beliefs. In fact, I found the book quite disturbing. I thought
it was appalling how the natives were treated and I do not
believe in brutality or racism. After reding the book, my
opinions, beliefs and morals have not changed. In fact, I feel
more strongly about my beliefs and how appalling racism and
brutality are. If I were going to recommend this book to anyone,
it would probably be an English major. I struggle with
interpreting literature and I feel someone who has a stronger
connection to all sorts of literature may have had an easier time
understanding this book. For me, it was a bit over my head.
There are two main questions that come to mind after reading
this book. The first one would be why did Marlow feel the need
to lie to Kurtz’s fiancé and the second question would be what
happened to Marlow?

5. Angela
References
Conrad, Joseph and Virginia University of. Heart of Darkness.
Generic NL Freebook Publisher, 1996. EBSCOhost,
ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.
aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=nlebk&AN=2010611&site=
ehost-live&scope=site.
Kurtis
Class,
I will be discussing my reaction to the novel Heart of Darkness,
wether i agree or disagree with the author of the novel.
My first impression of heart of darkness was the location in
which Conrad places the story. At the time the story takes place,
Africa at the time would be considered a very savage region. I
believe that is what Conrad is trying to portray in this novel.
My first impression is that the author wants to get a reaction
from the audience and comes off as a mild racist. The story also
starts off with the story of a man going up the Congo river in
Africa and hanging himself. The narrater explains the death as
the river and jungle were to much for him to handle. The story
delves into the inhumanity towards other men. This made me
feel a little uneasy, however i do understand that this was part
of our history. The author also brings about questions about
imperialism, i believe i can relate to this in some form as i am

6. in the military. We may not be as savage today as military were
in the time period of this novel. I do like when Marlow steps of
the ship in Brussels and calls the city "whited Sepulcher" which
is saying the beauty of the city makes all of the darkness that
lies within. The author also compares the europeans as very
civilized and when they visit Africa they become mad. The
author is basically bashing on the country of Africa and its
people, talking about how uncivilized they are. Overall i did not
really care for the novel, i seen it as mildly racist.
Tonia
Aloha everyone,
This weeks task was to read and write about our reaction to the
novel Heart of Darkness. I remember reading this book in high
school, and not exactly enjoying it back then either. There are
books with such a good lesson to be learned from that they
never fade away or become classics. I guess this is one of them.
My initial reaction to the reading would be that I don’t really
enjoy it, as was most peoples reactions, but we have to go into
further detail of our reaction than that. In response to how much
does the Heart of Darkness coincide or differ from my moral
views. I would have to say anyone with any kind of morals
would have to agree that this book wasn't written to relate or
really even connect to anyone. There is canabalism, slavery,
gruesome murder, lies, infidelity, and much more. I cannot
really say for sure but I wholeheartedly believe that if I was
thrust into an uncivilized situation I would not reduce my
morals to such low salvage standards as Kurtz had. I understand
that within every human there lays some kind of darkness. But I
also believe that everyone has the equal choice to act upon all

7. the good inside of them, even in a place where societies laws do
not govern.