finale

Well, it is not to my surprise that I didn't favor the end of the book; I didn't really favor the beginning either. It just seems so predictable, Kurtz not being what Marlow expected; Kurtz going mad and dying, Marlow returning to his normal life. I feel like we somehow predicted this in our various discussions, maybe not exactly correct but close enough. I felt some extreme irony when our first true encounter with Kurtz, the man who has been described as so powerful, wonderful, and remarkable, is him being pulled along on a stretcher, a major symbol for weakness and powerlessness. I silently predicted in my mind that this was Kurtz's demise, he would die by the end of the book. A real shocker would have been something crazy, like him going back to England and getting married or reuniting with his family or something dramatic like that. But I guess that isn't why this novel was written, it was written to portray the imperialistic society which I think it did wonderfully. There are many observations I have made throughout the book, too many to account for them all here. However, I would love to point out when Marlow describes Kurts'z intended; he describes her with so much confidence and it seems like she has the world by a string. But then, at the end of the story, the tragedy of Kurtz's death deeply troubles her and she is caught up in endless mourning. This is the only part of the story I particularly liked, because it had some relate-able drama. It shows that no matter how put together and with it a person could be they could still be falling apart on the inside and can still have tragedies in their lives, much like Kurtz's success compared to his downfall. But, the book wasn't all that awful, this and some other parts I liked and understood.