I have written reactions and questions for the first seven pages of this section up to the line "Towards the evening of the second day..."
The uncle and nephew show up again. Be sure who they are. Be sure what their roles are. If you haven't written them down, I would suggest you do.
This scene is hard to understand for I think two main reasons:
the first, Marlow is tired or has been napping and isn't fully awake. When I'm like that, I don't know that I understand what's going on around me.
the second, Marlow is eavesdropping--and he can't always hear the uncle and the nephew because he doesn't want to give himself away.
THE TRICK IS TO PIECE TOGETHER WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT KURTZ (I'm giving you help--that's whom they are talking about.) Try to piece it together.
Think about what the lack of clarity in this scene might mean to the text on a broader level.
I have a couple of excerpts that I will post separately.
We move into a section that talks about tricks, monkey tricks. That seems unique. Because of its uniqueness it seems important--or at least significant.
We are reminded here again that this is a "twice-told tale."
More excerpts--I'll post them!
Now, look at the rich description of the Africans.... Boy does Marlow have "screens"!
Look too at the comparisons between the Africans and the Europeans. What do those difference tell us? What is Conrad trying to do?
Pay attention to Marlow's description of the fireman on pp 38-39 in the green book. What can we learn from those?
We have graphic description of the river. What changes? What does that tell us? What is Conrad doing here?
On pages 39-40 (green book) someone finds a book! What I found interesting about the book besides its age was the fact that someone had...wait for it...annotated in it!
